Big Idea

The argument in one line.

SpaceX bought Cursor to run a controlled experiment: Cursor's developer-trace corpus is the variable, Colossus compute is the lab, and a $60B exit was always the price of finding out whether that data closes the frontier coding model gap.

Who This Is For

Read if. Skip if.

READ IF YOU ARE…

You use Claude Code, Codex, or Cursor and want to understand what the SpaceX acquisition actually changes about the competitive landscape.
You are considering switching from Codex or Claude Desktop to Cursor and want an honest feature comparison before committing.
You have built up a library of skills and memory files in Codex or Claude and want to know whether you can port them to Cursor.
You build internal tools with AI agents and want to see how Cursor handles vibe coding, database-connected apps, and in-browser testing.

SKIP IF…

You want deep technical analysis of Composer 2.5 model architecture — this is a product and strategy video, not a benchmark review.
You have no interest in AI coding tools and came for business/acquisition news only — most of the runtime is a hands-on product demo.

TL;DR

The full version, fast.

SpaceX exercised a pre-negotiated $60B option to buy Cursor after jointly training Composer 2.5 on Colossus compute. The real asset was Cursor's developer-trace corpus — the largest in the world — which xAI needed to close the gap on Codex and Claude Code. Cursor's messaging dropped 'for developers' entirely, signaling a pivot toward a general-purpose super app. The platform is already nearly feature-identical to Codex in layout and agent capabilities; its only missing pieces are native document rendering and computer use, both of which appear imminent. For existing Codex or Claude users, a single export prompt moves all your skills and memory into Cursor globally.

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Chapters

Where the time goes.

00:00 – 01:17

01 · Intro / Hook

SpaceX acquired Cursor; preview of acquisition analysis, platform tour, and skills migration.

01:17 – 06:44

02 · The Acquisition Explained

Deal structure: $60B option or $10B experiment. SpaceX gets developer-trace data; Cursor gets Colossus compute and a guaranteed exit. The subsidy gap between Cursor and Codex/Claude Code explained. Cursor's messaging signals pivot away from developer-only positioning.

06:44 – 16:29

03 · Cursor Hands-On Tour

UI walkthrough comparing Cursor and Codex side-by-side. Model selection, in-app browser advantage, design mode demo. Vibe coding a personal site with Vercel deploy. Building a database-connected notes app with Convex. Things Cursor will add: Composer 3.0, document rendering, computer use, mobile app.

16:29 – 20:38

04 · Transferring Skills from Codex / Claude to Cursor

Single-prompt export from Codex creates a codex-import folder. Cursor ingests it globally. 73 skills imported with clean metadata. Live test of YouTube researcher skill and global memory recall. Works identically from Claude.

Atomic Insights

Lines worth screenshotting.

SpaceX's option gave Cursor a guaranteed $10B floor and a $60B ceiling — SpaceX paid $60B, meaning the training experiment worked.
Cursor holds the best corpus of real developer coding traces in the world — that data, not the UI, is what SpaceX actually bought.
Claude Code and Codex are absorbing up to $14,000 worth of compute per $200/month user; Cursor couldn't match that subsidy until SpaceX's compute arrived.
Cursor dropped 'for developers' from its acquisition messaging — a direct signal it is targeting general knowledge workers, not just coders.
Cursor's in-app browser is arguably ahead of Codex — you can open unlimited tabs, stay signed in, and browse freely inside the agent environment.
The one feature gap holding Cursor back from competing with Claude Desktop is native document and presentation rendering — this appears imminent.
Cursor lets you choose any model (GPT-5.5, Claude 4.8, Composer 2.5) — the SpaceX acquisition may eventually restrict this, which would be a significant product regression.
You can export your entire Codex or Claude skill library in one prompt and import it globally into Cursor — the migration takes minutes, not hours.
The next era of internal tools will be built not just for humans to use but for AI agents to read from and write to directly.
Composer 3.0 is in training and reportedly approaching Fable and GPT-5.5 quality — Cursor's model gap with Codex may close within months.

Takeaway

Three things the Cursor acquisition actually changes.

