Understanding Cursor and WindSurf's Code Indexing Logic

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2024-12-26 08:30:03

If the “intelligence” of large models, such as Claude 3.5 Sonnet, is the key factor driving a stepwise leap in AI programming capabilities, the other critical factor is the context length.

Currently, Claude 3.5 Sonnet offers a maximum context length of 200k tokens. While this is more than sufficient for conversational models—capable of handling a 50,000 or even 100,000-word book with ease—it still falls far short for programming projects involving tens or hundreds of code files, each spanning hundreds or thousands of lines. Furthermore, with large models charging based on the number of input and output tokens, the marginal cost is not negligible.

These two characteristics have prompted AI programming tools like Cursor and Windsurf to implement numerous optimizations with the following objectives:

Under the constraints and goals mentioned above, Cursor and Windsurf have adopted different optimization strategies to enhance their product experiences. However, such “optimizations” often involve trade-offs, yielding only locally optimal solutions and inevitably sacrificing certain aspects of the user experience.