Claude Code for VSCode

You have to try and experience claude code to answer this question. Otherwise it's just going to be a pointless debate here. If you live in a linux terminal you're going to be instantly addicted. Make sure you read the docs. Use a CLAUDE.md, create planning docs for big tasks in markup format, iterate on the planning doc until you're happy then get it to implement. And also use the technique of, as you approach the context limit have it write its memory to a file, /clear and then read that file back in. This gives you better mileage.

The difference is huge, not even close both in quality and usage.

Claude Code is fully agentic, meaning you give it a task and fully implements everything, produces surprisingly good, working code. Can test, commit, run commands, log in to remote system, debug anything.

It doesn't optimise for token usage, which Cursor heavily do, that's why it can produce higher quality code on first shots (the downside is that the cost is very high)

Cursor's agent mode is very much in it's infrantry just catching up, but Cursor is essentially a tool for editing files, but Claude Code is like a junior developer.

Claude Code is very impressive. It almost feels like another programmer sitting there with you in your terminal. It's not perfect and usually needs help understanding what you're trying to do but once all the pieces are in place and it gets going it's incredible. I'm not even using it properly in terms of giving it the right context it needs to truly understand my project. And I'm not using it for TypeScript or even any web development.

What are you doing that you do not feel a difference? Claude is superior for me in every single way. It is not even close. I mainly use scala, python, js and dart. Maybe curser is better with other languages? I can use claude to be a very productive assistant. Especially useful for small to medium changes. If I plan accordingly it is like magic. It tends to duplicate code but that us about it. Code produced by cursor needs alot of work the last time I tried. Often slowing me down instead of helping.

A lot of people use them together (cursor for IDE and claude code in the terminal inside the IDE).

In terms of performance, their agents differ. The base model their agents use are the same, but for example how they look at your codebase or decide to farm tasks out to lesser models, and how they connect to tools all differ.

Cursor forces you to switch to a different IDE (unless you'are already using VSCode), while Cloude-Code (or Aider) is simply a terminal that works in parallel to your current IDE, editing directly your project files. In my case the "IDE" is vim+tmux+bash and I prefer CLI assistants, but this applies also to people that uses a graphical IDE different from VSCode.

One feature that is still exclusive to Cursor is the Cursor Tab feature. It almost always accurately predicts your next edit with high accuracy, based on your recent edits and cursor navigation.

But from an agent perspective, Claude Code is much more tuned to understanding the task, breaking it down into small steps, and executing those steps with precision.

Overall, IMO agentic coding is great for well defined tasks, especially when they're backed by tests. It still lacks though in deep technical discussions and being opinionated about architectural decisions, unless specifically nudged in a certain direction. This is an area where Gemini Pro excels at, but it sucks at as a coding agent. So I use both: Gemini Pro for high-level picture design, and Claude Code for executing the plan by giving it clear requirements. All while making some edits myself using Cursor Tab.

Been using it for a couple days - The integration fixed the gap that required me to open the files for viewing updates, and changes made in real-time as compared to the terminal mode, which did things behind the scenes, and you had no idea what its doing. the series of nonsensical (but funny) names (Pondering, Twerking, Juggling, etc.) it gives are not useful after its initial fancy wears off..

This comment from elsewhere in this thread applies to vscode copilot as well: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44353972

Correct. From the extension web page:

    Auto-installation: When you launch Claude Code from within VSCode’s terminal, it automatically detects and installs the extension

From the extension's page:

Features:

- Auto-installation: When you launch Claude Code from within VSCode’s terminal, it automatically detects and installs the extension

- Selection context: Selected text in the editor is automatically added to Claude’s context

- Diff viewing: Code changes can be displayed directly in VSCode’s diff viewer instead of the terminal

- Keyboard shortcuts: Support for shortcuts like Alt+Cmd+K to push selected code into Claude’s prompt

- Tab awareness: Claude can see which files you have open in the editor

- Configuration: Set diff tool to auto in /config to enable IDE integration features

It was slightly buggy it was uninstalled itself sometimes. I hope this will be better now with this official extension

So I won't get anything more that the file compare that appear when claude in terminal ask to modify a file ?

While your observation is generally true, and I share your overall concern about my IDE of choice, in this specific example it doesn’t apply as the Claude Code plugin for IntelliJ offers exactly the same integration as their plugin for VSCode.