WHAT TO LEARN

The SpaceX–Cursor deal is not a valuation story — it is a data-for-compute swap that restructures the competitive dynamics of the entire AI super-app category.

Developer-trace data is now a strategic moat: whoever holds the largest corpus of real coding sessions has the training edge no API partnership can replicate.
Subsidized compute is the real competitive weapon in the AI tool war — not features. A platform that can absorb $14,000 of compute per $200 subscriber can outspend any competitor into irrelevance.
Cursor's pivot away from 'for developers' in its messaging is the most significant signal in the deal: it signals a direct challenge to Claude Desktop and Codex for general knowledge workers, not just engineers.
Switching costs between AI agent platforms are lower than most users assume — a single export prompt can move an entire skill and memory library between platforms in minutes.
The internal-tool use case is maturing: the next-generation workflow is not just a human using AI to build software, but software deliberately architected for an AI agent to read from and write to.
Platform lock-in is fragile when all three super apps converge on the same UI paradigm — agents, browser, projects, automations. Differentiation will increasingly come down to model quality and subsidy economics.

Glossary

Terms worth knowing.

Composer 2.5 / Composer 3.0: Cursor's native AI models, trained in collaboration with SpaceX on Colossus compute. Composer 2.5 Fast is optimized for speed; 3.0 is in training and reportedly near top-tier quality.
Colossus: SpaceX/xAI's large-scale GPU compute cluster, used to train the Grok model series and, as part of the Cursor deal, to train Composer models.
Cowork: Claude Desktop's built-in document creation feature that renders docs, presentations, and sheets directly inside the app — the capability Cursor currently lacks.
Convex: A real-time database platform that integrates directly with AI agent workflows, allowing the agent to both read and write to the database without a separate backend setup.
Developer traces: Logs of real developer sessions — keystrokes, completions, edits, and corrections — that capture how humans actually code. Used as training data to improve coding AI models.
Computer use: A capability that lets an AI agent control a computer's mouse and keyboard, enabling it to interact with any application or website — not just code in a terminal.

Resources

Things they pointed at.

12:05toolVercel ↗

18:23toolConvex ↗

00:00toolCursor ↗

00:00linkchorus.com ↗

Quotables

Lines you could clip.

05:16

“Notice how Cursor isn't saying 'for developers' — just 'useful AI.'”

Sharp observation, zero setup needed, captures the entire strategic pivot in one sentence→ TikTok hook↗ Tweet quote

14:34

“You're gonna create software not just for you to use but for your AI agent to use as well.”

Quotable thesis about the next era of internal tooling, works as a standalone insight→ IG reel cold open↗ Tweet quote

04:25

“With your $200 subscription, someone actually did the math — you're able to use $14,000 worth of compute if you absolutely max it out.”

Concrete number that reframes the pricing conversation; works without context→ newsletter pull-quote↗ Tweet quote

The Script

Word for word.

Read-along

Don't just watch it. Burn it in.

See every word as it's spoken — crank it to 2× and still catch all of it. The same dual-channel trick behind Amazon's Kindle + Audible.

00:00SpaceX just fully acquired Cursor, and now they're racing with OpenAI and Anthropic to build the world's best general agent platform or super app. After hearing this news, I spent about eight hours using Cursor, and I have to tell you, it's gotten so much better over the past three months. And I actually believe that they're, like, two or three features away from arguably being better than Codex and Claude desktop, and it's the only major platform that lets you use all the different models for all of your work.

00:28So we're first gonna talk about the Cursor acquisition and what it means for us as AI agent enjoyers, people who are going to use these AI agent platforms and tools to be more productive and for fun. That's what we're gonna talk about first.

00:41Then we're gonna dive into the actual parts of Cursor, especially their new features that they've recently added. I wanna dig into the platform and show you how you can actually get started. We're gonna talk about how to use it for vibe coding, how to use it for knowledge work, and I wanna talk about what makes Cursor great and then what it needs and what they're likely to add very soon because they're gonna be adding a ton of new features.

01:02And then we're gonna talk about how you if you use either Claude or Codex, how you can get all your memory and skills over into Cursor so that it's a seamless transition and you can have all of your workflows directly inside Cursor.

