I Canceled My Cursor Subscription After a Year. Here’s Why.
The coding workflow that replaced my IDE and why terminals are winning in 2026
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I’ve officially canceled my Cursor subscription.
Now, before you think I’m being dramatic, hear me out.
I’ve been coding for over a decade. I started when you had to do everything from scratch and learn everything the hard way. So when AI coding tools showed up, I wasn’t some skeptic sitting on the sidelines. I was all in.
But the tools have evolved. And my workflow has evolved with them. Cursor just doesn’t fit anymore.
Let me walk you through how I got here.
The ChatGPT Era was mind-blowing but messy
The first time I used ChatGPT to generate code, my mind was blown. I was imagining all the possibilities this would bring to the craft.
But like so many other developers have experienced, the problem was context.
You had to constantly switch between the ChatGPT interface and your code editor. You’d copy and paste files. You’d copy and paste chunks from different areas of your codebase. ChatGPT didn’t know about your other functions. You were trying to add enough business context and details to get the right answer.
This was a huge deal for me because I was working on a Windows App project, and I didn’t really know how to do it. I was relying on ChatGPT to give me the right answer, since I was copying and pasting XML.
It worked. But it was clunky.
Cursor changed the game (at first)
When I tried Cursor for the first time, it felt like the next step. It was basically ChatGPT inside your editor. It could get the context of your code, so you could ask more precise questions. You could pass in different files and get answers that actually made sense for your project.
It was absolutely game-changing.
But here’s the thing. It still didn’t understand the entire project. It could understand enough of each file to sort of figure out what you were asking. And that was valuable. Really valuable.
That’s when I saw it: once AI understands your whole codebase, real automation begins. We weren’t there yet, but we were heading in that direction.
So I bought a one-year subscription.
Then I discovered terminal-based agents.
As soon as I started using Cursor, new tools like Claude Code, Codex, and Gemini were released. You can run all of these directly from your terminal.
And the workflow was completely different.
You could open as many terminals as you want. Pass certain terminals specific context. Create markdown files using one context. Use a separate terminal to reference that data. It became an entire flow where the possibilities felt endless.
The biggest shift? I wasn’t even in the IDE anymore. I was just in the terminal that comes with my computer. I was running cross-checks between different “agents of code” inside the terminal.
That’s when I thought, “The possibilities here are way bigger than anything an IDE can offer.”
The Slow Breakup With Cursor
Now, one thing that kept me around was VS Code itself. As we know, Cursor is a fork of VS Code. I was very comfortable in that UI. My workflow became using Claude Code in the terminal to write code and then reviewing it in Cursor.
That worked fine for a while.
But then my workflow evolved even more. I started running multiple instances of Claude Code simultaneously with Claude Code Max. I could focus on different features that wouldn’t interact with one another. I set up git worktrees or used multiple clones of the same repo, depending on the need.
I could now code and manage multiple things across multiple projects. Evaluate what’s going right and what’s going wrong. All at once.
And I was still opening the cursor to review the code.
That’s when the question hit me: Why am I paying for Cursor when all I’m using it for is code review?
If I just want a VS Code experience to review my code, I can use VS Code. It’s free. Cursor is literally a fork of it. I wasn’t using any of Cursor’s AI features. I had four terminals on my screen and four more running off to the side. They were all doing the work.
The math stopped making sense.
Terminals Are Where Agents Are Winning
Right now, terminal-based coding agents are the hot topic for developers.
Tools like Claude Code are powerful. There are also alternatives like OpenCode. It’s just as capable and lets you use any model you want. You’re not locked into one ecosystem.
I’m sticking with Claude Code. I have Claude Code Max, so I’m not switching models. But the point is this: the terminal is the new IDE for AI-assisted coding. The agents live there. The flexibility lives there.
Your code editor? That’s becoming the place where you review, not where you build.
My 2026 Setup
So for 2026, I’m going with one of two options:
VS Code is the safe, familiar choice. It’s free. It’s what I know. It does exactly what I need for code review.
Zed is the wild card. I know it’s lightweight. I know it’s kind of cool. But I’m not 100% sold on it yet. It’s actually lighter than something like VS Code, but I’ve got plenty of RAM, so that’s not a dealbreaker. I’m looking for a setup that boosts my workflow and improves my efficiency throughout the project.
I’m still testing. Still figuring it out.
The Bigger Picture
And honestly, that’s what makes this moment so exciting. These workflows are brand new. Everyone is trying to figure it out at the same time. The way we write code in 2026 looks nothing like it did even a year ago.
If you’re still locked into one tool or one workflow, now is the time to experiment. The game has changed. And it’s going to keep changing.
I’d love to hear what your 2026 setup looks like. What tools are you using? How do you have things organized? Drop a comment! I’m curious how other developers are handling this change.
Until next time,
Cheers friends
Eric Roby
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