I agree with you, it is stressful - the models, modes and stuff. There is a science behind this: Why confusion sets in when faced with choices – HelpDementia.com . To highlight this article:
One major reason confusion occurs is the **paradox of choice**. While having options is generally seen as freedom, too many choices can overwhelm the brain
Ideally DJ’s suggestion is absolute, choose a banger model and stick to it throughout. Eliminating the options will make your stress lesser. My approach recently is to use “Auto” mode everytime - it completely eliminates the thinking overhead of which model is good or bad. I’ve adviced against it but over a period of time i realised no model is going to stick around forever, so why bother model picking – let cursor do this for me.
As far as modes are concerned, i switch them according to usecase using “Shift + Tab” keys on the keyboard - trust me its better to build muscle memory for the key binding than even thinking of going and clicking and changing the mode.
- Ask (by default) - I am constantly asking questions about my codebase, this is set as default. For small things, I don’t even ask the AI to write code, i just copy paste stuff from the Ask mode response. Think of this as READ mode.
- Agent - THIS IS ALL YOU NEED. When cursor released, all they had is an agent and ask mode - the simplicity got a lot of traction for them. Think of this as WRITE mode.
The other modes are just for enthusiasts.
Ultimately, even if this is overwhelming and you want to use Cursor with NO STRESS at all - this is the formula:
>> Agent mode with Auto <<