01:17Okay. So the news of the day is that Cursor was acquired by SpaceX. And SpaceX actually IPO'd two to three business days ago, and they are already the fifth highest valued company in the entire world.

01:32This deal was very much expected. The acquisition of Cursor for $60,000,000,000 by SpaceX, this has already been talked about for the last few months because this $60,000,000,000 price was actually agreed upon a few months ago.

01:47So a few months ago, SpaceX and Cursor started working together, and we'll get to the specifics of that in just a second. But, basically, there was an option price of $60,000,000,000. In the year 2026, SpaceX had the right to buy Cursor for $60,000,000,000.

02:02If SpaceX did not want to pay $60,000,000,000 for Cursor, they would still have to pay them $10,000,000,000 to work together.

02:10Okay, Riley. What does work together mean in terms of SpaceX and Cursor? Well, SpaceX basically gave Cursor compute, which they had very little of, to train their new model Composer 2.5.

02:22And they're currently training Composer three point o, and some rumors are starting to trickle out saying that it's almost as good as Fable, if not better. Additionally, Cursor would receive security. They would either receive $60,000,000,000 exit, which they did today, or they would receive $10,000,000,000 just to work together.

02:42Okay. But, like, why would SpaceX do this? Well, SpaceX was basically given dibs on Cursor, the fastest growing AI coding tool in the world.

02:52This would keep Cursor away from any competitors. And, also, they would receive a ton of data, and they would learn a ton about coding workflows, and they would be able to work with the cursor engineers and help them train their new models.

03:05In the event that they didn't wanna pay $60,000,000,000, they would pay $10,000,000,000 for this experiment, but they would also learn a ton from the experiment as well.

03:15The interesting part about all of this is why SpaceX acquired Cursor, and I think this guy has the best explanation of it.

03:22X AI has struggled to close the gap with ClaudeCode and Codecs. Cursor sits on the best corpus of developer traces in the world. Said another way, Cursor sits on the best AI coding data in the world.

03:36The deal lets Cursor train Composer on Colossus, which is SpaceX's massive compute center, while x AI runs the same recipe on Grok.

03:48Both sides find out at the same time whether Cursor's Cursor's data is actually the difference. And this is what I think the real effect of this acquisition is is it's going to allow Cursor to close the gap on Codex and Claude Code. Cursor is now part of the fifth largest company in the entire world when measured by market cap.

04:11One of the reasons this gap exists is both Claude Code and Codex offer subsidies. So basically with your $200 subscription, someone actually did the math a few days ago and you're able to use $14,000 worth of compute if you absolutely max it out.

04:29So they are taking huge losses and because they want people using their platform. Cursor cannot or at least couldn't afford to do this, But soon, we're probably going to see similar subsidies.

04:42But you can only offer subsidies on your own model. So this is all dependent on SpaceX and Cursor working together to train the best AI agents in the entire world.

04:53And I think the most exciting part about this acquisition was in the messaging from Cursor. Look at this. They said, we're excited to join forces with SpaceX to advance the frontier of useful AI.

05:05Expect significant improvements to Cursor soon. Notice here there's no message about developers. I tweeted about this and it's going viral, and I said notice how Cursor isn't saying for developers, just useful AI.

05:18Cursor will likely become a direct competitor to Codex and Claude desktop. And we're gonna get to this stuff in just a second, but I said their in app browser is great. Their composer model is good and fast for most tasks, and this includes general use tasks as well.

05:34The only thing they don't have is the ability to render documents like Cowork and Codex. And if they were to add this feature, I would consider using it for most of my work even as a non developer. That's the one thing they lack.

05:48Claude has a feature inside of their desktop app called Cowork. You can create docs, presentations, sheets, and other forms of knowledge work directly in the Cowork platform.

06:00On Codex, you can do the same exact thing. Cursor doesn't yet have that, but based on their messaging, I highly anticipate that Cursor is going to be adding the same exact features. And I believe that these tools are gonna look very similar.

06:15They're trying to create super apps so that people in enterprises, people running their business will do all of their work through one of these platforms.

