Windsurf, previously known as Codeium before its rebrand, is an AI-native IDE built on VS Code that tries to fold AI assistance into ordinary editor actions rather than keeping it in a separate chat panel. It generates and refactors code, runs lint checks, and offers live previews inside one environment, with its Cascade agent handling multi-step coding tasks that span more than a single file.
Cascade can predict what a multi-step task requires and execute it with a degree of autonomy, including running terminal commands as part of completing a task, which puts Windsurf in the same general category as Cursor's Agent mode rather than a traditional autocomplete tool. It also carries over Codeium's history of offering a genuinely usable free tier, which helped it build an audience before Cognition's acquisition.
Windsurf is free to use at a base tier, competing directly with Cursor for developers deciding which AI-native editor to adopt as a daily driver.
