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Use these 25 Cursor prompts to move from understanding a React repository to planning, implementing, testing, and preparing a change for delivery. They are designed to make the work inspectable—not to certify an app as production-ready. Review every diff, make project-specific decisions, and run the checks that apply to your codebase.
For a new app, React recommends starting with a framework. For an existing app, begin by asking Cursor to identify its current framework and conventions rather than assuming a stack change is needed. The React documentation names Next.js App Router and React Router v7 as framework options; the right fit depends on routing, data-fetching, rendering, deployment, and maintenance needs. A from-scratch setup using a build tool such as Vite, Parcel, or Rsbuild leaves more integration decisions to your team.
How to use these prompts
Run the prompts in order when starting unfamiliar work, or select the relevant ones for a smaller change. Cursor Agent can search a codebase, edit files, and use a terminal; those capabilities do not guarantee correctness. Attach known context with Cursor’s @ references to files or folders. If you do not know where the relevant code lives, ask Agent to search first.
- Use prompts 1–4 to establish what the repository actually contains. They ask for inspection only.
- Use prompts 5–7 to settle scope and acceptance criteria before editing.
- Use prompts 8–14 for incremental implementation, adapting them to the project’s existing patterns.
- Use prompts 15–17 to make accessibility and interface states part of the feature requirements.
- Use prompts 18–21 for tests and a review of the resulting changes.
- Use prompts 22–25 only when performance or delivery is in scope.
These are templates, not commands to accept every recommendation. Replace vague feature descriptions with your requirements, and do not authorize file changes or terminal commands until you are comfortable with the proposed scope.
#1 Best Overall
Repository discovery: understand the app before changing it
1. Identify the app’s framework and entry points
Prompt:
Inspect this repository without editing files. Identify the React framework or build setup, the app entry points, and how routing and data fetching are handled. Cite the relevant file paths for each finding. If something cannot be determined from the code, say so rather than guessing.
2. Map routes and feature conventions
Prompt:
Search the repository for route definitions and representative feature implementations. Summarize how pages, layouts, components, and data access are organized. Include a few relevant file paths and note patterns that appear consistent versus one-off. Do not propose a redesign or edit files.
3. Find the project’s checks and test setup
Prompt:
Inspect the package manifests, scripts, configuration, and existing tests. Report the package manager indicated by the repository, available test and lint/type-check/build scripts, test libraries, and how tests are organized. Do not run commands or modify files. Flag anything you cannot verify from the repository.
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4. Review configuration, environment use, and unfinished work
Prompt:
Without exposing secret values or editing files, locate where this app reads environment variables and how configuration is validated. Also identify TODO or FIXME comments relevant to the feature area I name next: [feature area]. Report file paths and distinguish code evidence from assumptions. Do not print credentials or other secret values.
Planning: define a bounded change
5. Turn a feature request into acceptance criteria
Prompt:
For this request, [describe the feature], inspect the relevant code and propose user-observable acceptance criteria. Separate confirmed requirements from assumptions and open product decisions. Do not edit files. Ask me only the questions that must be answered before a safe implementation can begin.
6. Request a scoped implementation plan
Prompt:
Using the agreed acceptance criteria, propose a small-step implementation plan. For each step, list the likely files, the behavior it changes, and how it can be verified. Note risks, dependencies, and any public interfaces that could be affected. Keep the existing architecture unless a specific requirement calls for changing it. Do not edit files yet.
7. Check the plan against repository constraints
Prompt:
Review the proposed plan against the actual framework, existing patterns, installed dependencies, and available scripts in this repository. Identify steps that are unsupported or unnecessarily broad, explain alternatives grounded in files you can point to, and update the plan. Do not add dependencies or edit files.
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Architecture and implementation: make small, reviewable changes
8. Decide whether a new app needs a framework or a build-tool setup
Prompt:
I am starting a new React app for [describe users, routes, data needs, rendering needs, and deployment constraints]. Compare a framework-based setup with a build-tool-only setup against those requirements. Explain the routing, data-fetching, rendering, and ongoing integration decisions each leaves to the team. Do not choose a tool or generate files until I confirm the constraints and decision.
