What is agentic coding?
Agentic coding is building software by directing AI agents instead of writing every line yourself. You give an agent a goal, and it plans the work, edits code, runs commands, and verifies the result while you guide and review.
How does agentic coding work?
You start with a prompt that describes the goal and any constraints. The agent uses tools to search code, edit files, and run the terminal, then reads each result before its next step. Grounding the prompt in real files and patterns produces better output. Plan mode lets you review the approach before the agent writes any code.
Where is agentic coding headed?
Agentic coding arrived in three steps:
- Tab autocomplete handled repetitive edits one suggestion at a time.
- Synchronous agents could hold more context and run longer, so developers directed them through prompt-and-response loops.
- Autonomous agents now take on larger tasks over hours with less direction.
Agent usage in Cursor has grown more than 15x in the past year. The Cursor Developer Habits Report tracks how agentic coding is changing across millions of developer sessions.
From here, agents are starting to run for hours and coordinate with each other. Developers use them to build larger software systems, and even self-driving codebases that keep improving with little intervention.
What is agentic engineering?
Agentic engineering is the industry's way of working out what software engineering looks like when most code is written by coding agents, and our systems need to be redesigned to take advantage of AI. It's an evolution of the software engineering practices we already rely on, aimed at cutting drudge work and shifting engineers' time toward higher-value tasks. One example is speeding up debugging and incident triage during on-call, so engineers can find the root cause faster.
How do I start agentic coding in Cursor?
Open Agent mode and describe a task in plain language. For larger work, use Plan mode to review the approach first, then let the agent build. Hand long-running tasks to Cloud Agents so they keep going while you do other work.