Cloud agent startup speed improved 3x with builds feature

Existing cloud sessions required extensive setup processes every time, including machine booting, repository cloning, and running installation scripts. For large projects, it could take several minutes before an agent was ready to run.

Cursor introduced a builds feature that continuously prepares development environments in the background to address this. Agents can now start immediately in a pre-prepared environment, making response times up to 3x faster.

Key advantages of the builds feature include:

• Faster boot times: Environment setup is completed in advance, allowing agents to start working immediately. In Cursor's internal environment, boot times were reduced by 10x and time to first token by 3x.
• Higher resilience: Even if the environment breaks due to dependency updates or commit errors, agents continue to use the last successful build, preventing work interruptions.
• Improved observability: The cloud agent dashboard allows users to directly view logs, commit SHAs, and status for each build.

Users can enable this feature in the Builds tab of the cloud agent dashboard and optimize existing installation commands to build more efficient environments.