How to Use Cursor (or Windsurf) with a Nicheloom Spec to Build Production-Ready SaaS

Cursor and Windsurf sit in a different category from Bolt.new and Lovable. They're AI-enhanced code editors, not app builders — you write and own every file, the AI assists rather than generates the whole project. That distinction matters when you're building something you intend to maintain, scale, and charge real money for.

Nicheloom's build kit includes a spec prompt specifically structured for Cursor and Windsurf. This post explains how to use it, how to configure your editor for the best results, and how this approach compares to using Claude Code with the CLAUDE.md file.

Cursor and Windsurf: what they actually are

Cursor is a fork of VS Code with AI built into the editor at a deeper level than GitHub Copilot. You can chat with your codebase, ask it to implement features, review diffs, and refactor across multiple files — all within the familiar VS Code interface.

Windsurf (by Codeium) is a similar product with a slightly different approach to context management. Its "Flow" mode keeps a running understanding of what you've been working on across a session, which reduces how much you have to re-explain context as a conversation gets longer.

Both are solid tools. If you already use VS Code, Cursor is the lower-friction starting point. If you're coming fresh, either works well.

The difference from Claude Code

Claude Code is a terminal-based tool that operates on your project directory autonomously — you describe a task, it reads files, writes code, runs commands, and reports back. It's optimised for longer-horizon tasks and works particularly well with the Superpowers plugin and the CLAUDE.md spec Nicheloom generates.

Cursor and Windsurf are chat interfaces inside a code editor. You stay in control of every action; the AI suggests and you accept or reject. That's a lower-risk workflow for builders who want to understand every change as it happens, rather than reviewing a batch of changes after the fact.

Neither is strictly better — they suit different working styles.

Setting up Cursor for a Nicheloom project

Step 1: Scaffold the project. Before opening Cursor, create a basic Next.js project:

npx create-next-app@latest my-project --typescript --tailwind --app
cd my-project

Set up Supabase (or your preferred database), install Prisma or the Supabase client, and install any other dependencies your stack needs. Do this before involving the AI — giving Cursor a working scaffold to build on produces much better results than asking it to set up infrastructure from scratch.

Step 2: Add a .cursorrules file. This file lives in your project root and gives Cursor persistent context about your project. Paste the Nicheloom Cursor spec prompt here.

The spec prompt includes:

• Product overview and target customer
• Tech stack decisions and why they were made
• Core data models
• Feature list prioritised for the MVP
• Code style preferences (TypeScript strict mode, no default exports, etc.)
• What not to do (common antipatterns for this type of app)

Cursor reads .cursorrules at the start of every conversation. It's equivalent to briefing a new engineer on the codebase every time — except it takes zero effort on your part.

Step 3: Start with data models. Don't ask Cursor to build features before the data model exists. Ask it to create your Prisma schema (or Supabase migrations) first, review the output against the data model in the spec, then run migrations before writing any application code.

Getting the data model right first means every feature Cursor generates afterward is built on a stable foundation.

Step 4: Build one feature at a time. Give Cursor one specific task per conversation: "implement the user authentication flow using NextAuth with Google OAuth", "build the dashboard page with these three stat cards and a data table", "add the Stripe checkout flow for the monthly subscription".

Broad prompts ("build the whole app") produce low-quality output. Specific, bounded tasks produce code you'd be happy to have written yourself.

Using Windsurf's Flow mode

Windsurf's main advantage over Cursor is Flow mode — it maintains a continuous understanding of what you've been working on throughout a session without you having to re-establish context in each message.

For a Nicheloom project, this is particularly useful when you're working through a multi-step feature: creating a database table, then building the API route that reads from it, then building the UI component that calls the API. In Cursor you'd re-establish context at each step. In Windsurf, Flow mode tracks that you're building a cohesive feature and keeps the full context in view.

The Nicheloom Cursor spec prompt also works in Windsurf — paste it into a new Flow session at the start and Windsurf will reference it throughout.

Cursor vs Claude Code: which should you use?

The practical answer: use whichever matches how you like to work.

Use Cursor or Windsurf if:

• You want to review and understand every change before it's applied
• You're building in a codebase you're already familiar with
• You prefer an IDE-centric workflow

Use Claude Code (with the CLAUDE.md spec) if:

• You want the AI to take larger autonomous steps
• You're comfortable reviewing batches of changes
• You're using the Superpowers plugin's SDD workflow for structured, reviewable execution

Many builders use both: Cursor for feature development during the day (where understanding each change matters), Claude Code for larger refactors or infrastructure setup (where autonomous execution is faster).

The thing that actually matters

The quality of AI-assisted development is determined far more by the quality of the spec you give it than by which tool you use. A clear, specific, well-structured spec produces good output in Cursor, Windsurf, Bolt, and Claude Code alike. A vague prompt produces mediocre output everywhere.

The Nicheloom spec is built from validated pain point research — it describes the product in terms of what real users said they needed, not what someone guessed they might want. That context, fed into any AI coding tool, changes the quality of what gets built.

Find your idea at nicheloom.com.