Hey everyone,
I'm a non-technical founder building a social app called Duren using AI-assisted development ("vibe coding"). My stack is React, Tailwind, and Supabase. I've been using free tiers of Windsurf, Lovable, and Google AI Studio, but I'm stuck in a frustrating loop:
• AI writes code that looks syntactically correct but breaks at runtime (auth flows, broken imports, state mismatches).
• I commit → deploy to Vercel → get console/network errors → spend hours trying to fix it with another AI prompt.
• Since I don't have a strong debugging foundation, I can't efficiently isolate whether the issue is the AI's output, my environment, or missing dependencies.
I'm considering upgrading to **Cursor Pro ($20/mo)**. Before I do, I wanted to ask the community:
Does Cursor's Composer/Agent mode actually produce more consistent, *runnable* code than free vibe-coding tools for a React + Supabase stack?
For someone who can't easily debug, does the ability to chat with your codebase + auto-apply edits save enough time to justify the cost?
Or is the core bottleneck my workflow/environment (e.g., not running `npm install`, missing local dev setup, poor prompt scoping)?
Any tips for breaking the `"broken commit → failed deploy → AI retry"` cycle when you're building solo?
I'm not looking for a magic button. I'm trying to be smart about where to invest limited budget and time. If Cursor isn't the answer, what would you recommend for a solo founder learning as they build?
Thanks for reading.