101 Cursor AI

Learning to use for Java Enterprise projects

“Two basic rules of life are:
1) Change is inevitable.
2) Everybody resists change.”
- W. Edwards Deming

“Quality comes not from inspection, but from improvement of the production process.”
- W. Edwards Deming

"If you can't describe what you are doing as a process, you don't know what you're doing."
- W. Edwards Deming

The father of Total Quality

Edwards William Deming (1900-1993)

Poll

Can you raise your hand ✋, if you use Intellij Idea Ultimate?

Poll

Can you raise your hand ✋, if you have tried Cursor AI?

Agenda

• Who I am
• Context
• Reviewing the IDE I
• Reviewing the IDE II
• Demo
• Value proposition
• Impact in Agile workflows
• Takeaways
• References
• Q&A

Agenda

• Who I am
• Context (5min)
• Reviewing the IDE I (5min)
• Reviewing the IDE II (25min)
• Demo (10min)
• Value proposition (5min)
• Impact in Agile workflows (5min)
• Takeaways (5min)
• References
• Q&A

Context

https://www.cursor.com/

Context

Cursor version used for the talk:

ThoughtWorks Radar 2025Q1 // Tools

Reviewing the IDE I

General idea about Cursor:

Reviewing the IDE I

Why?

Add new tools in large companies is a hard task.

So, share some enterprise features is a good way to facilitate the adoption of a new tool.

Reviewing the IDE I

• Security features
  • Privacy mode
  • Trust
• Enterprise features
  • Business account
  • Budget management
  • Team management
  • Team metrics
• Product evolution
  • Velocity

Reviewing the IDE I

• Security features
• Enterprise features
• Product evolution

Reviewing the IDE I

• Security features
  • Privacy mode
  • Trust

Privacy mode

Note: with a Pro account, the developer needs to disable. But with a Business account, this feature is handle at the organization level.

Trust

Cursor operates a continuously monitored and 3rd-party audited security program.

SOC 2 is a compliance framework used to evaluate and validate an organizations information security practices.

Reviewing the IDE I

• Enterprise features
  • Business account
  • Budget management
  • Team management
  • Team metrics

Business account

• Enforce privacy mode org-wide
• SAML/OIDC SSO

Budget management

Set a monthly budget for the team:

Team management

Set up your team:

Team metrics

How much your team are using Cursor?

Product evolution

• Velocity

Velocity

Cursor Dev team delivers new features every 1/2 weeks. (Lighweight patches) 🔥🔥🔥

							
                                git rev-list --count HEAD \
                                    -- docs/images/review/cursor-version.png

                                git log --pretty=format:"%ad" --date=iso \
                                    -- docs/images/review/cursor-version.png
							
						

Reviewing the IDE I

Summary

• Using business accounts for enterprise scenarios has features to enforce to not upload customer data
• Using business accounts has features to define a Monthly budget for your team.
• Cursor is audited by 3rd parties. (SOC2)
• PRO accounts are nice to begin, OSS and for side projects. (Limited time / Limited Premium requests required)

Reviewing the IDE II

General idea about Cursor:

Reviewing the IDE II

WHY

Discover the new features were added to a specific IDE product in compare with tradictional IDEs, with the idea to perceive the benefits.

Reviewing the IDE II

• Developer features
  • Tab model
  • Review changes (Cursor PR)
• Context features
  • Settings
  • Models
  • Cursor rules
  • Modes (Agent, Ask, Manual)
  • Symbols
  • MCP Servers

Reviewing the IDE II

• Developer features
  • Tab model
  • Review changes (Cursor PR)

Tab model

Tab completion in Cursor is powered by advanced AI models that understand your code context. As you type, you'll receive intelligent suggestions that:

• Complete your current line of code
• Suggest entire function implementations
• Help with common patterns and boilerplate
• Adapt to your coding style over time

Review changes

Note: If your are going to implement a complex tasks with the help of a LLM, please commit previous work.

Reviewing the IDE II

• Context features
  • Settings
  • Models
  • Cursor rules
  • Modes (Agent, Ask, Manual)
  • Symbols
  • MCP Servers

Settings / Codebase Indexing

Note: Review the usage of .cursorignore file to avoid indexing sensitive data.

Settings / Docs

Help Cursor with the right documentation associated with your project/repository.

Models

Cursor provides access to main Commercial LLMs

Cursor rules

Using rules in Cursor you can control the behavior of the underlying model. You can think of it as instructions and/or a system prompt for LLMs.

Cursor rules

Analogy: In the organizations, exist a specific expert set of roles with the title of IT Champions who define the guidelines for a specific Technology, in our case Java.

