Cursor For Web Development (Step-By-Step Runbook + Examples) 

Web development requires more than just writing code—it demands structure, workflows, and a system to minimize errors.

Using Cursor for web development helps simplify project setup, scaffolding, implementation, testing, and optimization. By following a structured process, you can accelerate production while maintaining quality and consistency.

In this guide, you’ll learn step-by-step workflows, mini-checklists, concrete prompts, example code, CI pipelines, performance improvements, and common pitfalls.

TL;DR Quick Start

Now, let’s proceed with the detailed steps to use Cursor for web development projects. 

1. Setup & Project Context

Proper project setup saves hours later. Define stack, constraints, and folder structure first. Cursor can generate a folder + component plan automatically.

Define Project Stack and Constraints

Start by selecting frameworks, runtime environments, and databases. For example, use Next.js for frontend, Node.js for backend, and PostgreSQL for database management.

Define server-side rendering rules for public pages and TTFB limits for performance compliance. Cursor can generate a concise implementation plan based on these constraints.

• Tech stack: Next.js (frontend), Node.js (backend), PostgreSQL (database)
• SSR rules: Public pages SSR only
• Performance goals: TTFB < 200ms

Cursor Prompt Example:

You are my Web Tech Lead. Stack: Next.js + Node + Postgres. Constraints: SSR only for public pages; 200ms TTFB budget. Return an implementation plan with folders/components.

You are my Web Tech Lead. Stack: Next.js + Node + Postgres. Constraints: SSR only for public pages; 200ms TTFB budget. Return an implementation plan with folders/components.

Project Folder & Component Organization

Organize your project for scalability and maintainability. Separate components, pages, utilities, and shared assets into clear folders.

Cursor can suggest optimal folder hierarchies for feature-based architecture. A clear structure reduces confusion and speeds onboarding for new team members.

Workflow Example:

• src/components/ for reusable UI elements
• src/pages/ for route-driven pages
• src/utils/ for helpers and services
• src/hooks/ for shared logic

Cursor Prompt Example:

Suggest optimal folder structure for a feature-based architecture for /pricing page with reusable components.

Suggest optimal folder structure for a feature-based architecture for /pricing page with reusable components.

2. Scaffolding The Feature

Before coding, plan the structure of your feature. Scaffolding ensures components, routes, and APIs are logically organized. Cursor automates component trees and API contracts, saving time and reducing mistakes.

Proper scaffolding improves consistency across team members and simplifies later testing and optimization.

Define Component Trees & Routes

Map components and routes for the feature. For a /pricing page, create <PlanCard/> for subscription tiers.

Cursor generates prop and state definitions in advance. This ensures components are reusable and structured correctly from the start.

Cursor Prompt Example:

Generate a route map and component tree for '/pricing' with SSR, including <PlanCard/> spec (props, states).

Generate a route map and component tree for '/pricing' with SSR, including <PlanCard/> spec (props, states).

Mini-Checklist:

• Identify main and child components
• Define state and prop requirements
• Map routes and subroutes

Define Data Models & API Contracts

Set up tables and API endpoints early. Example: plans table, GET /plans, POST /checkout. Cursor can generate TypeScript types and OpenAPI stubs. This ensures frontend-backend consistency and prevents integration errors.

Workflow Example:

• Confirm table schemas
• Define REST endpoints and types
• Include authentication and error handling

Cursor Prompt Example:

Generate TypeScript interfaces and OpenAPI stub for /plans and /checkout endpoints.

Generate TypeScript interfaces and OpenAPI stub for /plans and /checkout endpoints.

3. Implement With Inline Edits

Once scaffolding is complete, generate initial code and refine iteratively. Cursor can provide boilerplate pages, components, and API handlers. 

Using inline edits reduces repetitive work, ensures consistency, and accelerates development without compromising code quality.

Generate Initial Code

Create first-pass code with placeholder states and props. Cursor generates component templates and API handlers. This speeds up implementation and sets a strong baseline for iterative refinement.

Cursor Prompt Example:

Generate pages, components, and API handlers for /pricing, including placeholder states and props.

Generate pages, components, and API handlers for /pricing, including placeholder states and props.

