The beginner's guide to coding with Cursor | Lee Robinson (Head of AI education)

Lee Robinson is the head of AI education at Cursor, where he teaches people how to build software with AI. Previously, he helped build Vercel and Next.js as an early employee. In this episode, he demonstrates how Cursor's AI-powered code editor bridges the gap between beginners and experienced developers through automated error fixing, parallel task execution, and writing assistance. Lee walks through practical examples of using Cursor's agent to improve code quality, manage technical debt, and even enhance your writing by eliminating common AI patterns and clichés. What you'll learn: 1. How to use Cursor's AI agent to automatically detect and fix linting errors without needing to understand complex terminal commands 2. A workflow for running parallel coding tasks by focusing on your main work while the agent handles secondary features in the background 3. Why setting up typed languages, linters, formatters, and tests creates guardrails that help AI tools generate better code 4. How to create custom commands for code reviews that automatically check for security issues, test coverage, and other quality concerns 5. A technique for improving your writing by creating a custom prompt with banned words and phrases that eliminates AI-generated patterns 6. Strategies for managing context in AI conversations to maintain high-quality responses and avoid degradation 7. Why looking at code—even when you don't fully understand it—is one of the best ways to learn programming — Brought to you by: Google Gemini —Your everyday AI assistant Persona —Trusted identity verification for any use case — Where to find Lee Robinson: Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/leeerob Website: https://leerob.com — Where to find Claire Vo: ChatPRD: https://www.chatprd.ai/ Website: https://clairevo.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clairevo/ X: https://x.com/clairevo — In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Introduction to Lee (02:04) Understanding Cursor's three-panel interface (06:27) The importance of typed languages, linters, and tests (11:28) Demo: Using the agent to automatically fix lint errors (15:17) Running parallel coding tasks with the agent (18:50) Setting up custom rules (23:24) Understanding the different AI models (24:48) Micro-slicing agent chats for better success (27:22) Tips for effective agent usage (29:00) Using AI to improve your writing (35:47) Lightning round and final thoughts — Tools referenced: • Cursor: https://cursor.com/ • ChatGPT: https://chat.openai.com/ • JavaScript: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript • Python: https://www.python.org/ • TypeScript: https://www.typescriptlang.org/ • Git: https://git-scm.com/ — Other references: • Linting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lint_(software) — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/ . For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email jordan@penname.co.