AI development in the browser with bolt.new & Cursor deep dive

bolt.new - AI web development in the browser

Recently, a new AI dev product was announced. Essentially, bolt.new aims to do the same thing as other tools, such as Cursor or Replit Agent: build software faster.

People are calling it the “Cursor killer”, but I don’t think it’s a fair comparison. Let’s look at the differences between Cursor, Replit Agent, and bolt.new, so you can choose the right tool.

Cursor

Cursor is an AI code editor primarily aimed at developers. To use it, you need some coding knowledge. While non-technical people have been able to build cool things with Cursor, it involves a lot of guesswork and trial-and-error.

As a developer, it made me faster and more efficient. With that said, it only handles coding tasks. It doesn’t help with deployments (launching your app), hosting, or other aspects.

TL;DR: You are fully in charge, while Cursor acts as an assistant. You can see everything that’s happening and modify every piece of it.

Replit Agent

With Replit Agent, the workflow is:

• You describe the app in plain English

• Replit Agent takes care of setting up the environment, installing dependencies, development, deployments, etc.

Cursor focuses on improving the coding experience, while Replit Agent aims to automate the entire development lifecycle.

TL;DR: The AI is in charge. It’s harder to control every step and debug it.

Bolt.new

Bolt.new is similar to Replit Agent. It runs in the browser and handles the entire development process.

It’s great for simple MVPs, prototypes, and small projects, but not suitable for large projects. Bolt.new struggles with complex logic, database configurations, and iterating on existing code.

TL;DR: Similar to Replit Agent, the AI handles everything. You have very little control over code revisions and iterations.

Conclusion

If you’re not a developer and want to build a simple app (e.g. to-do app), try out Replit Agent or bolt.new. With complex apps, nothing beats Cursor.

Although Cursor has a steeper learning curve, it’s a much more powerful tool. You won’t regret investing the time to learn it.

The Cursor team talks about AI coding

On the topic of Cursor, the team behind it did a 2.5-hour podcast, diving deep into Cursor features, coding with AI, and the future of programming.

Here are some highlights from the conversation:

My guess is that we will see a lot more AI development tools in the coming year. Each of them slightly different, but with the same goal: make development faster, cheaper, and more accessible.

I’m not sure that AI will ever be able to fully automate development. What are your thoughts on it?

Until next time,
Constantin