What's Your Go-To AI Model for Coding and Any Cool Tips?

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For most of my time with Cursor I only used Claude 3.5. Once 3.7 came out I mostly use that. I experimented with “auto” mode, which decides on-the-fly which LLM to use. I got good results until I found out it was charging me for Max models, so I just use Claude 3.7 now.

I’m thinking about trying some new models though. This benchmark is handy for seeing what models are best at what. I haven’t checked it in awhile but it looks like o3-mini and gemini-2.5-pro-exp are topping the charts now, so I’m gonna give them a spin today.

I haven’t used the thinking models much yet. I think they can be useful if you need help brainstorming solutions to complicated problems… but in my experience, the AI gets less useful when the problem or task gets more complex. I get more consistent quality by keeping individual tasks & chats small and focused.

I also work on a huge & ancient codebase. Here’s what has helped me:

  • Set up a good .cursorrules file. I use mine to specify stack technology versions, code style and naming conventions, core models and relationships, and “business terminology” about the application. NOTE: AI doesn’t always follow rules perfectly, sadly this is a shortcoming of LLMs in general. Sometimes you have to remind it :joy:
  • Have the AI work on one specific task at a time. When moving to a new task, start a new chat
  • Prompt quality is critically important. Can’t stress that point enough. Take the time to write out clear prompt messages that outline exactly what you want to accomplish, set expectations, and provide as much context as possible.
  • Agent mode has a lot of power and can make a lot of changes quickly, as well as run terminal commands. However, I typically just use chat in Ask mode. It can still suggest edits to files, but you’ll have to select and apply the suggestions manually. This can be slower, but provides more control; sometimes Agent gets carried away and breaks a bunch of stuff before you realize what it’s doing.

I also am a big fan of “plan first, execute later”, especially for bigger tasks. Use Ask mode, work with the AI to create an implementation plan, have it write out exactly what files it’s going to change and why. Then if you’re happy with the plan, you can switch to Agent mode and tell it “ok, execute the planned changes, don’t make any other edits” and watch the magic happen.

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