06:24And I think that's the giant race that all of these companies are on. For those of you who've been watching my content for a while, you know that I don't like to just talk about things from a bird's eye view. I would much rather dive into the actual tool and talk about the different parts, and then I'm gonna talk a little bit about some of the things that I think they're going to be adding very, very soon.

06:44So here is cursor. Notice here agents, automations, this is plugins.

06:51They call it customized. Here we have projects with chats.

06:55We have our agent chat and then we have a full in app browser. What does this remind you of? Well, if we go to Codex, take a look at this.

07:04Here we have new agent or new chat, plugins which they call customizations, automations, but again you can see all of your projects with your chats underneath just like cursor.

07:16You have your agent chat and then your full on browser that's directly inside the application. Now this is an app that I'm working on inside Codec. So if I press this full screen button and close this left side panel, I want you to carefully look exactly at how this is laid out.

07:32We have this bottom bar right here that I can minimize or maximize but look at how this looks. If we go to cursor, you can see this is the app that I'm working on right here.

07:42I can full screen this, close this side panel and look we have cursor. I can very easily suggest an edit and it looks identical to codex.

07:53It's uncanny except for in codex if I try to go up here and open up a new browser tab I'd simply do not have that option. One of the reasons I like Cursor is you have this option to open up as many browser tabs as you want.

08:08This is a full browser. You can sign into things and you will stay signed in. Cursor is actually arguably ahead of Codecs in terms of their in app browser.

08:18One of the really cool things about Cursor is you can select any model. Right? I can use GBT 5.5.

08:24I can use 4.8. I can use Fable five. Well, I can't.

08:28They've currently discontinued that model. Hopefully, it comes back in the next forty eight hours. It was the most fun model to use.

08:35But one of the key features of Cursor is that you can use any model. Now SpaceX just acquired them. This may change.

08:42I remember Anthropic cut off SpaceX or or x AI at the time from using the Anthropic models. But it's interesting because Anthropic also uses SpaceX for compute.

08:54They have a deal for compute. So this is all getting really confusing and I hope that OpenAI and Anthropic don't pull these models from Cursor and no longer work with Cursor because that's one of the best parts of Cursor is you can use any model. Another really cool part about Cursor is they actually have the best design mode.

09:11Yes. Inside Codecs, you have access to design mode.

09:15You can they call it annotations and so it's somewhat similar. You can add annotations but I've noticed that the cursor one is just better and it's also faster. I can very easily say make this text smaller slightly and I can just fire this off and we're using composer 2.5 fast.

09:34For a lot of simple design changes composer 2.5 fast is really good but what we just showed here we are getting new models directly inside Cursor. And I hope that they also optimize for speed because I will say the best part about using Cursor, especially with this Composer 2.5 fast is it's just insanely fast.

09:54It's really fun to use. And I can just say all these items in this list, I want these to be a little bit bigger and make them look slightly cooler when I hover over them. And, it's really easy and fun to use especially when you're vibe coding.

10:07And so right now this is an app that I created and all I did was create a project here on the side called Riley personal site. Every chat that I create will live within this folder. This is the same exact way that Codex operates as well and when I asked for it to create an app it's actually running it locally on localhost 3,000.

10:27I can very easily get this on the internet by using the Vercel plugin. This is one of the apps that you can use to host. I can just tag Vercel and say put this on the internet send me a link of the deployed website.

10:38That's what I did and then it sent me this link. I can either I can open this in my external browser right here as you can see here this is now being hosted on the Internet. I'm not sure why these links aren't working.

10:50That might be something to tell composer. But I can also right click and open this in the cursor browser. So I can open this in cursor or I can open it externally.

10:59This is identical to how I use codecs. And I just started using this again today and I'm telling you right now like it feels like I'm using the same tool in a way. Like they're very very similar.

11:09And so here I'm gonna say please make a simple presentation that describes Codex and its simple value prop. Here is Codex. The cool thing about Codex is they have these built in plugins that can automatically create presentations, sheets, and documents.

11:23And so it'll render it directly in the side panel. On Cursor, that is not an option.

