I Was Happy (Before Cursor)

I was always skeptical about using AI models for my work. Not because I’m good, but because I genuinely saw ■■■■■■ code, repetitive as hell — complete hallucinations.

One day, out of nowhere, I saw this thing called Zed. Installed it to test and was blown away by the Tab code completion. It was tab this, tab that, clean code, contextually relevant and well-organized. So I thought: “Hmm, time to give these so-called agents a chance.”

Back then, I believe like almost everyone, I started with Copilot, but that didn’t last long, lol.

Then I installed the Windsurf extension, formerly Codeium, and it was going so well that I decided to subscribe to Windsurf.

Worked with it for a good while and there was always this buzzing in my left ear: “Cursor is the best, vibe code, got rich at 16 coding without knowing how to code, blah blah blah.” Always be careful what comes from the left.

I stood firm; at most, I flirted with Trae. ■■■■ my data, what’s really so important in my code that hasn’t already been exposed on GitHub or Overflow? It’s promising.

Then came the fateful day: I subscribed to Cursor.

Same ■■■■ as VSCode and Windsurf. Trae at least bothered to make a “prettier” interface. Ahh, Zed’s is awesome!

Same errors, same hallucinations. Tab, tab, tab. Delete, delete, delete — git discard changes.

“But you don’t know how to use it.” [.rules, AGENTS.md, Models] — but wasn’t it supposed to be intelligent?

So what the ■■■■ am I paying more for?!

An app that’s not transparent at all about billing methods, full of bugs, a forum that only doesn’t have more complaints than Reclame Aqui (a Brazilian site specialized in complaints). They’re not even transparent with the changelog, which has an update (or more) every ■■■■ day, but https://cursor.com/changelog doesn’t show it.

When I was a kid, I heard a phrase that really stuck with me: “Don’t play around with other people’s money.” Since then, I live by that religiously — a phrase that probably never crossed the Cursor CEO’s mind.

But $20 is cheap!

I agree, IF it delivered what it promises, yes. Unless you switch to the Pro, Plus or Ultra plans — which, for the reality of a developer from abroad who makes an average of $10k to $15k a month, is pocket change.

But this is Brazil, ■■■■ it! 20 bucks (± 120 reais) can decide whether you’re cooking or coding.

I only get ■■■■■■ off in Auto mode, and if you’re really going to use it, a Claude subscription comes out to 20 bucks per day.

I conclude, unfortunately, that I was also an idiot for falling for the hype. Paying more for something that doesn’t deliver more than the competition is just stupid.