There are 3 different AI modes in Cursor…

• Chat

• Composer

• Agent

And each is designed for different tasks.

In today’s post, I’ll show you when you should use which, and what the advantages and disadvantages of each are.

(BTW yes there are also some other AI modes in Cursor, like “Tab” and “CMD+K”, but those are more relevant for experienced developers and I want to focus on what’s relevant for beginners).

Before we start, here's some background…

Cursor is an AI powered code editor. It lets you write code by using AI. That means you can now build software without knowing any programming languages. (For more details, check out my Cursor AI Tutorial post).

Cursor now has 3 AI modes, but it wasn’t always this way.

The AI Chat was released first. Then in mid 2024 the Composer was released. And then, in December 2024, agent mode was released.

Here’s how to access them in Cursor:

1. Toggle the AI pane on the right to open Chat.

2. Use the keyboard shortcut “CMD/CTRL + I” to open Composer.

3. Toggle from normal to agent for the agent mode.

Now let’s get into when you should use which…

1) The AI Chat

I think of the AI Chat as an assistant. It's more hands-off and does not directly modify your code.

Instead it explains code for you and makes code recommendations. It is ultimately up to you to apply these code recommendations.

It's good for:

1. EXPLANATIONS: Explain which parts of your code does what, or what steps to take to implement a new feature (Pro tip: use the o1 model for this)

2. CODE ITERATIONS: Whenever you're editing code and want to be very precise in what you're editing, use AI chat. This can be when you want to take it slow so that you understand every change that is being implemented. Or if you’re working in a very large and messy codebase and are scared of making too many changes too quickly.

2) The “normal” Composer

The main difference to the AI Chat, is that Composer modifies code straight away. It won’t ask for you to apply the code, it just implements it. You’ll be able to accept or reject the change later.

Another big difference is that it can create files autonomously. With the AI chat you have to create them manually. This makes it a lot faster to use the Composer.

Use it when:

1. You're STARTING a project, to create the files and get started quickly

2. You know exactly what you want and need SPEED (but be careful not to implement too much at once)

3) The Agent

There are two main difference between Agent and Composer. The Agent:

• has better contextual awareness

• can execute terminal commands

This means:

1. Use it for the same use cases as Composer (setup & speed).

2. If you’re a beginner, it will be much easier for you to use agent. You won’t have to manually select any context and hardly have to understand anything about the code.

3. To be honest, the agent now just seems like a better version of Composer. In my opinion there's no more big reason to use the normal Composer now, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they remove it eventually.

Conclusion

When you're building and iterating on a project, it makes a lot of sense to use Chat, so that you can be precise and produce code that works.

When you need speed and a lot of contextual awareness, use Agent!

Happy building!

-Moritz

P.S. Looking to dive deeper?

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