React’s guidance favors a framework for a new app, while also documenting a from-scratch route using build tools. The latter gives a team more control but also leaves it responsible for integrating concerns such as routing and data fetching. React notes that adding server-side rendering, static generation, or React Server Components later can require substantial custom work. Treat this as an architecture decision, not a prompt to replace a working project’s stack.
9. Implement one vertical slice
Prompt:
Implement only the first small, end-to-end slice of [feature] that satisfies this acceptance criterion: [criterion]. Follow the nearest established pattern in [known file or folder, if known]. Before editing, tell me the files you intend to change. Preserve unrelated behavior and public interfaces. After editing, summarize the change and any decisions still needing my review; do not claim it is verified unless you ran the relevant check and report its result.
10. Reuse existing component and styling conventions
Prompt:
Inspect [component or feature area] and the closest existing examples. Update [specific component] to follow the repository’s component, styling, and composition conventions. Avoid introducing a new design system or dependency. Show the intended file changes first, then make only the approved changes.
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11. Make types and data boundaries explicit
Prompt:
Trace the data used by [feature] from its source to the UI. Identify the current types and validation boundaries. Propose the smallest change needed to make the expected data shape explicit and handle invalid or missing data safely. Do not invent fields or silently coerce values; show me the proposal before editing.
12. Handle failures deliberately
Prompt:
Inspect how this repository handles failures in the area used by [feature]. For the new operation, define the expected failure cases, how they should be represented in the existing architecture, and what users should see. Preserve useful diagnostic information without exposing secrets. Do not swallow errors or add a generic catch that hides failures.
13. Keep external interfaces stable
Prompt:
Review the proposed changes to [component, module, API, or route] for effects on its callers and public behavior. List any interface changes and affected call sites. Unless the request explicitly requires a breaking change, preserve existing inputs, outputs, and behavior; ask before proceeding if that is not possible.
14. Refactor only what the feature needs
Prompt:
For the implementation of [feature], identify duplication or complexity that directly obstructs the requested behavior. Propose a minimal refactor with its benefit and regression risk. Keep unrelated cleanup out of scope, preserve behavior, and wait for approval before editing.
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Accessibility and interface states: specify behavior, not just appearance
15. Define keyboard and semantic behavior
Prompt:
Review [feature or component] for semantic HTML and keyboard interaction. Describe the expected keyboard behavior and any focus-management needs for this interaction, based on how the feature works. Identify specific code changes and how they can be checked in this repository. Do not claim accessibility conformance or introduce a standard not specified by the project.
16. Cover loading, empty, error, and success states
Prompt:
For [feature], trace the states the user can encounter: loading, empty, error, and success where applicable. Compare them with existing UI patterns, then propose the smallest set of clear, consistent states and the conditions that trigger each. Do not fabricate data or hide an error behind an empty state.
17. Review the interaction from a user’s perspective
Prompt:
Walk through [feature] as a user, including the normal path and likely interruptions. Identify confusing labels, missing feedback, inaccessible or unreachable controls, and state transitions that have no visible result. Tie each finding to a file or acceptance criterion, and separate verified issues from suggestions. Do not edit files.
Testing and review: verify behavior and report evidence
18. Add behavior-focused tests that fit the project
Prompt:
Inspect the existing test setup for [feature area] and propose tests for the agreed acceptance criteria, using the project’s current conventions and libraries. Focus on observable behavior rather than implementation details. If the repository lacks a suitable test pattern, explain the gap before adding a new library. Do not claim test coverage until the tests exist and have been run.
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For web projects, React’s React 19 upgrade guidance deprecates react-test-renderer and recommends modern testing libraries such as React Testing Library. That guidance is version-specific: check the installed React version and the project’s existing test stack before asking Cursor to change testing dependencies.
