Plan-first coding: reading plans more than code in Cursor

Melvin Vivas · X post · 2026-07-15 · Open on X

Topics: AI Dev Tools & Productivity · Level: beginner

Summary

The creator says he now reads the agent's plans more than the code it writes. He likes Cursor's planning mode, especially with the Fable model on high. When you code with an agent, much of the review effort moves to checking the plan before it writes any code.

Key points

• When you code with an agent, review the plan before the agent writes code.
• He finds Cursor's planning feature works well.
• He prefers the Fable model on a high reasoning setting for planning.
• Catching mistakes at the plan stage saves time on code review later.

Resources mentioned

• Cursor · tool · x.com · free · recommended by both Bashiri Smith & Melvin Vivas
  AI-native code editor (VS Code with AI built in).
  Also in: GLM 5.3 and GLM 5.3 Flash now in Cursor (Melvin Vivas on X · notes), Grok Bot Can Now Hand Off Coding Tasks to Cursor (Melvin Vivas on X · notes), Why Plan Mode Still Matters in AI Coding Assistants (Codex, Claude, Cursor) (Melvin Vivas on X · notes), Why Plan Mode Still Matters in AI Coding Agents (Codex, Claude, Cursor) (Melvin Vivas on X · notes) and 121 more
• Fable · tool · anthropic.com · paid
  Named as what the creator used with Devin for this build; the post gives no details about what it is.
  Also in: Demo: One-Shotting a Flappy Bird iPhone App with Devin and Fable 5.1 (Melvin Vivas on X · notes), Subagents with mixed models: a strong planner and a fast executor (Melvin Vivas on X · notes), Cognition's SWE-2 Coding Model Now in Devin (Melvin Vivas on X · notes), GPT-6 Astra Access Across Plans vs Fable on Claude Max (Melvin Vivas on X · notes) and 10 more

Try this

• Use Cursor's planning mode and review the plan before you let the agent write code.