Training course · Cursor · UX Design & Prototyping

Cursor for UX Designers

Work productively with the AI code editor Cursor: agent mode, rules, codebase context, Tab completion, background agents and review.

Duration
2 days (14 hrs)
Format
Online or on-site
Language
German or English
Participants
open dates or exclusive for your team
Certificate
Certificate of attendance

Overview

“Cursor for UX Designers” is designed for roles such as UX and UI designers, Product designers and interaction designers and UX researchers who want to test variants quickly and shows step by step how to use Cursor productively, safely and transparently in UX Design & Prototyping – from the fundamentals to advanced workflows.

Cursor is an AI code editor built on VS Code that weaves language models deeply into everyday development. Alongside context-aware Tab completion, it offers an agent mode that searches files on its own, plans changes across the whole project, runs terminal commands and fixes errors iteratively. In this two-day course you will learn to use Cursor with purpose: choosing the right interaction mode, steering context deliberately and combining AI assistance with your existing workflow of version control, automated testing and peer code review.

A key focus is making Cursor work for teams. Project rules let you capture architectural decisions, naming conventions and testing strategies so that the agent produces consistent results. You will learn to make good use of codebase indexing, targeted references to files, documentation and symbols, and MCP integrations. You will also delegate tasks to background agents, review their output as pull requests and set up a review process that takes quality, security and data protection seriously across the organisation.

AI coding tools are shifting the boundary between design and development: UX designers can now build interactive prototypes in real code instead of only drawing clickable mock-ups. A screenshot, a sketch or a short description quickly becomes a working interface with real states, form logic and sample data that feels like a finished product in usability testing. AI assistants also translate design tokens, component libraries and accessibility checks straight into code. In this course you learn how vibe coding and AI agents take you from idea to testable prototype faster, how to hand results over cleanly to engineering teams and where the line runs between a prototype and production-ready software.

The course is delivered live – either online in a virtual classroom or on-site in our training rooms in Munich, Salzburg, Berlin, Augsburg, Hanover, Bremen, Stuttgart and Kaiserslautern. We can also run it exclusively for your team.

Who is this course for?

  • UX and UI designers
  • Product designers and interaction designers
  • UX researchers who want to test variants quickly
  • Product owners and product managers with design responsibility
  • Design system teams working closely with frontend engineering

Typical challenges we address

  • Static mock-ups barely capture interactions, states and real data
  • Hand-offs to engineering lose details, spacing and behavioural logic
  • Long waits for engineering capacity to run experiments and A/B variants
  • Accessibility is often considered late and incompletely

What you will be able to do

  • You choose the right Cursor mode for each task and use it efficiently.
  • You steer codebase context precisely and get more accurate suggestions as a result.
  • You write project rules that reliably enforce your team’s conventions.
  • You use agent mode and background agents for features and refactorings with verifiable results.
  • Build interactive, code-based prototypes with AI and test ideas with users much earlier.
  • Translate design systems and tokens into code and improve hand-offs to engineering teams.
  • Review prototypes systematically for accessibility and understand the line between prototype and production code.

Course outline

Day 1

Module 1 Setting up Cursor and understanding its modes
  • Installation and migration of VS Code settings and extensions
  • Differences between Tab completion, inline edits, Ask mode and Agent mode
  • Choosing a model per task: balancing speed, depth and cost
  • Privacy mode and organisation-level settings
Module 2 Steering codebase context
  • How codebase indexing works and where its limits lie
  • Referencing files, folders, symbols, documentation and web sources precisely
  • Using ignore files to exclude sensitive or irrelevant content
  • Avoiding overlong chats and restarting tasks with fresh context
Module 3 Rules for consistent team results
  • Creating and versioning project rules and scoping them by file pattern
  • Expressing architecture, style and testing conventions as effective rules
  • Separating user rules from team rules
  • Refining rules iteratively based on the agent’s typical mistakes
Module 4 Agent mode in practice
  • Building features step by step with plan, implementation and tests
  • Running multi-file refactorings safely with checkpoints
  • Approving terminal commands deliberately and feeding error output back
  • Connecting MCP servers for issue trackers, databases or browser testing

Day 2

Module 5 Background agents, review and governance
  • Delegating tasks to background agents and running them in parallel
  • Reviewing results as branches or pull requests and steering follow-ups
  • Using AI-assisted code review alongside human review
  • Addressing security risks, secrets and licensing in enterprise use
Module 6 Practice lab: UX Design & Prototyping
  • Clickable prototypes in code
  • Generating test variants
  • Turning design tokens into code
  • Checking accessibility
  • Designing microinteractions
  • Synthesising research
Module 7 Data protection, quality & transfer to daily work
  • Prototypes often contain unreleased product ideas and research data from participants: you learn to pseudonymise interview notes in line with the GDPR, clarify rights to fonts, images and generated assets and plan early for the European Accessibility Act.
  • Ground rules for safe AI use in your team
  • Checking results: facts, sources, tests and the four-eyes principle
  • Personal action plan for the next 30 days
  • Open questions, outlook and resources for further learning

Practical scenarios from your field

Clickable prototypes in code

Turn sketches, wireframes or screenshots into working web prototypes with navigation, form validation, loading and error states and realistic sample data that can be tested directly in the browser.

