What is Cursor Academy?

Cursor Academy is the #1 free interactive course and training platform by Infinity Tech Stack for the Cursor AI code editor. It covers Tab autocomplete, Agent & Plan Mode, .cursorrules / .mdc rules, Agent Skills, Hooks, MCP integration, and headless CLI workflows across 13 modules, 29 lessons, 6 labs, and 72 quizzes with zero sign-up.

How is Infinity Cursor Academy different from official Cursor documentation?

While cursor.com provides product reference documentation, Infinity Tech Stack's Cursor Academy is an independent, gamified 13-module interactive course with 29 lessons, 6 in-browser CLI terminal labs, and 72 quizzes. It provides deep hands-on training on Tab autocomplete, Agent & Plan Mode, .cursorrules & .mdc rules, Agent Skills, Hooks, MCP integration, and headless CI automation with zero sign-up required.

How long does Cursor Academy take to complete?

Cursor Academy contains approximately 2 to 3 hours of interactive material across 13 modules, 29 lessons, 6 labs, and 72 quizzes. All progress saves locally in your browser.

Is the Cursor Academy free?

Yes, 100% free. No sign-up, no credit card. All 13 modules, 29 lessons, 6 labs, and 72 quizzes are immediately accessible. Progress saves locally in your browser.

What topics does the Cursor Academy cover?

The course covers Cursor installation, VS Code migration, Tab autocomplete, the Agent side pane with Agent/Plan/Ask modes, Inline Edit, Cursor Rules & AGENTS.md, Agent Skills, Hooks, MCP integration, Cloud Agents & Automations, Bugbot code review, the Agents Window, Canvases, the Cursor SDK, privacy & enterprise features, pricing plans, and power-user shortcuts.

Is Cursor better than GitHub Copilot?

Cursor excels at agentic workflows, multi-file editing, and autonomous coding with its Agent and unlimited parallel Cloud Agents. Copilot has better JetBrains support and enterprise compliance. This course teaches you to maximize Cursor's unique strengths.

What are .cursorrules?

.cursorrules (and the modern .cursor/rules/*.mdc format) are project-level configuration files that give Cursor's AI persistent instructions about your codebase - coding standards, conventions, and behavior rules. Cursor also supports AGENTS.md files, User Rules, and dashboard-managed Team Rules.

Do I need programming experience?

No prerequisites required. The course starts from absolute basics (installation & setup) and progressively advances to expert topics like Cloud Agents, Hooks, MCP integration, and enterprise deployment.

Is my code safe with Cursor?

Yes. Cursor offers Privacy Mode on every plan - with it enabled, your code is never used for training, and team members inherit their team's setting. Cursor is SOC 2 Type II certified with SAML SSO, SCIM, audit logs, and CMEK for enterprise security.

What does Cursor Pro cost?

Cursor Pro is $20/month. It includes unlimited Tab completions, a generous first-party pool for Auto, Composer 2.5, and Grok 4.5, plus a $20/month API-model allowance, Bugbot access, and Cloud Agents. Pro+ is $60 and Ultra is $200 with larger allowances.

Can I use my VS Code extensions in Cursor?

Yes! Cursor is a VS Code fork. All VS Code extensions, themes, keybindings, and settings work natively. On first launch, Cursor offers a one-click migration from VS Code.

The Agent is Cursor's autonomous coding mode. It can plan changes, create/modify multiple files, run terminal commands, execute tests, and self-correct based on error output - with automatic checkpoints so you can roll back any step. Plan Mode and read-only Ask Mode complete the picture.

What models does Cursor support?

Cursor supports Claude Series 5 (Sonnet 5, Opus 5), Claude 3.7 Sonnet, Cursor's Composer 2.5, GPT-5.6, Gemini 3.8 Flash, and Grok 4.5. Auto mode intelligently routes to the optimal model for each task.

Does the Cursor Academy include hands-on labs?

Yes. Hands-on terminal labs are built into the lessons - install the Cursor CLI and run the agent headless in CI using real, vendor-verified commands, with objectives, hints, solutions, and XP rewards. No sign-up or setup needed.

Does Cursor Academy cover the Cursor Canvas SDK and Agent CLI?

Yes. Cursor Academy covers the Cursor Canvas SDK, the Agents Window, and headless CLI automations in Module 9 and Module 10, enabling developers to build custom canvases, automate multi-agent workflows in CI/CD, and run the agent headless with verified terminal commands.

Where do Cloud Agents actually run?

In isolated virtual machines in the cloud, or on private Self-Hosted Machines within your own VPC — Each Cloud Agent gets an isolated VM with a complete dev environment, or can run on private Self-Hosted Machines (released September 2, 2026) for strict data residency.

