How to Set Up Windsurf AI

Visit windsurf.com and click Download. Windsurf detects your operating system and offers the right installer.

The download is around 250 MB. Windsurf is built by the team behind Codeium, but it is a completely different product — a full AI-native code editor, not just an autocomplete extension.

Mac: Open the .dmg and drag Windsurf to Applications. Launch from Spotlight or your dock.

Windows: Run the .exe installer. Default settings work well. Windsurf adds a right-click context menu option to open folders.

Linux: Use the .deb package or the .AppImage. For .deb:

sudo dpkg -i windsurf_*.deb

Create a Windsurf account to access AI features. Sign up with Google, GitHub, or email.

Windsurf's free tier is one of the more generous in the vibe coding space. You get real AI coding features — not just a 2-week trial. This makes it great for evaluation.

Windsurf Pro ($15/mo) unlocks unlimited Cascade requests, priority model access, and faster response times. It is $5/mo cheaper than Cursor Pro.

Cascade is Windsurf's signature feature — a deep-context AI coding agent. Open it from the sidebar or with the keyboard shortcut.

What makes Cascade different from a basic AI chat:

• Automatic context — Cascade reads your codebase and gathers relevant files without you having to manually add them.
• Multi-step plans — It breaks complex tasks into steps and shows you the plan before executing.
• Agentic execution — Cascade can create files, modify code, run commands, and install packages as part of a single workflow.
• Deep memory — It remembers context across your conversation and builds on previous changes.

Open an existing project folder or create a new one. Windsurf automatically indexes your codebase in the background — no manual configuration needed.

To start a new project from scratch:

mkdir my-windsurf-project
cd my-windsurf-project
windsurf .

Or use File > Open Folder in the menu. Windsurf supports any language and framework — it is not limited to web development.

Open Cascade and describe what you want to build. Be specific about the tech stack, features, and behavior you want:

Create a React component that displays a sortable data table.
It should accept an array of objects and automatically
generate columns from the object keys. Include sort arrows
in the header, alternating row colors, and a search filter
at the top. Use Tailwind CSS for styling.

Cascade will:

1. Analyze your project to understand existing patterns
2. Show you a plan for the implementation
3. Generate the code across one or more files
4. Let you review and apply changes

Open Settings (Cmd+, or Ctrl+,) to customize Windsurf. Key settings to review:

• AI Model — Choose between Claude, GPT-4o, or other available models. Each has different strengths.
• Supercomplete — Toggle flow-aware inline completions on or off. If you find them distracting at first, turn them off and enable them later.
• Context depth — Adjust how many files Cascade considers when gathering context. Higher depth = better understanding, more tokens.
• Keybindings — Windsurf uses VS Code keybindings by default. You can customize them or import from another editor.

You are ready to build for real. Try a multi-file task to see Cascade at its best:

I want to add user authentication to this project. Use
next-auth with GitHub and Google providers. Create:
1. An auth configuration file
2. Sign-in and sign-up pages
3. A middleware that protects /dashboard routes
4. A user menu component in the header that shows
   the user's avatar and a dropdown with Sign Out

Follow the existing code patterns in this project.

Cascade will read your existing code, plan the implementation, and execute it across all the files that need to change. Review the plan, approve the changes, and test.