After months on Cursor, I just switched back to VS Code!

I’ve been using Cursor for a while, mainly for its smooth AI coding experience. But recently, I decided to move my workflow back to VS Code and test how far open-source coding models have come.

The setup I’m using is simple:

• VS Code + Hugging Face Copilot Chat extension
• Models: Qwen 3, GLM 4.6, and Kimi K2 from Nebius AI Studio

Honestly, I didn’t expect much at first, but the results have been surprisingly solid.

Here’s what stood out:

• These open models handle refactoring, commenting, and quick edits really well.
• They’re way cheaper than proprietary models, no token anxiety, no credit drain.
• You can switch models on the fly, depending on task complexity.
• No vendor lock-in, full transparency, and control inside your editor.

I still agree that Claude 4.5 or GPT-5 outperform in deep reasoning and complex tasks, but for 50–60% of everyday work, writing code, debugging, or doc generation, these open models perform just fine.

It feels like the first time open LLMs can actually compete with closed ones in real-world dev workflows.

I also made a short tutorial showing how to set it up step-by-step if you want to try it:

I would love to hear your thoughts on these open source models!