Understanding how AI coding tools like Cursor, Windsurf, and Copilot function under the hood can greatly enhance your productivity, enabling these tools to work more consistently — especially in larger, complex codebases. Often when people struggle to get AI IDEs to perform effectively, they treat them like traditional tools, overlooking the importance of knowing their inherent limitations and how best to overcome them. Once you grasp their internal workings and constraints, it becomes a 'cheat ...