A few things interact poorly here to make this bad (in my opinion) user experience:
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Cursor (company) is pretty aggressive about removing support for older IDE versions. I updated the app 2 months ago and am already being told December will remove support for my version of the IDE
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The update nags IN application are also quite aggressive.
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The update path when you click “update” in the IDE simply dumps the user on cursor’s website to download a new EXE and follow the FULL new user onboarding path for the install:
a. Download the exe, choose all your configs again (add to PATH, install folder, etc.)
b. User is asked has to handle closing all instances of the app and run through MANY mouse clicks across the web, file explorer and the installer
TLDR: Too much friction given how often Cursor would like us to update the app.
Suggestion: a cleaner “upgrade in place” flow where the IDE itself fetches the new version, prompts you to save and close, then installs and restarts your current project.
Edit:
AND (this is most egregious): the old version of cursor is STILL installed so if you’ve pinned shortcuts and stuff when you re-launch the application you get the old version and the nag. This all feels very messy to be honest.