🤖Step 4: Getting familiar with Cursor
Get to know the Cursor AI panel — the control room for your indicator magic. We’ll guide you through its modes, buttons, and little tricks to speed up your workflow (and keep things fun).
To open the Cursor AI panel, press Ctrl+L or click the icon in the top right corner of the Cursor IDE (see Picture #1).
This will open the chat interface — your command center for talking to the AI (yes, it listens — and it’s surprisingly helpful). In Cursor version 1.3.9, there are three available modes: Agent, Ask, and Background (see Picture #2).
Choosing Your AI Mode
Each one plays a different role in your coding adventure.
Agent Mode
Think of it as your AI pair programmer. It sees your project, suggests edits, and you can thumbs-up or thumbs-down its ideas like a benevolent overlord.
Ask Mode
Your Q&A corner. Need to know how a moving average works? Why your code screams in red? Ask away.
Background Mode
This one works behind the scenes. Cursor quietly watches your code and offers suggestions only when relevant. It won’t interrupt you — unless it has something genuinely useful to say. The real magic? You can feed Cursor extra context from your files or docs — like giving it caffeine for smarter replies.
For now, select Agent Mode.
Choosing the Right Brain for the Job
Next to the mode selector, you’ll also see an AI model dropdown. Just leave it on Auto for now — let Cursor pick the right brain for the job (see Picture #3).
Quick warning:
Skip Gemini. Cursor and Gemini aren’t exactly BFFs — context issues, buggy behavior, you name it. If you do want to pick a model manually, stick to Claude or OpenAI. Cursor was trained to jam with them, and the experience is smooth.
Once you’ve taken this quick tour, you’re all set to dive into building your first custom indicator. Next step — sleeves up (real or metaphorical) and let’s create something awesome for FTO.
Last updated