AI Coding Agents for QA: Part 3 — IDE Tools

5d • AI&QA

In Part 2 I covered CLI tools. They work. But for QA automation especially if you're just starting... they're simply the wrong tools.

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𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐒𝐞𝐞 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠

➤ CLI gives you output on a screen. A wall of text.

➤ IDE tools show changes line by line, inside your actual files. Right in front of you.

In Cursor specifically, you accept or reject each change individually. One line at a time.

That matters for beginners.

When something goes wrong, you see exactly what changed and where. You can ask the AI to explain the change while looking at it. Not a printout. The actual code that helps you to actually learn.

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🔹 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐫 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐈𝐬

Cursor is a fork of VS Code.

Fork means: a copy of an existing code, taken in a new direction. VS Code is Microsoft's editor. Cursor took that foundation and rebuilt it for AI from the ground up.

Compare that to Copilot. Copilot is a plugin bolted onto VS Code. It was added after the fact. Not designed to be there.

That difference shows up in practice. Cursor was built with AI as the core. Copilot was added on top.

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⚡ 𝐌𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐬, 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐓𝐨𝐨𝐥

Cursor gives you access to models from both Anthropic and OpenAI in one place.

Claude Sonnet. Claude Opus. GPT-4o. You pick per task.

⤷ Hard problem or complex refactor? Use Opus or GPT Codex

⤷ Quick fix or small helper? Use something cheaper.

That lets you control spending and get the best output without switching tools and having 2 subscriptions.

Pricing is also transparent. You know what you're paying. No surprises.

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🌐 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭-𝐈𝐧 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐬𝐞𝐫

Cursor has a browser built directly into the IDE.

Open any page.
Click on elements: buttons, inputs, dropdowns, etc.
Ask Cursor to extract the best locators for your test automation.

Hunting for locators manually is one of the most tedious parts of UI testing.

This feature cuts that work significantly.

✅ 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗩𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗼𝘄 →

In Part 4, we go deeper into Cursor and it's features. ✔

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📌 Do you know programming, understand how test automation works, and live in the USA?

I’m opening a live, small-cohort workshop on 𝗔𝗜 𝗖𝗼𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗧𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

In this workshop, you’ll learn how to use AI coding agents with Cursor to generate automated tests and build an AI-first testing framework.

This is not just theory, it includes hands-on practice, plus reusable prompts, skills, and AI materials you can apply immediately in your own personal or work repository.

Because this is a live workshop, I’m keeping it extremely small: only 1–3 people max.

Access is not open publicly. To keep the group high quality, entry is only available after a short interview in DM.

👉 If you’re interested, DM me.

2:50

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