A very long time in the past, in a galaxy far, distant, I used to be a CTO of a big, fast-growing public firm. Properly, I used to be a Quasi CTO in the identical method the USA and the First French Republic had a Quasi Warfare between 1798 and 1800 (mainly, kind of a conflict; kind of a CTO … however probably not.)
As I rediscover my second love (my past love is Amy), I’ve relied on a number of mentors to assist information me. One in all them is Michael Natkin, who has been serving to me with Cursor within the background at a number of key moments.
He not too long ago despatched me his most up-to-date Vibecoding immediate for Cursor, which builds on a tweet by @vasumanmoza.
Given all of the issues I’ve realized about what works and doesn’t work, usually by trial and error (and rolling again issues when Cursor+Claude go off the rails), Michael’s strategy was a pleasant enchancment over the place I had gotten to. So – sharing it under (with Michael’s permission).
I like to recommend utilizing Claude Sonnet 4, and you are able to do all of this solely in Cursor. This is applicable whether or not you’re making a greenfield undertaking or making a considerable change to an current one. You possibly can repeat the method with architecture2.md, tasks2.md as wanted, don’t throw them away.
You should definitely set up the Puppeteer MCP so it may possibly check within the browser.
Overview
- Do the structure step, see under
- Assessment structure.md, and make any adjustments you need – both by hand modifying, asking for adjustments, or beginning over. Significantly notice whether it is overcomplicating issues, and ask for the simplifications you need.
- Do the duty planning step, see under
- Assessment duties.md, and make any adjustments you need – both by hand modifying, asking for adjustments, or beginning over. It is best to find yourself with, sa,y no less than 10 steps, and sometimes 25 or extra. It is going to usually organize them in phases, which is sweet. Once more, search for and proper extra complication.
- Begin a brand new chat
- Give it the coding step immediate. It ought to execute the primary job very cheerfully.
- After it’s accomplished, evaluate it after which say “go” to get the subsequent step. If it screwed up, you may both inform it to repair no matter it did improper, or extra often restore checkpoint in cursor, and inform it one thing like “go, however use litellm for that” or no matter it’s essential be totally different.
- Rinse and repeat!
- Optionally, esp. If you’re going to be away for some time, you may sa,y “I’m going to be afk for a bit. You possibly can preserve occurring steps with out ready for me so long as each the handbook and automatic assessments cross.” It is going to nonetheless cease after 25 steps or if it ignores you and runs one thing interactive, however it usually makes numerous progress.
- Extremely really helpful: run /Generate Cursor Guidelines after every step
One thing I haven’t tried but, however ought to work properly – inform it to mark what’s full in duties.md, so you can begin contemporary chats periodically and never preserve such an enormous message historical past.
Structure Step – Greenfield
I’m constructing a [description of your product – the more detailed the better].
[Any tech requirements, i.e. use Python for backend and React + Material-UI for the frontend. The more the better.]
Put the total structure in structure.md
– File + folder construction
– What every half does
– The place the state lives, how providers join
Format this whole doc in Markdown.
Structure Step – Present Codebase
I need to modify this codebase in order that it performs [whatever].
Do your entire work constantly with the present model and structure.
Put the total structure in structure.md
– File + folder construction
– What every half does
– The place the state lives, how providers join
Format this whole doc in Markdown.
Activity Planning Step
Utilizing that structure, write a granular step-by-step plan to construct the MVP.
Every job ought to:
– Be extremely small + testable – it ought to each have unit assessments which you can run, and likewise a handbook check which you can run from the command line or utilizing the browser software
– Have a transparent begin + finish
– Give attention to one concern
I’ll be passing this off to an engineering LLM that’ll be instructed to finish one job at a time, permitting me to check in between.
Put it aside as duties.md.
Coding Step
You’re an engineer constructing this codebase.
You’ve been given @duties.md and @structure.md
– Learn each rigorously. There must be no ambiguity about what we’re constructing.
– Comply with duties.md and full one job at a time, then run the automated assessments you’ve written and use the command line or browser software to manually check
– After every job is accomplished, cease. I’ll check it and evaluate your code. If it really works, decide to git and transfer to the subsequent one.”
You might be already within the appropriate listing. Construct the undertaking right here. DO NOT CREATE A SUBDIRECTORY.
You’ve gotten my permission to delete information IN THIS DIRECTORY with out asking for approval.
BE VERY CAREFUL by no means to run any interactive instructions within the foreground, since you’ll be caught. For instance, remember to run the event server as soon as, within the background with scorching reloading.
