Windsurf

Windsurf is an AI-native IDE built from the ground up around agentic coding, rather than adding AI features to an existing editor. It's built by Codeium and forked from VS Code's foundation.

Core Capabilities

Cascade Agent The core agentic assistant that understands a full codebase's context, plans multi-step changes, and executes them across multiple files with the developer reviewing each step.

Flow Awareness Tracks the developer's recent actions (files opened, edits made, terminal commands run) so the AI's suggestions stay relevant to what's actively being worked on, not just the currently open file.

Terminal Command Execution Cascade can propose and run terminal commands (installing dependencies, running tests) as part of completing a task, with approval controls.

Inline and Chat Modes Supports both traditional inline autocomplete and a full chat-based agent mode, letting developers choose the level of AI involvement per task.

Positioning

Windsurf competes directly with Cursor as an AI-first code editor, differentiating on its agentic Cascade flow being a first-class citizen of the editor rather than a bolted-on chat panel.

Pricing

Free tier with limited AI credits; Pro plan adds higher usage limits and access to premium models.