Windsurf Beginner's Guide: Meet the AI Editor Taking on Cursor

Windsurf is an AI-native code editor created by Codeium, the team behind the popular free AI code assistant. Released in late 2024, Windsurf quickly became the most talked-about alternative to Cursor, thanks to its unique Cascade AI agent and a generous free tier.

If Cursor is the established champion, Windsurf is the energetic challenger—and many developers are switching.

1. What Makes Windsurf Different?

• Cascade (The Core Agent): Unlike most AI assistants that respond to one command at a time, Cascade maintains persistent context about your entire project. It "flows" with you, tracking what you've changed, what errors occurred, and what you're trying to accomplish—all in one continuous session.
• "Flows" Philosophy: Windsurf is designed around the concept that AI assistance should feel natural and uninterrupted—like pair programming with a colleague who never forgets anything.
• Best Free Tier: Windsurf's free plan is more generous than Cursor's, making it an excellent starting point.

2. Getting Started

1. Download: Visit codeium.com/windsurf and download the app.
2. Import Settings: Like Cursor, Windsurf can import your VS Code extensions, themes, and settings on first launch.
3. Create an Account: Sign up for a free Codeium account to activate AI features.

3. The Cascade AI Agent

Open the Cascade panel with Ctrl+L / Cmd+L. This is your main AI interface.

Cascade operates in two modes:

• Chat Mode: Ask questions about your code, get explanations, generate snippets.
• Write Mode (Agentic): Give a complex instruction and Cascade will autonomously edit multiple files, install packages, run commands in the terminal, and iterate until it's done.

Example Write Mode Prompt:

"Integrate Stripe payment processing into this Next.js app. Create a checkout page component, add the necessary API routes, and update the environment variables file with the required keys."

Cascade will plan, execute, and check its own work.

4. Supercomplete (Inline Suggestions)

Windsurf's "Supercomplete" is its version of Cursor's Tab feature. As you type, it predicts not just the next word, but:

• Multi-line completions
• Import statements that you'll need
• Edits in other locations based on a recent change you made

5. Context Tools

One of Cascade's strengths is understanding what to look at. You can guide it with:

• @file.tsx — reference a specific file
• @folder/ — include an entire folder in context
• @problems — pull in all current error messages from the IDE
• @terminal — include the latest terminal output

6. Windsurf vs. Cursor: Head-to-Head

7. Conclusion

Windsurf is a serious contender in the AI editor space. If you're curious about trying an AI code editor and Cursor's pricing is a barrier, Windsurf's free tier is the perfect starting point.

Download Windsurf for free at codeium.com/windsurf.