Cursor use cases

Prototyping & DesignCoding & Engineering

Terry Lin built Cooper's Corner, a voice-powered Apple Watch and iPhone fitness app, by combining low-tech index-card prototyping with a structured AI coding workflow in Cursor and Xcode.

Outcome: He turned rough workout-logging friction into a working multi-device app workflow while keeping the AI coding process bounded by requirements, review, commits, and refactoring.

Coding & EngineeringMarketing & Content

Lee Robinson uses Cursor as a quality-control agent for code and ChatGPT as a style editor for sharper, less generic writing.

Outcome: The useful result is a workflow where AI checks work against explicit standards instead of simply producing more code or copy.

Creative MediaResearch & Analysis

Built AI workflows for documentary post-production at Florentine Films: a searchable media database for archival assets, an iOS field-research app for physical archives, and a Mac OCR tool for difficult historical documents.

Outcome: Turns tedious archival logging into structured, searchable research material. Images, video, audio, physical archive photos, and hard-to-read documents become easier to describe, tag, search, and reuse in documentary storytelling.

Business OperationsPrototyping & Design

Uses AI to connect product management artifacts: turning PRDs into clearer Jira tickets, implementation-ready tasks, and prototypes that help teams move from product thinking to execution faster.

Outcome: Shows how PMs can reduce the handoff gap between strategy, requirements, design, and engineering by using AI to translate a product idea into more structured artifacts for the team to review and build from.

Prototyping & Design

Built ProtoDash, an AI-powered internal prototyping studio that brings Stripe’s design system into AI-generated prototypes, helping designers and PMs create high-fidelity clickable prototypes instead of generic AI output.

Outcome: Turns AI prototyping from generic “blurple slop” into on-brand, shareable Stripe prototypes; supports live demos instead of static memos, helps PMs prototype, and streamlines design feedback and engineering handoff.

Prototyping & Design

Uses Cursor as a creative partner for design exploration: generating visual styles, building interactive prototypes like a working piano with sound, and refining rough AI-generated interfaces into more polished designs.

Outcome: Gives designers a faster way to explore aesthetics, prototype real interactions, and practice giving better feedback to AI. Instead of stopping at static mockups, Elizabeth uses code-based tools to create things people can click, hear, test, and iterate on.

Life SystemsPersonal Productivity

Runs a personal life-automation system from Claude Code, using terminal workflows, iPhone Shortcuts, Obsidian, and Cursor to plan her day, capture tasks, manage preferences, automate returns, and create anonymized demos.

Outcome: Turns scattered life admin into small, personal tools that fit the way she already works. Instead of adopting a rigid productivity system, Hilary uses Claude Code to build lightweight workflows around her real routines.

Marketing & ContentPersonal Productivity

Uses AI to build a modern content and marketing operating system: tools that help generate timely meme ideas, vibe-coded lead magnets, and a Raspberry Pi bedside keyboard that captures late-night ideas into email or Linear.

Outcome: Turns creative marketing from a manual brainstorming loop into a set of small systems. Jason uses AI to spot formats, generate variations, ship useful mini-tools, and capture ideas before they disappear.