Cursor for Developers: Essentials — Refactoring & Migration Playbook

A focused playbook for safe refactoring and migration with Cursor. Learners pin a legacy Python module's current behaviour with characterization tests, rename and extract a helper in small steps using Plan mode, and migrate off the deprecated datetime.utcnow() without changing what the code does. They leave with a tests-first, small-steps routine and a list of quirks to raise separately instead of fixing them silently. About 45 minutes including the final.

What this course covers

The course runs across 3 topics, each one a short adaptive session rather than a recorded lecture. The tutor explains the idea, works an example, checks understanding, and adjusts the next step to the answer given.

Pin the behaviour first: characterization tests — Before changing anything, learners use Agent's Ask mode to list what the legacy module really does, quirks included, and write tests that capture today's results using far-past and far-future dates so they never depend on the clock. These tests are the safety net for every later step.
Small, behaviour-preserving steps: rename and extract function — Learners use Plan mode to split the refactor into steps (renames, extract a parse helper, inject now), then make one step at a time on a branch, rerunning the tests and reviewing the diff after each. A checkpoint or git undo is the fallback when Agent changes more than asked.
An API migration with a trap: utcnow() to timezone-aware UTC — Swapping datetime.utcnow() for datetime.now(timezone.utc) on its own makes every comparison with the naive stored expiry times raise TypeError, so the parsed times must become UTC-aware too. Learners have Agent predict the breakage before editing, prove the result with the tests, and log quirks for a separate ticket instead of fixing them mid-migration.

Skills you build

Results are measured against named skills in the OneRange taxonomy of more than 10,000 skills, so a manager sees proficiency per skill rather than a completion tick.

Who it is for

Software developers. The material is pitched at beginner level, and takes roughly 45 minutes at a typical pace. Because every session adapts, someone who already knows a topic moves through it quickly instead of sitting through an explanation they do not need.

It sits in the Tool: AI Code Editors track of the Vero AI Catalog, and can be assigned to one person, a team, or the whole company.

How it is delivered and assessed

Delivery is conversational and interactive, including code lab, guided lab exercises. There is no video to sit through and no slide deck to click past.

Understanding is checked with a lab assessment of 5 items, with a pass mark of 70%.

Administrators can copy this course into their own library and adapt it — edit the outline, change the duration, swap the assessment format, or ground it in internal documentation so answers cite the company's own source material.

Also in this track

Cursor for Developers: Essentials — Testing Playbook — A focused playbook for testing with Cursor. Learners use Agent in Ask mode to find the untested rules in a small Python billing module and write unit and edge-case tests, sort out a failing test and a flaky one, and prove a test really guards the behaviour by checking whether it would catch a bug. They leave with a repeatable test-writing routine and the habit of taking expected values from the spec, not from the code. About 45 minutes including the final.
Cursor for Developers: Essentials — Code Review Playbook — A focused playbook for reviewing code with Cursor, including changes written by an AI agent. Learners review a small JavaScript pull request in Agent's Ask mode for correctness, security, risky edits and missing tests, insist on line-referenced findings, and then check a first-pass AI review comment by comment instead of trusting it. They leave with a reusable review prompt and a clear approve, request-changes or reject decision. About 45 minutes including the final.
Cursor for Developers: Essentials — Docs & Onboarding Playbook — A focused playbook for documentation and onboarding with Cursor. Learners use Agent's Ask mode to explain an unfamiliar JavaScript module, trace real inputs through it, fact-check an out-of-date README line by line, and write a new README, JSDoc comments and a handoff note. They leave with documentation in which every claim has been checked against the code. About 45 minutes including the final.
Cursor for Everyone: Essentials — Learners build their first real tools with Cursor without writing code themselves. The course covers guided setup, the describe-build-check loop, and making small useful things - a small web page, a calculator, a form - with fake data until the result is trusted. They leave with one working tool and the habit of asking Cursor to explain everything it did.
Cursor for Everyone: Intro — A first look at Cursor for people who don't code. Learners ask it in plain English to build a small pizza calculator for a team lunch, ask for one change, and see the result in their browser. It proves you don't need to be an engineer to build with AI. About 30 minutes including the final.
Cursor & Grok Bot for Developers Pathway — One path for engineering teams that use Cursor with Grok Bot included. A placement check for each tool sends you to the right Cursor course and the right Grok Bot course. Also includes 8 optional playbooks (Testing, Code Review, Refactoring & Migration and Docs & Onboarding for Cursor; Testing, Code Review, Incidents & Performance and Docs & Onboarding for Grok Bot) to take any time after Essentials; they don't count toward the certificate.
Cursor for Developers Pathway — Cursor for professional developers: from getting productive with Tab and Agent to rules, MCP and hooks, then cloud agents, Bugbot and the CLI. Also includes 4 optional playbooks (Testing, Code Review, Refactoring & Migration, Docs & Onboarding) to take any time after Essentials; they don't count toward the certificate.

Frequently asked questions

How long does this course take?

It runs roughly 45 minutes at a typical pace. Because every session adapts, someone who already knows a topic moves through it quickly instead of sitting through an explanation they do not need.

How is it assigned to a team?

An administrator assigns it from the Vero dashboard to one person, a team, a department or the whole company, and sees progress and results per person and per skill.

Can we customise it with our own documents and terminology?

Yes. Administrators can copy this course into their own library and adapt it — edit the outline, change the duration, swap the assessment format, or ground it in internal documentation so answers cite the company's own source material.

Course code TUL-CUR-DEV-123.