Lee starts with a two-year-old Next.js 13 app using MDX, Tailwind, and ESLint. He identifies work including updating dependencies, removing the old blog and unused code, migrating from inline styles, and replacing job content stored in MDX with data from Ashby.
Refactoring a Next.js & Tailwind app with Cursor
Lee Robinson of Cursor’s parent company, Anysphere, walks through refactoring an older Next.js app with Cursor, showing how he uses AI as a pair programmer.
He uses upgrade commands and codemods for Next.js and Tailwind, then checks the changes as the app runs. He moves from Tailwind 3 to 4 and starts replacing ESLint with Biome, while noting that lint autofixes can make broad changes and need review.
Lee uses Cursor agents to combine the Genius component into the homepage and migrate inline styles to Tailwind. He removes the blog and unused assets, reviews the diffs, and deletes the careers page after deciding it adds little beyond the homepage.
He builds a career route that fetches job details from Ashby and renders the posting’s HTML, title, department, and location. The existing job IDs are not human-readable slugs, so Lee leaves URL naming as a product decision and restructures the careers layout to share the application form.
After about an hour, Lee says the app has a cleaner shared careers layout, fewer duplicate font loads, Tailwind in place of many inline styles, and job content coming from Ashby instead of MDX. He describes AI as a pair programmer that helps with repetitive edits while he directs and reviews changes. He reports spending about $35 using GPT-5 High Fast and GPT-5 with medium reasoning.
Takeaways
- Use codemods for predictable framework upgrades, then inspect the resulting changes.
- Ask an agent to handle repetitive refactors, but review diffs and run the app as you go.
- Treat lint autofixes cautiously because they can change more files than expected.
- Prototype API-driven content with one route before expanding it across the app.
- Make URL and slug decisions with product needs in mind when the data source provides only opaque IDs.
Mentioned in this talk
Search inside this talk
What was claimed 8
- featureTailwind CSS: The app was migrated from Tailwind 3 to Tailwind 4
“but also for Tailwind 3 to 4”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- feature
Next.js: The app was upgraded from Next.js 13 through versions 14 and 15“Next.js 13-to-14-to-15 updates”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- feature
Anysphere: Anysphere is Cursor's parent companyAnysphere is Cursor's parent company“Anysphere website, which is the parent company of Cursor”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- feature
Biome: Used for formatting and linting in place of ESLint“move to Biome for formatting and linting”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- featureAshby: Its API provides job posting data used to render careers pages
“We should also be able to read all this information from Ashby.”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- featureAshby: The API is used by the job application form to submit applications
“300 lines of error handling and talking to the Ashby API”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- usesGPT-5 with high and medium reasoning was used during the session
“I'm using GPT-5 with high reasoning”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- metric
GPT-5: About $35 for roughly one hour of coding, using GPT-5 High Fast and GPT-5 with medium reasoning“I was coding for about an hour ... and it was about $35.”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
