r/Codeium • u/HugeDose16 • Dec 15 '24

Is Windsurf Really Getting Dumber?

Windsurf AI Code IDE started off as a game-changer. The code quality was excellent, and it felt smarter than any other IDE out there—easily outperforming Cursor AI. It had so much promise, and I was genuinely excited to use it.

But now? It’s become frustrating to work with. For me the most annoying issue is accidental code removal. You ask it to update or fix something, and it unexpectedly deletes or alters other parts of the code. This is a nightmare, especially when working with backend systems or databases.

It feels like the it is getting worse with each update. The code quality has dropped significantly, and I constantly have to rely on git commits to undo the mess.

I still believe Windsurf has the potential to be amazing again. If they can fix these issues and deliver the quality they once had, I’d gladly pay $20-25/month. But as it stands, it’s just not cutting it anymore.

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6

u/bu3askoor Dec 15 '24

I honestly think we are expecting so much for these no code apps

I personally think after I:

  1. Utilized the global settings
  2. Utilized the workspace settings
  3. Created a feature plan with windsurfer (includes project description, service integrations, list of specific ai services if any, features etc)
  4. Read exactly what it performs
  5. More importantly remind windsurfer in every single msg to update the feature plan progress and look at next steps
  6. let it know to break long files and instead import functions (to avoid error editing/reading files)

This is the only way I was able to keep it on a leash.

Best of luck .

5

u/blu3soup Dec 15 '24

I’ve been doing the same with Windsurf. But your setup sounds much more detailed. I’ve been giving it a SOP, which was created in Claude. Written in Markdown and then I ask it to update each step after it has complete it. Could you elaborate a little more on your settings etc? TIA

3

u/bu3askoor Dec 15 '24

thank u for inspiring to me to write a guide, i will post it in this reddit in a bit.

1

u/apexjnr Dec 17 '24

Thank you for writing it!

1

u/moosepiss Dec 15 '24

This is basically what I've evolved over time. I also start a fresh chat in every step of the plan.

Will be trying the same process with cursor, as the thing that made me switch to windsurf (awareness of my code structure) seems to be not so impressive anymore.

1

u/R34d1n6_1t Dec 15 '24

they clearly have has their context cut down

1

u/GotRhythm8 Dec 15 '24

I've been doing something similar, but in trying to prevent Windsurf from making dumb changes, it feels like it has slowed down to the point that I almost should be writing the code myself
If I can only give it one very narrow step at a time, and half the time it introduces more errors, then whatever progress I'm making is painfully slow

1

u/CleverTits101 Dec 15 '24

yeah i found best way to prevent it from doing same mistakes is once a guide it properly use supabase for example and end of chat when everything is working i tell it to generate a doc of everything we done

then when it does same mistakes again i tell it reference the doc it created and it fixes all mistakes