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Windsurf

Windsurf is an AI IDE built on the VS Code base with a focus on agentic coding workflows — the Cascade agent plans and executes multi-step changes autonomously.

Windsurf — explained in more detail

Windsurf, formerly known as Codeium, is a standalone AI development environment built on Visual Studio Code. Where other AI editors mostly live as an extension alongside the editor, Windsurf is designed around the agent idea from the ground up.

Cascade — the agent at the centre

The signature feature is Cascade: an agent that takes a task, plans the steps, and carries them out on its own — reading files, writing code, running commands. Memories store relevant project context across sessions so Windsurf does not start from scratch on follow-up tasks.

Differences from Cursor

Cursor and Windsurf share the VS Code base and deep AI integration. The focus differs: Cursor leans more towards interactive inline editing and tab autocomplete, while Windsurf emphasises longer autonomous agent runs. Both major model families (Claude, GPT) are available in both tools.

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