19. Ask Cursor to run only named, relevant checks
Prompt:
Based on the scripts and tests you identified, recommend the smallest relevant checks for this change. List the exact commands and what each would verify. Do not run them until I approve. If approved and a command is available, run only those commands and report the exact result, including failures, skipped checks, and commands you could not run.
20. Review the diff for regressions and scope
Prompt:
Review the current diff against the agreed acceptance criteria. Look for behavior regressions, missed error or interface states, type issues, unintended public-interface changes, unrelated edits, and tests that do not exercise user-visible behavior. Report findings first, ordered by severity, with file paths and reasoning. Do not edit files while reviewing.
21. Produce an honest verification report
Prompt:
Summarize what changed and map each acceptance criterion to evidence: a test or check that was actually run, a code inspection, or an item that remains unverified. Include exact commands and outcomes only if they were executed. Do not infer that a build, test, accessibility check, or production behavior passed when it was not verified.
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React Strict Mode adds development-only checks, including extra renders and Effect runs, that can expose impure rendering or missing cleanup. If a problem appears under Strict Mode, ask Cursor to diagnose and correct the underlying behavior rather than suppressing the warning by default. The result is a development signal, not proof that every production issue has been found.
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Performance and delivery: optimize from evidence and match the app’s rendering model
22. Investigate a measured performance problem
Prompt:
The user-visible performance problem is [describe the behavior and where it occurs]. The available measurement is [name the measurement, conditions, and result]. Inspect the relevant code and propose likely causes tied to that evidence. Recommend the smallest experiment that could confirm a cause before suggesting memoization or other optimization. Do not change code until I approve the experiment.
React provides <Profiler> for measuring rendering behavior programmatically, but profiling has overhead and is disabled by default in standard production builds. Use the project’s available profiling and browser developer tools to investigate a specific observed problem; do not treat speculative memoization as a performance result.
23. Review bundle and code-splitting trade-offs
Prompt:
For the measured issue [describe it] and relevant bundle evidence [provide it], inspect the app’s current loading and code-splitting behavior. Compare possible changes by user-visible impact, initial code sent, network behavior, implementation complexity, and risk of creating a network waterfall. Recommend a change only if the evidence supports it, and explain what measurement would confirm the result.
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24. Check production build and configuration requirements
Prompt:
Inspect this project’s framework, rendering strategy, build scripts, and environment-variable usage. Create a deployment-readiness checklist specific to this repository, including the production build command, configuration that must be present, and framework-specific rendering or runtime requirements. Do not assume a hosting provider, invent secret values, or claim deployment success.
25. Prepare a release handoff
Prompt:
Prepare a release handoff for the approved change. Include its user-visible behavior, affected routes or interfaces, migrations or configuration changes if any, checks actually run and their results, known limitations, and remaining manual verification. Separate completed work from recommendations. Do not label the change production-ready unless the project’s required release checks and decisions have been completed by the team.
Choosing the right setup for a new React app
For a new project, make the setup decision against concrete requirements rather than prompt convenience. React recommends starting with a framework and names Next.js App Router and React Router v7 as options. If a team intentionally builds from scratch, React identifies Vite, Parcel, and Rsbuild as build-tool options; the project then owns more integration work.
| Approach | What it means for the team | Questions to resolve |
|---|---|---|
| Framework-based | React’s recommended starting point for a new app; supported frameworks can provide features for deployment and scale and can support client rendering, single-page apps, static generation, or server rendering on selected routes. | Which routes need which rendering behavior? What routing and data-fetching conventions fit the app? Does the framework’s deployment model match the target environment? |
| Build tool from scratch | More direct control over the setup, with additional responsibility for integrating concerns such as routing and data fetching. Adding SSR, SSG, or React Server Components later may require substantial custom work. | Who will maintain the integrations? Does the app need rendering strategies that the initial setup does not provide? Is the team prepared to own those choices over time? |
Neither row establishes a universally correct choice. The prompt sequence should help Cursor expose repository facts and trade-offs; the team still owns the architecture decision and acceptance of the final change.
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