11:29And so that is the one thing that holds Cursor back from being a general agent platform that anyone can use is if you ask for a dock, it actually won't render it here in the side. However, I highly anticipate that's going to change.

11:44This was always an acquisition about creating the best agent platform for knowledge work and coding work. That's what their original announcement said. And one more thing I wanna show you is this is obviously just a personal site.

11:56What if you wanted to create a little application that you can use yourself? Well, we can open up a new project. You can open up a new folder.

12:03I'm just gonna put this in the downloads for now. I'm just gonna say notes app. This is very simple and this is the an identical process to Codex as well.

12:10I like to use Convex. Convex is a platform that allows you to very easily create a database and I can say make a to do app for me as a creator with a full data base.

12:26I also I also want you to be able to write to this database. So if I asked you to add things to it, you should be able to do that. Make it very simple.

12:32There's no authentication. It's just one user. I wanna be able to manually add stuff.

12:36Please make it look like a simple version of Notion, but dark mode, and then you should be able to add to this database as well. This is one of my favorite internal tool hacks is I like to create my own little, um, apps that I can use either me or a small team and I always like to specify that I want my agent to be able to add to it because it's useful to be able to just read off a list of things I need to do to my agent and have my agent update the database of that application.

13:03And so Convex is just a database platform that you can use and insert a database into your application. And I think I've talked about this on Codex as well. You can do an identical process.

13:14They both have plugins or I think they call them integrations. I don't know what they're called here.

13:20I think it's just a customized tab, but you can find Convex. You can also use Subabase. Believe you could also use Neon Postgres.

13:27Okay. Let's take a look here. So again, this is using Composer 2.5 fast.

13:31This is a small fast model. Let's see how it did at creating a notes app with a database. We can very easily just open this up right here.

13:39Take a look. We have this notes app. Let's see if I can add to it.

13:42Hello there. Let's see if the data persists. We can refresh the browser and it looks like all of the of this data is indeed persisting.

13:53We can see here that the data is persisting. So it is being hosted in a database through Convex.

14:00And now I'm gonna say, can you please add my laundry, also add tying my shoes, also add finish doing the dishes, and then three more random ones to the task list here. And so we can have any AI model including composer 2.5 add to this list. Let's see.

14:17Boom. Look. It's a database that my AI agent can write to.

14:21And this is something that I think is really fun about this next era of AI agents is you're gonna create software not just for you to use but for your AI agent to use as well. And so, yeah, this is just a brief overview. This is how you can create your own personal site, how you can create your notes app.

14:35And now what I wanna talk about are the things that Cursor will add very soon. And some of those things include a new Composer three model, which apparently is going to be as good as GBT 5.5 and Opus.

14:49Also being able to render documents. This is all speculation, but like very, certain. 99.9% certain within six months, they're gonna have the ability to create documents, presentations, and PowerPoints directly in the platform.

15:01As you can see here, they've literally are rebuilding, you know, the Claw desktop app or codecs. They're they're they're almost exactly the same. They're also gonna get computer use.

15:10So right now inside codex, if you go into codex, you can use the at computer use more explicitly. On cursor, I don't believe they have that built in as a default skill.

15:21They don't. But again, that Elon Musk tweet showed that they are going to be building in app browser or in they're gonna build computer use into Cursor. They're also going to be building a mobile app and they actually just announced that it's on the app store at that same event.

15:37Now it's not on the app store yet but I think by the time you see this video, Cursor will have a mobile app on the app store that you can download. And I think they're just gonna continue making progress to the in app browser. The in app browser is still not quite a full browser like you can't use the built in authentication like with your thumb to like sign into different passwords directly inside Cursor but that's gonna come very quickly.

16:01I believe that sites that should open will open automatically.

16:05Right now you still have to click on the local host link. I think that they're just gonna open up automatically and you're just gonna be able to multitask so much easier directly inside Cursor and you're gonna be able to do coding tasks and non coding tasks.

16:17That's what I'm really really excited about in terms of Cursor that's coming up very soon. So you might be asking, what if you wanted to switch over to Cursor but you already have a bunch of skills set up in ClaudeCode or Codecs?

