What's the difference between Chat and Composer?

[pland]

Hi!

What’s the difference between Chat and Composer? When should I use Chat instead of Composer, and vice versa?

[litecode]

Hi @pland ,

You may find some useful information in here:

How can i allow cursor to create files

Hi @koesterj , Ctrl + I (Composer) enables multi-file creation and editing. Here is a post that demonstrates the basic functionality: The screenshots in the post are from a few releases ago, but the functionality is the same. Here is a video that provides a good overview of Cursor: [Get Started with Cursor - The AI Code Editor] You can also learn more about Cursor’s features at the docs site: https://docs.cursor.com Composer is a relatively new feature that has just come o…

Essentially:

1. Ctrl + K for in-file code generation and ‘quick questions’
2. Ctrl + L (Chat) to open up an AI chat panel in the sidebar
3. Ctrl + I (Composer) to create and edit code across multiple files

Composer is the newer feature with arguably more ‘pizazz’, and exciting new features being added quite regularly, but that does mean it has a higher incidence of bugs.

Personally, I use Ctrl + K and Ctrl L the most at the moment, but I also have a special place in my heart for Composer, as it is arguably the most ambitious and innovative feature, and test it every now and then to see the new features and how it is progressing.

Basically they are all cool for their use cases.

Remember you can highlight text before launching these interfaces to add the highlighted text to the context.

Here’s a post that shows some of the newer Composer views:

I want composer window as its own panel, just like Chat

Hi @bobmoff , Just to add to @blummis answer… There are three Composer views available: Bar (Ctrl + I) Pane (Ctrl + I and then Ctrl + D) Control Panel (Ctrl + Shift + I) - can be dragged to another screen Below are screenshots of each view. Screenshot 01 - Composer - Bar View [composer_in_bar] Screenshot 02 - Composer - Pane View [composer_in_pane] Screenshot 03 - Composer - Control Panel View (on another screen) [composer_in_control_panel_on_another_screen]

[pland]

Awesome! Thanks!

[0xgokuz]

hey, when do you want to use Composer vs. Chat? what’s the best practice? can you advise?

[stevecondylios]

Just use Composer. The difference is Chat won’t let you apply suggested changes to your files, whereas Composer will. Chat confuses users for no value add.

[troehrkasse]

@stevecondylios

The difference is Chat won’t let you apply suggested changes to your files, whereas Composer will

… what? I apply suggested changes from Chat to my files all the time. Just click the Apply button:

[qubit000]

it appears composer auto applies vs chat is manual

[cmor7]

Any idea why sometimes this button isnt there? sometimes it has a wide rectangle that says apply to whatever file. Half the time when it does this, the file it wants to apply it to isnt even the correct file.

[troehrkasse]

Is that in composer or chat? I really only use chat, because I’m working with a huge existing codebase and I don’t trust composer with it.

In Chat the “apply to X” button always applies correctly, but I have noticed that sometimes the button just doesn’t show up for unknown reasons.