Generating test variants

Produce several design variants of a flow in parallel, for example onboarding or checkout, and prepare them for usability tests or A/B experiments with minimal adjustments.

Turning design tokens into code

Structure colours, typography, spacing and radii from your design system as tokens and convert them into CSS variables, Tailwind configuration or theme files for component libraries.

Checking accessibility

Examine prototypes for contrast, semantic HTML, keyboard navigation, focus order and ARIA attributes and have concrete WCAG-based improvements applied directly in the code. Issues are fixed before reaching engineering.

Designing microinteractions

Describe transitions, animations and feedback states and implement them in CSS or JavaScript, so you can judge timing and effect early in the real medium rather than in a drawing tool.

Synthesising research

Cluster notes from interviews and usability tests, surface patterns and pain points and derive prioritised design hypotheses that feed straight into the next prototype iteration.

Possible hands-on projects

Onboarding prototype

A multi-step onboarding flow as a web app with a progress indicator, validation and saved inputs, ready for moderated usability testing.

Token converter

A small tool that reads exported design tokens and generates CSS variables, a colour palette with contrast ratios and a preview page.

Component playground

An overview page showing your design system’s buttons, forms and cards in every state, including light and dark mode. It doubles as a living reference.

Prerequisites

You program regularly in at least one language and are familiar with Git and an IDE such as VS Code. You have experience in UX or UI design and with common design tools; no programming skills are required, although a basic understanding of HTML and CSS helps.

Technical requirements

Your own laptop with Cursor, Git and your usual development environment installed; a Cursor account with access to agent features is recommended.

Data protection & compliance

Prototypes often contain unreleased product ideas and research data from participants: you learn to pseudonymise interview notes in line with the GDPR, clarify rights to fonts, images and generated assets and plan early for the European Accessibility Act.

Suggested dates

All dates are suggestions – your preferred date is always possible.

  • Wed, 25 November 2026 – Thu, 26 November 2026 Online Request
  • Mon, 7 December 2026 – Tue, 8 December 2026 Salzburg Request
  • Tue, 15 December 2026 – Wed, 16 December 2026 Online Request
  • Wed, 13 January 2027 – Thu, 14 January 2027 Online Request
  • Tue, 26 January 2027 – Wed, 27 January 2027 Bremen Request
  • Wed, 10 February 2027 – Thu, 11 February 2027 Online Request

Frequently asked questions

Do I need prior VS Code experience to use Cursor?

It helps, but it is not essential. Cursor is built on VS Code, so navigation, shortcuts and extensions feel familiar and existing settings can be imported. If you currently work with JetBrains IDEs or other editors, a short introduction during the course gets you up to speed quickly so you can concentrate on the AI features.

How do I prevent confidential code from reaching third parties?

Cursor offers a privacy mode and organisation settings that restrict how code is stored by the provider. You can also use ignore files to exclude sensitive areas from indexing and context. In the course we discuss how to align these options with internal policies, data protection requirements and sound handling of secrets.

What do rules add compared with well-written prompts?

A prompt applies to one request only, whereas rules persist and apply to the whole team. They capture architectural decisions, preferred libraries, testing strategies and style guidelines, so nobody has to repeat that information and the agent produces code that fits your codebase. Rules are versioned with the project and evolve together with it.

Do I need to know how to code as a designer?

No. You describe interfaces and behaviour in plain language, with sketches or screenshots, and the AI tool generates the code. It helps to understand basic terms such as component, state or CSS class so you can steer precisely. We cover these concepts hands-on in the course, so you can adapt and evolve prototypes on your own.

Can the engineering team reuse the prototype code?

Sometimes, but more often it serves as a precise specification. Prototypes are optimised for speed, not for security, performance or maintainability. If you use the same component library and tokens as the product from the outset, reuse becomes much more likely. In the course you work out how to design hand-offs that benefit both sides.

How much does “Cursor for UX Designers” cost?

The course costs a flat €949 plus VAT per participant – whether online or on-site. This includes 2 training day(s) with a live trainer, course materials, a lab environment and a certificate of attendance.

Can I suggest my own date?

Yes. Our suggested dates are just a guide. In the request form you can always describe your preferred date or period in free text – we check availability and confirm within one working day.

Is the course online or on-site?

Both are possible: live online in a virtual classroom or on-site in Munich, Salzburg, Berlin, Augsburg, Hanover, Bremen, Stuttgart or Kaiserslautern. We can also run the course exclusively for your team.

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