• https://google.github.io/styleguide/javaguide.html

Cursor rules

Cursor rules

Where I can find cursor rules?

• https://github.com/PatrickJS/awesome-cursorrules/
• https://cursor.directory/

Note: The previous links share .cursorrules files.
Note: Now, it is possible to create your own rules from Cursor.

Cursor rules

Where I can find specific cursor rules for Java?

• https://github.com/jabrena/cursor-rules-java

How to apply them in my repository? $(pwd).cursor/rules

							
								sdk install jbang

								jbang cache clear
								jbang catalog list jabrena

								jbang setup@jabrena init --cursor java
							
						

If you have good ideas, PRs are welcome. 🙏🙏🙏

Modes

Natural language interface for exploring, editing, and managing code with contextual AI assistance in Chat mode.

Ask Mode

• Ask questions about specific code sections
• Get explanations of complex functions
• Find code patterns and examples
• Discover and understand your codebase

Source: https://docs.cursor.com/get-started/introduction

Ask Mode

2000's	2010's	2024+
Books	Google, StackOverflow, Blogs, etc...	ChatGPT, Cloude, Gemini...

Agent Mode

• Make codebase-wide changes and refactoring
• Implement new features from requirements
• Debug complex issues across multiple files
• Generate tests and documentation
• Maintain consistency across your entire project

Source: https://docs.cursor.com/get-started/introduction

Agent Mode

Example to fix a test:

Agent Mode

Example for prototyping:

Symbols

You can help LLMs increasing awareness linking to the prompt, aspects like: Java classes, Diagrams (Images/Text), Logs with Error traces, etc.

MCP Severs

Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open protocol that standardizes how applications provide context to LLMs.

MCP Severs

Think of MCP as a plugin system for Cursor:

MCP Severs

MCP Severs

How to configure MCP:

MCP Severs

How to configure MCP: (~/.cursor/mcp.json)

							
                                {
                                    "mcpServers": {
                                        "Stopwatch MCP": {
                                            "command": "jbang",
                                            "args": [
                                                "stopwatch-mcp@jabrena"
                                            ]
                                        },
                                        "jvminsight": {
                                            "command": "jbang",
                                            "args": [
                                                "jvminsight@mcp-java"
                                            ]
                                        }
                                    }
                                }
							
						

MCP Severs

Where I can find useful MCP Servers?

• https://smithery.ai/

Where I can find useful MCP Servers in Java?

MCP Severs

• Verify the sources of your local MCP servers
• Verify that you are using local MCP servers closed releases

Reviewing the IDE II

Summary

• Cursor Ask mode reduces time in order to solve doubts and Cursor Agent mode is a game changer to implement tasks in an unattended way.
• Cursor has several ways to facilite the context to LLMs.
• Cursor Rules is a new way to customize the LLMs behaviour.
• MPC Servers has the potential to help in some Dev actions that previously required manual actions.

Demo

• Scenario
• Detailed prompts
• Tasks management

Scenario

The starting point:

                                
                                    Feature: Greek Gods API
                                    As an API consumer
                                    I want to retrieve information about Greek gods
                                    So that I can use this data in my application

                                    Background:
                                    Given the Greek Gods API service is running
                                    And the API base URL is "http://localhost:8080"

                                    Scenario: Successfully retrieve all Greek gods
                                    When I send a GET request to "/api/v1/gods/greek"
                                    Then the response status code should be 200
                                    And the response should be in JSON format
                                    And the response should contain a list of Greek gods
                                    And each god in the response should have the following attributes:
                                        | attribute | type    |
                                        | id        | integer |
                                        | name      | string  |

                                    ...
                                
                            

Detailed prompts

Develop a new Microservice requires to review multiple aspects:

Detailed prompts

And model the solution and adhere to an architectural approach. (Example: C4 Model)

							
								docker run -it --rm -p 9000:8080 -v \
								$(pwd)/structurizr:/usr/local/structurizr \
								structurizr/onpremises:2024.12.07

								open http://localhost:9000
							
						

Detailed prompts

Detailed prompts

Detailed prompts

Detailed prompts

Detailed prompts

Detailed prompts

And gather all the required information to build the new service:

• UML Sequence Diagram about the system
• Gherkin scenarios
• Open API Specification for the new service
• Open API Specification for the third party service
• Database schema design

Detailed prompts

If you decide to start a development using a Prompt, you should reduce the ambiguity in some technical decisions delegated to the LLM to increase the code quality generated, less loops and less tokens.

Detailed prompts

Some technical decisions in Spring Boot projects:

Detailed prompts

Some technical decisions in Quarkus projects:

Detailed prompts

Use the @20250320-1.md as Prompt and analyze implement & test the following images to understand the required development.

