Team Onboarding Guide: AI-Assisted Development with Cursor

Welcome to the Team! 🚀

This guide will help you get up and running with AI-assisted development using Cursor Pro. You’ll be productive with AI assistance within your first week.

Day 1: Setup & First Steps

✅ Setup Checklist

🎯 First AI Experience

Goal: Generate your first AI-assisted code

Exercise: Create a simple “Hello World” program

  1. Open Cursor and create a new file
  2. Press Ctrl+L to open AI Chat
  3. Ask: “Create a simple React component that displays ‘Hello World’”
  4. Let AI generate the code
  5. Ask follow-up questions to understand the generated code

Success Metric: You can generate and modify simple code through conversation

Day 2-3: Understanding AI Workflows

🤖 Chat vs Autocomplete

Chat Mode - Use for:

Autocomplete - Use for:

🧪 Mini Project: Calculator App

Build a simple calculator to practice both modes:

  1. Planning Phase (Chat): “Plan a calculator with add, subtract, multiply, divide functions”
  2. Implementation Phase (Autocomplete): Let AI complete function implementations
  3. Enhancement Phase (Chat): “Add error handling for division by zero”

Success Metric: You instinctively know which mode to use for different tasks

Day 4-5: Team Standards & Cursor Rules

📋 Review Team Standards

⚙️ Cursor Rules Setup

What are Cursor Rules? .cursorrules files that define AI behavior, coding standards, and project context.

Team Rules Location:

Exercise: Test team rules

  1. Ask AI to generate a component following team standards
  2. Verify it matches your team’s style
  3. Ask for improvements if needed

Success Metric: AI consistently generates code matching team standards

Day 6-7: First Real Task

🎯 Choose Your First Task

Select from:

🚀 AI-Assisted Development Workflow

  1. Plan: Use Chat to understand requirements
  2. Implement: Use Autocomplete for coding
  3. Review: Use AI to review your code
  4. Test: Ensure everything works
  5. Document: Update relevant documentation

📝 Task Completion Checklist

Success Metric: Complete your first task using AI assistance

Week 2: Building Confidence

🔍 Debugging with AI

Exercise: Debug an issue in the codebase

  1. Use Chat to understand the problem
  2. Ask AI to analyze error logs
  3. Generate fixes with AI assistance
  4. Test the solution thoroughly

📚 Learning New Technologies

Exercise: Learn a new library or framework

  1. Ask AI to explain the technology
  2. Generate example code
  3. Ask for best practices
  4. Build a small proof-of-concept

🤝 Team Collaboration

Week 3-4: Advanced Workflows

🏗️ Multi-File Refactoring

Exercise: Refactor a feature across multiple files

  1. Use @Files and @Folders for context
  2. Plan changes with AI assistance
  3. Implement refactoring incrementally
  4. Test thoroughly after each change

📊 Productivity Measurement

Track your progress:

🎯 Advanced Techniques

Common Challenges & Solutions

🚨 “I don’t know what to ask”

Solution: Start with “Explain this code” or “How would you improve this?”

🚨 “AI generates code I don’t understand”

Solution: Always ask “Explain this code step by step” after generation

🚨 “AI doesn’t follow our coding style”

Solution: Update your .cursorrules file with specific examples

🚨 “I’m becoming too dependent on AI”

Solution: Regularly code without AI assistance to maintain core skills

Team Resources

📚 Documentation

🛠️ Tools & Templates

👥 Team Contacts

Success Metrics & Checkpoints

✅ Week 1 Checkpoints

✅ Week 2 Checkpoints

✅ Week 3-4 Checkpoints

Next Steps

🎯 Immediate Actions

  1. Complete Day 1 setup checklist
  2. Generate your first AI-assisted code
  3. Review team standards and Cursor Rules
  4. Choose your first real task

🚀 Long-term Goals

📞 Getting Help

Welcome to the Future of Development! 🚀

You’re now part of a team that’s leveraging AI to build better software faster. Remember:

Ready to start? Let’s build something amazing together! 🎉

This guide is a living document. Contribute improvements and share your experiences!