Migrate from Cursor to Zed.
2 documentation-derived translation patterns — what carries over and what to watch for. Cited to the Feature Parity Map; the audit tells you whether the move is worth it.
Both run an in-editor AI agent that discovers context, edits files, and executes terminal commands until a task is done, then shows the changes for review. To consolidate off Zed's Agent Panel onto Cursor: open Composer with Cmd/Ctrl+I and toggle to Agent mode (Shift+Tab) — this is the direct equivalent of Zed's Agent Panel for codegen, refactoring, debugging, and docs. Bring the editor over first: Cursor is a VS Code fork with one-click import of settings, keybindings, and extensions, so the surrounding workspace matches before you retire Zed. Re-point any model preference in Cursor's model selector to match what you ran on Zed (Cursor pools Auto/Composer usage on paid plans, so you do not need a separate hosted-model subscription the way Zed-hosted models required). Move long-running or PR-handoff work to Cursor's Cloud Agents / Bugbot rather than expecting a like-for-like of Zed's local-only panel.
- Warning: Cursor's Cloud/background Agents and Bugbot run on Anysphere VMs and store code remotely, so they require a paid plan and legacy Privacy Mode OFF — a team that kept Zed's agent strictly local for compliance must keep that work in Cursor's in-editor (local) Agent mode and not adopt Cloud Agents.
- Warning: Billing model differs: Zed counts modified lines and bills hosted-model usage; Cursor Bugbot is usage-based (~$1.00-$1.50 per PR run) and Cloud Agents bill at API pricing — set a spend limit in Cursor before handing off heavy agent work.
- Warning: Some Microsoft-proprietary VS Code extensions (Remote-SSH, Live Share, certain C#/Pylance builds) are restricted in the Cursor fork; if a Zed workflow leaned on an equivalent, confirm a replacement exists before cutting over.
Both ship a proprietary next-edit prediction model you accept with the Tab key, going beyond line completion to multi-line and cross-file ripple edits. To consolidate off Zed onto Cursor: the workflow is already native in Cursor as Cursor Tab (always-on, accept with Tab, Tab-to-next-file jumps) — there is nothing to install. Have the engineer turn OFF Zed's edit prediction so the two do not fight (in Zed set 'show_edit_predictions' to false or switch the provider away from Zeta), then rely on Cursor Tab. If the team was on Zed only for prediction quota headroom, note Cursor's Pro tier gives extended/unlimited Tab so the 2,000-accepted-predictions/month cap on Zed's Free Personal plan stops being the constraint. No prediction history or model state needs to be exported — these are stateless per-keystroke suggestions, so the cut is clean once Zed's predictions are disabled.
- Warning: Zed lets you swap the prediction provider to GitHub Copilot, Codestral, or Mercury Coder; Cursor Tab is a single in-house model with no BYOK / provider-swap lever, so a team that deliberately ran Copilot-as-predictor inside Zed loses that choice on Cursor.
- Warning: Disable Zed's edit prediction (or fully uninstall Zed) before relying on Cursor — running both editors over the same files gives you two competing Tab suggestions.
- Warning: Cursor's free Hobby Tab is 'limited' with no published numeric quota; verify the team is on Pro before assuming unlimited Tab, otherwise heavy users may hit Cursor-side throttling instead of Zed's old 2,000/month cap.