Agentic code editor
How to use
Windsurf.
Understanding codebases, planning and implementing repository changes with Cascade, and preserving team conventions through project rules.
Windsurf is a agentic AI code editor. Understanding codebases, planning and implementing repository changes with Cascade, and preserving team conventions through project rules. This guide covers the whole path in one place: official access, a first session that produces something reviewable, the checks that make output trustworthy, and the permissions worth limiting before you connect real work.
AI should make the work easier to inspect. If the workflow removes the source, the owner, or the review step, redesign the workflow.
Access & setup
Find, install, and sign in to Windsurf
Get into the official Windsurf experience with the right account and a setup you understand.
- 01
Start at https://windsurf.com/editor and confirm the domain before entering account or payment information.
- 02
Availability: Desktop editor for macOS, Windows, and supported Linux distributions, plus plugins for selected IDEs.
- 03
A supported operating system, Windsurf account, internet connection, and a repository you are authorized to modify. Remote development has separate setup guidance.
- 04
Sign in with the account you intend to keep using, then review plan, data, notification, and permission settings.
- 05
Run one low-risk test task before connecting sensitive files, repositories, or workspace data.
- Use official download pages.
- Review permissions during setup.
- Keep installers and applications updated.
First session
Your first useful Windsurf session
Learn the interaction loop using a small task with a clear outcome.
- 01
Install Windsurf from the official download and open a version-controlled repository.
- 02
Review repository instructions, current branch, status, and validation commands before asking for edits.
- 03
Use Cascade to explain the relevant code and propose a small plan with acceptance criteria.
- 04
Create a checkpoint, review changes and commands, then run focused and project-wide checks.
- State the outcome before the background.
- Provide the real source material.
- Review the result before expanding the task.
Quality control
Check the quality of Windsurf output
Turn generated code into a change you would put your name on in review.
- 01
Restate the intended behaviour and the acceptance criteria before reading a single generated line.
- 02
Read the diff rather than the chat summary; the summary describes intent, the diff describes what actually changed.
- 03
Run the test suite, then write a test that would fail if the change were wrong, and confirm it passes for the right reason.
- 04
Check the edges the model tends to skip: error paths, null and empty cases, concurrency, and migration or rollback behaviour.
- 05
Trace every new dependency, network call, and file write, and confirm each one is genuinely required.
- Review the diff, never the description of the diff.
- A passing test suite proves the tests pass, not that the change is correct.
- Keep changes small enough that a human can actually review them.
Privacy & permissions
Use Windsurf safely
Give the tool enough repository access to help, and no more than that.
- 01
Decide what the tool may read and what it may write before connecting a repository.
- 02
Scope tokens and integrations to the narrowest repository, branch, and permission set that still works.
- 03
Keep secrets out of the context window: use environment variables and secret stores, never inline credentials.
- 04
Require review before generated code touches authentication, payments, permissions, migrations, or deletion paths.
- 05
Audit what the integration retained after the session, and revoke access that is no longer needed.
- Agentic editing and terminal access can change many files quickly. Keep permissions narrow, use checkpoints and version control, inspect diffs, and never place credentials in prompts or Rules.
- Follow your organisation's approved-use policy.
- Never treat fluent output as authorization to act.
Core workflows
Step-by-step ways to use Windsurf for the work it does best.
Each workflow is a separate guide with its own steps and review checkpoints.
Use Cascade's agentic tools and checkpoints to implement a scoped change you can explain.
↗ 02 WorkflowCreate durable project rules for WindsurfEncode repository conventions in Rules or AGENTS.md without flooding every Cascade prompt.
↗Official references
Check the current product documentation.
Features, plan limits, availability, and data controls change. These official pages are the starting points used for this guide.