Example Next.js API Handler:

// app/api/plans/route.ts
import { NextResponse } from 'next/server';

export async function GET() {
  const plans = [{ id: 'basic', price: 0 }, { id: 'pro', price: 2900 }];
  return NextResponse.json(plans);
}

// app/api/plans/route.ts
import { NextResponse } from 'next/server';

export async function GET() {
  const plans = [{ id: 'basic', price: 0 }, { id: 'pro', price: 2900 }];
  return NextResponse.json(plans);
}

Example Component:

// app/pricing/PlanCard.tsx
export default function PlanCard({ id, price }: { id:string; price:number }) {
  const cta = price === 0 ? 'Get Started' : 'Start Trial';
  return <button aria-label={`choose-${id}`}>{cta}</button>;
}

// app/pricing/PlanCard.tsx
export default function PlanCard({ id, price }: { id:string; price:number }) {
  const cta = price === 0 ? 'Get Started' : 'Start Trial';
  return <button aria-label={`choose-${id}`}>{cta}</button>;
}

Refine and Optimize Code

Iteratively improve code readability, extract hooks, and enforce consistent styling. Cursor suggests optimizations, identifies redundant code, and ensures component reusability. Refinement maintains high-quality, scalable code while adhering to performance constraints.

Mini-Checklist:

• Extract reusable hooks
• Optimize prop usage
• Remove redundant code snippets
• Validate component consistency

4. Testing & Accessibility

Testing and accessibility are critical to shipping reliable, inclusive features. Cursor can scaffold unit and integration tests, verify component behaviors, and generate accessibility suggestions.

Early testing reduces bugs in production and ensures your UI works for all users. Accessibility compliance also improves user trust and SEO performance.

Unit and Integration Test Scaffolds

Start by writing tests for individual components and their integrations. For example, <PlanCard/> should have tests for pricing tiers, CTA states, and conditional rendering. 

Cursor can auto-generate Jest and React Testing Library scaffolds to reduce repetitive work and ensure consistency.

Cursor Prompt Example:

Create Jest + React Testing Library tests for <PlanCard /> covering price tiers, CTA states, and conditional rendering.

Create Jest + React Testing Library tests for <PlanCard /> covering price tiers, CTA states, and conditional rendering.

Example Jest + RTL Test:

// __tests__/PlanCard.test.tsx
import { render, screen } from '@testing-library/react';
import PlanCard from '../app/pricing/PlanCard';

test('renders correct CTA by price', () => {
  render(<PlanCard id="basic" price={0} />);
  expect(screen.getByRole('button', { name: /choose-basic/ })).toHaveTextContent('Get Started');

  render(<PlanCard id="pro" price={2900} />);
  expect(screen.getByRole('button', { name: /choose-pro/ })).toHaveTextContent('Start Trial');
});

// __tests__/PlanCard.test.tsx
import { render, screen } from '@testing-library/react';
import PlanCard from '../app/pricing/PlanCard';

test('renders correct CTA by price', () => {
  render(<PlanCard id="basic" price={0} />);
  expect(screen.getByRole('button', { name: /choose-basic/ })).toHaveTextContent('Get Started');

  render(<PlanCard id="pro" price={2900} />);
  expect(screen.getByRole('button', { name: /choose-pro/ })).toHaveTextContent('Start Trial');
});

Mini-Checklist:

• Test component props and states
• Verify API calls return expected results
• Include edge cases for rendering
• Ensure integration between parent and child components

Accessibility Checklist & Auto-Fix Suggestions

Use automated checks to ensure ARIA compliance, color contrast, keyboard navigation, and semantic HTML. Cursor can generate an accessibility audit and suggest inline code fixes. Integrating accessibility early prevents costly rewrites later.

Workflow Example:

• Run Axe or Lighthouse accessibility scans
• Correct ARIA roles and labels
• Verify focus order and keyboard navigation
• Ensure color contrast meets WCAG 2.1

Cursor Prompt Example:

Audit <PricingPage /> for WCAG compliance and suggest inline code fixes for ARIA, focus order, and contrast.

Audit <PricingPage /> for WCAG compliance and suggest inline code fixes for ARIA, focus order, and contrast.