16:29And there's a very simple prompt that's really intuitive and I'm going to use it right now inside codex. Let me break this down for you.

16:37So we're gonna open up a new chat. We're gonna paste this in. This is the prompt.

16:39I wanna transfer all the skills and memory over to cursor. What I want you to do is create a folder inside my downloads called codex import. This will allow cursor to ingest all the information let's say about me and my business and create skills and memory files so that cursor can be used in a similar way as codex.

16:56The same way I use you right now. Copy all of the skill files over to that and please make sure you have a file called needed keys which is a list of API keys that I would need to make those skills work. If I were to tell Cursor to import this it should be able to do it and then I would say have a read me file which explains what this folder is and how it's organized so that Cursor can easily import everything.

17:23And so I can run this directly inside Codex and what it's gonna do inside my downloads is create this massive instructions file so that cursor can easily import it. So we're doing a handoff and you can run this same exact prompt inside Claude if you have a ton of custom skills there as well. Okay.

17:40So now it's done. It created this codex import file and we can click on this.

17:44We can see that it's in the downloads. If I go to cursor, I can just say, hey, I added a file to my downloads.

17:53This is everything that you need to know to create all of these skills, and I actually don't wanna do this in this chat. I wanna create a new one.

18:01So I'm gonna open up a new chat, and I'm gonna change this to let's go GPT 5.5 high. These are all of my skills and memory from Codex. I want you to import them into Cursor so I can use these school these tools, skills, and everything in any chat.

18:18I I want this to be global not just within this project. Please make that happen. It's in my downloads and it's called Codex import.

18:25And so now it's planning my neck oh, yeah. Let's run this. Wait.

18:28Okay. So now it's running and it should import all of my skills. And here we go.

18:32It's continuing to do work. And would you look at that done. I imported the codec setup globally into cursor.

18:39Active global skills now live at cursor/skills. I imported 73 skills with clean metadata, no duplicate names, no invalid names, no missing descriptions, and no stale path preferences.

18:52Let's test this out. Command n to create a new chat. On codex, right, on codex, I have a skill that I use very often called YouTube researcher.

19:02Let's see if it's inside codecs. We go slash YouTube researcher.

19:06Boom. YouTube thumbnail.

19:09Boom. I have literally have all of my skills.

19:14Wow. It is that easy. I actually did not realize how easy it is to get all of your stuff over based on your global memory of me.

19:25Please tell me about me, Riley. Okay. There you go.

19:31This is from the memory files that it imported from codex but it knows exactly about me.

19:37It has memory about me so that means it's really easy to shift from codex or Claude to cursor. You can just use that prompt. I'll put it down below in the description.

19:48But I think that's a pretty good video. We discussed everything about the acquisition, what it means for both sides, and how the main purpose of the acquisition is to catch up to Codex and Claude code at becoming an AI powered super app or a general agent platform.

20:05We talked about all the different parts of the app. It's really easy to use and it almost feels exactly like Codex at this point. Then at the end, I showed you how to import from Claude or Codecs directly inside Cursor.

20:17I hope you guys really enjoyed this one. This is big news, and I highly recommend trying out Cursor.

20:22I think it's important to get good at one of these three tools, the three AI powered super apps. And, yeah, I will be making many videos talking about super apps, how to become agent native going forward. So please hit the like button, subscribe button.

20:36Much love, guys. Peace.

The Hook

The bait, then the rug-pull.

SpaceX exercised a $60B option and walked away with the fastest-growing AI coding tool in the world — and the developer-trace corpus that might be the missing ingredient in the frontier model race. Riley Brown spent eight hours inside Cursor after the news dropped and came back with a verdict: it's two features away from being a genuine Codex and Claude Desktop competitor for everyone, not just developers.

Frameworks

Named ideas worth stealing.

06:11model

The Super App Race

Codex (OpenAI)
Claude Desktop (Anthropic)
Cursor (SpaceX/xAI)

Three platforms competing to become the single AI-powered workspace for all knowledge work and coding — agents, browser, documents, automation in one app.

Steal forcompetitive landscape slide or product positioning deck

02:00model