Working with complex codebases

Software Development with Cursor

Francesca Donadoni

AI Curriculum Manager, DataCamp

Introducing Max Mode and MCP servers

  • Max Mode

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  • Model Context Protocol (MCP)

mcp.png

Software Development with Cursor

Max Mode

  • Cursor's normal context works fine for small projects
  • Larger projects need more context for accurate reasoning
  • Max Mode expands Cursor's context window
  • Enable it from the model selector

max mode full view.png

Software Development with Cursor

Max Mode

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  • 🗂️ Refactoring code across multiple files

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  • 🧩 Debugging logic that depends on shared utilities

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  • 🔗 Or working on projects with nested dependencies

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Trade-off: Max Mode can take longer to respond

Software Development with Cursor

Model Context Protocol (MCP)

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Software Development with Cursor

MCP: a standardized protocol

  • Standardized interface between AI applications and external systems

mcp diagram.png

Software Development with Cursor
Software Development with Cursor
Software Development with Cursor

Let's practice!

Software Development with Cursor

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