Exploring Cursor: Browsing the Web for Resources using @Web
This chapter is taken from my book, "AI Assisted Coding for iOS Development". You can buy it to learn further about Cursor:
I still cannot digest the fact it has only been three months since the launch of Claude 3.5 Sonnet. But it has one major limitation: it cannot browse the web. That meant I had to leave Xcode every time I needed to look up something.
I was live-streaming with my friend Ray when he introduced me to this feature that Cursor can browse the web directly!
He mentioned that Cursor has a command called "@web" that lets you search the internet without leaving the editor. This means you can access the information you need right where you are working. For someone like me, who hates switching back and forth between apps, this sounded amazing.
Using @web to Fetch the iOS 18 Zoom Transition API
During the live stream, I was working on a project using SwiftUI and wanted to use the new Zoom transition available in iOS 18. Normally, I would open a browser, search through Apple's documentation, and probably get distracted along the way. And as usual, Apple's documentation about it was empty. You only find want you want by watching the WWDC sessions.
This time though, I used Cursor. I typed @web in the Cursor composer and asked it to find information on the iOS 18 Zoom transition API.
Within seconds, Cursor brought the details directly into my workspace, and updated the relevant views with it.
What I love most about Cursor's @Web feature is that it does not interrupt my thought process. I stay focused and keep coding.
Another example we did during the livestream was finding sample images for your project. Instead of searching through countless websites, I simply typed @Web and asked for sample placeholder images. Cursor pulled ten URLs of images from Unsplash and I knew that is where I would have downloaded it from. It kind of knew exactly where to look.
Moving Forward
As I have always mentioned in my Cursor-related posts, I want to reduce friction. I want to save time, and reduce the frustration of switching between apps. If you frequently look up documentation, code examples, or public assets, @Web can make your life a bit easier.
Happy Cursoring!