All 100 ideasCoding
#65 of 100 · Coding
An open Cursor
A Cursor-like AI editor that is open or privacy-focused, works with their own keys or local models, and costs less.
Asks per year
What the askers want
- Would pay22%
- Want it local or private56%
- Object to subscriptions11%
- Want it open source or self-hosted56%
- Want AI to do it89%
Share of the 9 asks that say so, as judged by Jev.
What exists on Show HN
Built, still asked for13 Show HN launches do this job, and 9 more do part of it. People still ask, so the launches are missed, unknown, or not what they want. Ask what they’re missing before you build.
- Void, an open-source Cursor/GitHub Copilot alternative2024 · 347 pts
- Modo – I built an open-source alternative to Kiro, Cursor, and Windsurf2026 · 103 pts
- Void - open source Cursor AI code editor2024 · 13 pts
- Open-Source AI Native IDE Cursor Alternative2026 · 5 pts
- Ollie – Glass-box AI code editor with local models and no subscription2026 · 3 pts
- Tdycoder – Local AI code editor using Ollama LLM2025 · 3 pts
- Open-source AI text editor that runs on your own hardware2025 · 3 pts
- Build your own AI code editor2025 · 2 pts
Instead of: Cursor, GitHub Copilot, VS Code
The idea, as matched
An open-source or privacy-respecting alternative to Cursor: an AI code editor with fast completions and agent edits that works with your own API keys or local models, at lower cost.
Jev first matched 15 requests to this idea; a second reader kept 9 of 15.
Every ask, newest first
Each line is an AI paraphrase of what the writer wanted. The link goes to their own words on Hacker News.
Reader’s note. Several just want any Cursor or Copilot competition.
- Aug 2026Wants a more open Cursor alternative with Cursor's fast harness and IDE-style selection into chat, after the acquisition. Read it: a comment in “Our decision on Cursor following its acquisition by SpaceX”
- Apr 2026Wants a privacy-focused or EU-based Cursor alternative with good autocomplete and agent features for routine feature additions. Read it: a post: “Ask HN: Cursor alternative, EU-based or privacy-focused?”
- Sep 2025Asks which local model works best for Cursor-style autocomplete and which VS Code extension can use it. Read it: a comment in “Experimenting with Local LLMs on macOS”
- Jan 2025Wants a Cursor-like IDE app, especially on iOS, that accepts their own API keys. Read it: a post: “Cursor-Like Editing on the iOS”
- Apr 2023Wants an editor tool where the LLM uses selections, writes to local files and may run tests itself. Read it: a comment in “An example of LLM prompting for programming”
- Oct 2022Asks why no open source company is working on code completion. Read it: a comment in “AI Coders, Open Source Designers and Serverless Builders”
- Jun 2022Wants competing open-source Copilot alternatives at similar prices, as a fallback if Copilot declines. Read it: a comment in “GitHub Copilot is generally available”
- Oct 2021Wants an extension to run a local GPU-based open code completion model, since Deep TabNine remains uncontested. Read it: a comment in “GPT Code Clippy, the Open Source Version of GitHub Copilot”
- Mar 2017Would buy a private Kite tier that keeps code local, using only import lines for suggestions. Read it: a comment in “Show HN: Kite, copilot for programmers, available for Python”
Building this?
Read ten of the asks above first, because they say what the existing launches miss. If you ship it, post it as a Show HN so the next run of this list finds it.
Ship it like Vercel, on a server you own
This site runs on ShipTiffin. A push to GitHub deploys it, the way it would on Vercel, but the server is a Hetzner box in your own account. Postgres, sign-in, email, jobs and analytics are already on it, every project gets a hard limit, and nothing is billed by usage.
$19 a month per box, plus about $10 for the server at Hetzner. Open source, so you can also run it yourself for free.