Cursor AI Generated Bad Code? How to Review and Fix It

Cursor is different from Lovable and Bolt — it works with your existing codebase in a real code editor rather than generating a fresh project. This makes it powerful, but also means it can silently introduce bugs into working code in ways that are harder to spot than a fresh generation.

The Core Risk With Cursor-Generated Code

Cursor generates code that looks plausible and often compiles without errors. Problems tend to emerge at runtime, under edge cases, or in production with real data. Code that passes a quick visual scan can contain security issues, performance problems, or logic errors.

How to Review Cursor Suggestions Before Accepting

Before accepting any non-trivial Cursor suggestion, ask three questions: Does this handle errors — what happens if the API call fails or the input is unexpected? Does this work with real data — test with empty arrays, null values, large datasets, not just the happy path? Is this the simplest approach — simpler code has fewer bugs and is easier to maintain.

Red Flags in Cursor-Generated Code

• ▸any or as any TypeScript casts — hiding type errors rather than fixing them
• ▸// TODO: implement this — stubs that look like real implementations
• ▸Async functions where async operations inside have no await
• ▸console.log statements with user IDs, tokens, or sensitive data
• ▸Hardcoded test values or example data that should come from variables
• ▸catch(e) {} blocks that silently swallow errors

Fix: TypeScript Any Abuse

When Cursor uses as any or : any to silence TypeScript errors, it is hiding a real problem. Do not accept these. Ask Cursor to fix the underlying type issue instead. Silenced TypeScript errors cause runtime crashes.

Fix: Missing Await on Async Calls

If a function calls an async operation without await, it returns a Promise instead of the actual value. The code runs without error but produces wrong results. Search all Cursor-generated code for Supabase calls, fetch() calls, and other async operations — verify every one has await.

Fix: Security Issues

Cursor sometimes generates code that trusts user input without validation, stores sensitive values in localStorage (where any script can read them), or constructs database queries unsafely. These require immediate fixes before production deployment.

When to Get a Second Pair of Eyes

If Cursor generated code for a payment flow, an authentication system, or a feature handling sensitive user data, have an experienced developer review it before going live. The cost of a code review is far less than the cost of a security incident.

We offer code reviews for Cursor-generated projects at Saurabh Infosys. Share your repository and specify which parts are AI-generated — we will give you a prioritised issue list within 24 hours.