5. Performance & CI

Optimizing performance and establishing CI workflows ensures your web application is fast, reliable, and maintainable. Cursor helps identify bottlenecks, suggests code improvements, and generates CI configurations.

Lighthouse-Driven Performance Fixes

Use Lighthouse audits to detect slow pages, unoptimized images, and inefficient scripts. Cursor can recommend actionable code changes, prefetch strategies, and lazy-loading components. Integrating these fixes early prevents costly performance issues after deployment.

Cursor Prompt Example:

-- Analyze component performance
SELECT
  'Analyze <PricingPage /> with Lighthouse',
  'Recommend code optimizations',
  'Identify lazy-loading opportunities',
  'Suggest prefetch strategies for critical data';

-- Analyze component performance
SELECT
  'Analyze <PricingPage /> with Lighthouse',
  'Recommend code optimizations',
  'Identify lazy-loading opportunities',
  'Suggest prefetch strategies for critical data';

Mini-Checklist:

• Audit pages with Lighthouse or PageSpeed Insights
• Optimize images and media assets
• Implement code splitting and lazy loading
• Prefetch critical resources and API data

CI Recipe (Build, Test, Lint, Preview Deploy)

Automated CI ensures code quality and faster deployments. Cursor can scaffold pipelines for GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, or CircleCI. Include build validation, lint checks, test execution, and preview deployments to catch errors before merging.

GitHub Actions CI Example:

# .github/workflows/web-ci.yml
name: web-ci
on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  build_test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: 20
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npm run lint && npm run test -- --ci
      - run: npm run build

# .github/workflows/web-ci.yml
name: web-ci
on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  build_test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: 20
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npm run lint && npm run test -- --ci
      - run: npm run build

Proof Table (Before / After)

6. Documentation Best Practices

Clear and consistent documentation ensures maintainable code and smoother collaboration. By recording feature intent, API usage, and component props, your team can onboard faster and reduce confusion. 

Proper documentation also serves as a reference during debugging and future enhancements.

Maintain Clear Project Documentation

Start with concise READMEs for each module or feature. Include purpose, props, expected input/output, and API usage examples. 

Update version history and changelogs whenever features change. Document edge cases and known limitations. This keeps everyone aligned and prevents guesswork.

Cursor Prompt Example:

SELECT
  'Create README for <PlanCard /> component',
  'Include props definition and usage examples',
  'Document API interactions and expected responses';

SELECT
  'Create README for <PlanCard /> component',
  'Include props definition and usage examples',
  'Document API interactions and expected responses';

Use Standardized Templates

Templates enforce consistency across modules. Use Markdown or Confluence templates for Setup, Workflow, Testing, and Notes sections. 

Include placeholders for environment configs and dependencies. Templates help new developers understand project structure quickly and reduce documentation errors.

Mini-Checklist:

• Include Setup, Workflow, Testing, Notes sections
• Define props, endpoints, and usage examples
• Maintain changelog for every module

Cursor Prompt Example:

SELECT
  'Generate Markdown template for a new SSR page',
  'Include props documentation and API reference',
  'Add sections for setup, workflow, and testing';

SELECT
  'Generate Markdown template for a new SSR page',
  'Include props documentation and API reference',
  'Add sections for setup, workflow, and testing';

Integrate Documentation Into Workflow

Documentation should be written alongside development. Update docs during feature implementation, not afterward. Review docs during pull requests to verify accuracy. 

Use IDE extensions or Cursor prompts to scaffold doc stubs inline. This prevents outdated documentation and improves team clarity.

Cursor Prompt Example:

Generate initial documentation stubs for <PricingPage /> API endpoints and components.

Generate initial documentation stubs for <PricingPage /> API endpoints and components.

Mini-Checklist:

• Setup concise module READMEs
• Use standard templates
• Update docs inline with development

7. Logging & Observability

Logging is crucial for understanding system behavior, detecting errors early, and improving maintainability. Structured logs also provide visibility into workflows, enabling faster debugging and more predictable production behavior.

Implement Structured Logging

Structured logging uses a consistent format, such as JSON or key-value pairs. Include timestamps, severity levels, and contextual identifiers like request ID or user ID.

Structured logs make searching, filtering, and automated analysis easier for developers.

