From Emacs to Cursor, the end of your IDEs is near
The article argues that traditional local IDEs like Emacs and VSCode are being replaced by AI-powered cloud-based development environments such as Cursor, which offer deeper AI integration, real-time collaboration, and remote computing capabilities, signaling a shift in how developers write and manage code.
Background
- The article argues that traditional local IDEs (Integrated Development Environments) like Emacs, VS Code, and JetBrains products are becoming obsolete because of AI coding tools.
- Key players mentioned: Cursor (an AI-native code editor), Windsurf (another AI coding tool), Emacs (the decades-old extensible text editor known for its Lisp-based customization), and VS Code (Microsoft's widely used open-source editor).
- The core thesis: AI agents that autonomously modify code, manage project context, and interact through natural language or terminal commands make the traditional "manual editing in a window" paradigm unnecessary.
- More controversially, the author predicts that even AI-native IDEs like Cursor will be replaced by standalone AI coding agents that don't need a visible editor at all—a shift from "AI-assisted coding" to "AI agents that code for you."