What is the purpose of Self-Hosted Machines in Cursor?

To keep tool execution, terminal commands, and browser automation entirely inside private corporate infrastructure — Self-Hosted Machines let enterprises run tool executions and agent actions on their own internal Linux/Mac infrastructure without exporting secrets.

How do you hand a prompt straight to the cloud from the editor?

Prefix the prompt with the & symbol — Prefixing a prompt with & sends the task to a Cloud Agent that keeps running after you close the editor - the fastest handoff path.

What are Automations?

Scheduled or event-triggered always-on cloud agents - created with the /automate skill — Automations run cloud agents on a schedule or in response to triggers (GitHub events, Slack emoji) - ideal for nightly maintenance and issue triage.

Autonomous Cloud Workflows [2026]

[ ABORT TO HUD ]

SEQ. 1

Autonomous Cloud Workflows

🌐 Cloud Agents 22 min 600 BASE XP⌨ HANDS-ON LAB

Coding While You Sleep

Cloud Agents (formerly "Background Agents") run in isolated virtual machines in the cloud, each with a full development environment. They clone your repo, write code, run tests, and open pull requests - while you keep working, or while you're away entirely. You can run an unlimited number in parallel, including several on the same task to compare approaches.

Kick Off From Anywhere

Entry Point	How
Editor	Cloud dropdown in the agent pane - or prefix any prompt with `&` for instant cloud handoff
Web	cursor.com/agents - manage your fleet from any browser
iOS & iPad app	Kick off and monitor agents from your phone or tablet; Live Activities, an Inbox, full PR review (comments, checks, approvals), Bitbucket & Azure DevOps support, and multi-PR sessions (all paid plans)
Slack	Mention `@cursor` in a thread to spawn an agent with the discussion as context
GitHub / Bitbucket	Comment `@cursor` on an issue or PR
Linear & API	Delegate issues to Cursor, or drive agents programmatically

Environments & Self-Hosted Machines (September 2026)

Each agent's VM is configured via .cursor/environment.json - let the agent set up its own environment interactively, snapshot the result, or supply a Dockerfile for fully reproducible installs (deps, secrets, services). Local ↔ cloud handoff works in both directions, and cloud agents can spawn subagents (/in-cloud) or babysit a PR through CI (/babysit).

Self-Hosted Machines (September 2, 2026)

For regulated enterprise codebases, Cursor introduced support for Self-Hosted Machines. Tool executions, bash commands, and desktop/browser "computer use" run on your private corporate hardware (Linux or macOS), ensuring source code and secrets never leave your private VPC or internal network.

Start from Scratch & Cursor Origin (Late August 2026)

Cloud Agents no longer require a pre-existing GitHub repository. You can start prompting immediately from scratch; the agent boots an environment, initializes a repository on Cursor Origin, and provides live port forwarding for instant browser preview and one-click Vercel deployments.

Artifacts & Remote Control

Cloud agents produce artifacts - screenshots, videos, and logs of what they built and tested - and you can take remote desktop control of the agent's VM to inspect or intervene directly.

Automations: Always-On Agents

Automations are scheduled or event-triggered cloud agents: nightly dependency updates, triaging fresh GitHub issues, responding to a Slack emoji, and more. Create one with the /automate skill.

SOE & AOE Operational Runbook for Cursor

SOE Standard: Commit modular rules in .cursor/rules/*.mdc with strict glob targeting; commit .cursor/environment.json to guarantee identical container dependencies across local and cloud agents; add sensitive secrets to .cursorignore.
AOE Harness: Pair Cloud Agents with Bugbot merge gates on PRs; deploy Self-Hosted Machines for sensitive databases and internal APIs; configure usage limits to manage Max Mode context billing across team fleets.

Billing Note: Cloud Agents always run in Max Mode (maximum context window) and are billed at API pricing - budget accordingly for large fleets.

⌨ HANDS-ON LABDrive Cursor from the Terminal

⭐ +200 XP

Cursor's CLI puts the agent in your terminal - perfect for scripts and CI. Install it, start an interactive session, then run a headless prompt.

1Install the Cursor CLI with the official install script (curl piped to bash).

2Start an interactive agent session in your terminal.

3Run it non-interactively for CI: print mode with the -p flag.

lab-sandbox — simulated environment

INFINITY LAB SANDBOX v2.6 — simulated shell
Type the command for the current objective. Helpers: "hint", "solution", "clear".
$

OBJECTIVE 1 / 3 — type "hint" if stuck

SYNAPSE VERIFICATION

QUERY 1 // 5

How many Cloud Agents can you run simultaneously?

Up to 8

Unlimited - including several on the same task to compare approaches

One per repo