Example:

console.info(JSON.stringify({
  msg: 'fetch plans',
  path: '/api/plans',
  ts: new Date().toISOString(),
  userId,
}));

console.info(JSON.stringify({
  msg: 'fetch plans',
  path: '/api/plans',
  ts: new Date().toISOString(),
  userId,
}));

Mini-Checklist:

• Standardize logging format across all modules
• Include timestamps, severity, and context
• Log inputs/outputs for critical functions

Cursor Prompt Example:

Generate logging template for <PlanCard /> API fetch including request, response, and error details.

Generate logging template for <PlanCard /> API fetch including request, response, and error details.

Monitor Critical Workflows

Log key workflows like API calls, state changes, and user interactions. Capture errors, performance metrics, and event sequences. Alert on repeated failures or unusual patterns. Proper monitoring allows teams to respond quickly before issues escalate.

Mini-Workflow:

• Log request/response for all endpoints
• Capture state transitions in components
• Monitor repeated errors with severity flags

Cursor Prompt Example:

SELECT
  'List API endpoints that require monitoring',
  'Identify user actions to log',
  'Flag repeated errors with severity indicators',
  'Capture state transitions for debugging';

SELECT
  'List API endpoints that require monitoring',
  'Identify user actions to log',
  'Flag repeated errors with severity indicators',
  'Capture state transitions for debugging';

Automate Log Analysis

Manual log inspection is slow and error-prone. Integrate logs with monitoring tools like Datadog, Kibana, or LogRocket. Create dashboards and alerts for key metrics such as error rates or latency. Automation ensures early detection and faster issue resolution.

Mini-Checklist:

• Connect structured logs to monitoring tool
• Create dashboards for key metrics
• Set alerts for anomalies

Cursor Prompt Example:

Generate a dashboard configuration for tracking API errors, response times, and component failures.

Generate a dashboard configuration for tracking API errors, response times, and component failures.

Common Failure Modes

Even experienced developers encounter recurring issues like state bloat, API drift, and prop drilling. Cursor helps detect these problems early, suggests fixes, and improves maintainability. 

Understanding common failure modes reduces debugging time and prevents regressions in production.

1. State Bloat & Prop Drilling

Excessive state or deeply nested prop chains can make components hard to maintain and slow to render. Cursor can identify overused state variables, recommend refactoring to context or hooks, and highlight props that can be simplified.

Step-by-Step Workflow:

• Analyze components with Cursor for state-heavy patterns
• Replace repetitive props with useContext or global store
• Extract reusable hooks for repeated logic
• Monitor renders to confirm reduced re-renders

Mini-checklist:

• Check component state size and complexity
• Identify deeply nested prop chains
• Refactor repeated logic into hooks or utilities
• Test render performance after refactor

2. API Drift & Contract Issues

APIs often evolve faster than frontend integrations. Cursor can compare API contracts against component usage, flag mismatches, and generate TypeScript types for safety. This prevents runtime errors and keeps the frontend/backend in sync.

Cursor Prompt Example:

Compare <PlansAPI> OpenAPI spec with <PricingPage /> API calls. Highlight mismatches and suggest TypeScript types.

Compare <PlansAPI> OpenAPI spec with <PricingPage /> API calls. Highlight mismatches and suggest TypeScript types.

Workflow:

• Maintain OpenAPI specs for all endpoints
• Use Cursor to validate API usage in components
• Auto-generate TypeScript types for API responses
• Run tests to verify response structures match contracts

Final Thoughts – Cursor For Web Development

Cursor simplifies web development by reducing repetitive tasks and improving code consistency. It supports:

• Feature scaffolding
• API contract management
• State issue detection

Structured workflows, mini-checklists, and guided prompts maintain a clean, scalable codebase while minimizing bugs.

By integrating Cursor into daily development, your team can accelerate delivery, enforce best practices like reusable hooks, and enhance collaboration.

Get My Web Dev Runbooks Pack

Boost your web development workflow with Web Dev Runbooks Pack:

• Step-by-step runbooks for Next.js + Node + Postgres
• Copy-paste prompts, API templates, and tests
• Prebuilt CI, logging, and accessibility examples

Frequently Asked Question (FAQs