Detailed prompts

Detailed prompts are fine, but exist executions where the LLMs enter in severals loops. (It is not a 100% reliable process for large prompts)

Detailed prompts

So..

How to solve the problem with large prompts and have the capacity to interact more in the process?

Tasks management

Just stop saying "one shot"

Tasks management

Change the point of view: From a large prompt to a set of tasks.

Tasks management

• https://github.com/jabrena/cursor-rules-tasks

How to apply them in my repository? $(pwd).cursor/rules

							
								sdk install jbang

								jbang cache clear
								jbang catalog list jabrena

								jbang setup@jabrena init --cursor tasks
							
						

Many thanks to @EyalToledano, @elie2222 & @ryancarson for the ideas about Task management in Cursor.

Tasks management

Step 1: Create a Product Requirements Document (PRD)

Use the rule @1000-create-prd.mdc Here's the feature @20250506-1.md

Tasks management

Step 2: Create a Product Requirements Document (PRD)

Take @PRD-GREEK-GODS-SERVICE.md and create the tasks using the rule @1001-generate-tasks-from-prd.mdc

Tasks management

Step 3: Implement the different tasks

Start on 1.1 and use the rule @1002-task-list.mdc

Tasks management

What is the "State of the art" in Tasks management?

Value proposition

Value proposition

The Circle (Right side) - Customer Profile:

• Customer Jobs:
  • What customers are trying to get done
• Gains:
  • The benefits/outcomes customers want to achieve
• Pains:
  • The negative experiences, risks, and obstacles customers face

Value proposition

The Square (Left side) - Value Proposition Map:

• Products and Services:
  • The items and services you offer
• Gain Creators:
  • How your offering creates customer gains
• Pain Relievers:
  • How your offering alleviates customer pains

Value proposition

• Customer Jobs: What customers are trying to get done (Software Engineer)
  • Writing and maintaining code
  • Debugging and troubleshooting
  • Code review and documentation
  • Learning new technologies

Value proposition

Dunning-Kruger effect

Value proposition

Cognitive load

All lines of code generated by any LLM must to be mastered by the team. (Mandatory)

Value proposition

• Customer Jobs: What customers are trying to get done (Software Engineer)
  • Critical Analysis:
    • Not all development tasks benefit from AI
    • Some tasks require human creativity
    • Complex architectural decisions need human insights

Value proposition

• Gains: The benefits/outcomes customers want to achieve (Software Engineer)
  • Faster development cycles
  • Improved code consistency
  • Better documentation practices
  • Learning from AI suggestions
  • Better tests

Value proposition

• Pains: The negative experiences, risks, and obstacles customers face (Software Engineer)
  • Time spent on repetitive coding tasks
  • Documentation burden
  • Code maintenance challenges
  • Learning curve for new technologies

Impact in Agile workflows

Cursor improve the build/code phase.

Impact in Agile workflows

But.. it is not the problem of Cursor if your Dev culture doesn't include: Pair programming, Collective Code Ownership, A wrong team size, others...

Impact in Agile workflows

Cursor doesn't affect the XP Workflow

Impact in Agile workflows

Cursor doesn't affect the Scrum Workflow

Checklist to review in your Dev quality of the company:

• [ ] Are you Squads well balanced?
• [ ] Do you have any mentoring policy for entry roles?
• [ ] Do you practice Pair programming as a regular practice?
• [ ] Do you run healthy code reviews in the PRs?
• [ ] Do you have policies to avoid Silos?
• [ ] Do you have a culture of Knowledge sharing?
• [ ] Do you have policies to handle Technical debt?
• [ ] Do you have documents about Definition of Done.

Takeaways

• Cursor AI and other IDEs with AI capabilities are innovating in the IDE market for Java.
• Cursor Rules for Java could be considered as an evolution of the classical Java Style guides, but it has more potential capabilities.
• Using Tasks are a balanced solution to delegate features to LLMs and get control in any moment for Software Engineers.
• LLMs doesn't return the same results for the same Prompt.

Takeaways

• Senior software engineers could take more benefits than Junior developers using this kind of new features.
• If you work with Early-adopter technologies, commercial LLMs wil not provide good answers. (Example: TornadoVM questions)
• A key aspect to be considered to adopt Cursor AI/others is the Dev Quality culture of the company.

References

Effective Java

Java Concurrency in Practice

Concurrenct programming in Java

Unit Testing

Fifty quick ideas to improve your tests

Mockito made clear

Mockito Cookbook

Instant Mockito

Unit Testing

Test Driven Development: By Example

Specification by Example

Extreme Programming Explained

New proposals...

Quarkus in action