🚀 Building Apps with AI: A Beginner’s Journey with Cursor 🤖

🎨 Why This Matters: Unleash Your Inner Creator!

Ever dreamt of building your own app but felt intimidated by code? 🤯 You’re not alone! This breakdown explores how Cursor, an AI-powered code assistant, empowers anyone, regardless of their coding skills, to bring their software ideas to life. ✨

🧰 Setting the Stage: Your AI Toolkit

Before diving in, let’s gather our tools:

1. Cursor: Your AI coding companion (https://www.cursor.com/)
2. Node.js: Essential for installing packages (https://nodejs.org/en/download/package-manager)
3. A sprinkle of creativity! 💫

🖼️ Project 1: The Ultimate Image Editor

Imagine this: an app that lets users upload images, remove backgrounds, add text, and customize everything in real-time. Sounds complex? Let’s break it down with Cursor!

🪄 Step 1: The Setup

1. Create a new Next.js website: Ask Cursor “How do I create a new Next.js website?” and follow its instructions.
2. Install the background removal package: We’ll use the @imgly/background-removal package (https://www.npmjs.com/package/@imgly/background-removal).

🎨 Step 2: Building the Core Functionality

1. Upload and remove: Tell Cursor “On this page, allow the user to upload an image and then use [paste background removal package link] to remove the background of the image.”
2. Background color: Continue the prompt with “Replace the background with a solid color with a color slider that the user can adjust. Finally, show the result in real-time on the page.”
3. Run and refine: Execute the code and use Cursor to troubleshoot any errors or style the elements to your liking.

✏️ Step 3: Adding Text and Customization

1. Text overlay: Instruct Cursor to “Add a feature where the user can type in text and the text would be added to the background of the image. The user can also adjust the position of the text on the background.”
2. Fine-tuning: Request additional options for text size, color, and layering behind the foreground image.
3. Micro-edits: Use Cursor’s inline editing (Ctrl+K) to make small adjustments like adding a title or spacing.

🎉 You’ve just built a powerful image editor with zero coding experience!

🌌 Project 2: AI Image Generator with Flux

Let’s take it up a notch! This time, we’ll build an app that uses Flux, a powerful AI image generator, to create images from text prompts.

🔗 Step 1: Connecting to Replicate

1. Sign up for Replicate: Create a free account (https://replicate.com/) and set up billing.
2. Find the Flux Schnell API: Locate the Flux Schnell model and navigate to the API reference tab.

💻 Step 2: Building the Generator Page

1. Create a new page: Ask Cursor “How do I create a new page with the path /generator?” and follow its instructions.
2. Link to the API: Provide Cursor with the Replicate API reference URL and instruct it to “Use this page which contains all the instructions to generate an image with the user’s prompt.”
3. Set up Replicate: Continue the prompt with “Show me how to set up Replicate and all the API endpoints. I’m using Next.js 14. Give me step-by-step instructions, assume I’m a beginner.”
4. Run and test: Follow Cursor’s guidance, install necessary packages, and add your Replicate API token to the .env.local file.

✨ Step 3: Enhancing the User Experience

1. Add a navigation bar: Ask Cursor to “Add a navigation bar with the items Home and Generator at the top of every page.”
2. Implement a download button: Instruct Cursor to “Add a download button for the user to download the image.”
3. Customize the look: Use inline editing to style the download button or any other element on the page.

🚀 Conclusion: The Power is in Your Hands

With Cursor, building apps is no longer a distant dream but a tangible reality. By breaking down complex tasks into simple prompts, Cursor empowers anyone to become a creator, regardless of their technical background. So, what will you build today? 💡