1. On the ignore instructions point: using Cursor with Claude as the underlying model is quite different from using Claude directly through Claude Code. The agent/tooling layer can have a pretty big impact on the behavior.
2. On verbosity: IMO, Claude's default writing style tends to be more verbose than GPT's. GPT models are generally more concise when coding, while Claude often explains more. That said, I think this can be mitigated quite a bit by how you harness the model.
3. I agree that it’s worth trying new models. The pace of AI development is so fast that models can change significantly in a short time. But I’d also suggest trying different agent tools rather than sticking with Cursor alone. The tooling and agent loop can make a big difference too.
I churned off of Cursor for about a year to use Claude Code from spring 2025 to spring 2026 and I noticed it’d regularly ignore CLAUDE.md & Claude rules. It’s part of why I came back to Cursor. The Cursor harness has produced more reliable results, but the excessive verbosity is still pretty common across harnesses, in my experience.
I think there are a few nuances here:
1. On the ignore instructions point: using Cursor with Claude as the underlying model is quite different from using Claude directly through Claude Code. The agent/tooling layer can have a pretty big impact on the behavior.
2. On verbosity: IMO, Claude's default writing style tends to be more verbose than GPT's. GPT models are generally more concise when coding, while Claude often explains more. That said, I think this can be mitigated quite a bit by how you harness the model.
3. I agree that it’s worth trying new models. The pace of AI development is so fast that models can change significantly in a short time. But I’d also suggest trying different agent tools rather than sticking with Cursor alone. The tooling and agent loop can make a big difference too.
I churned off of Cursor for about a year to use Claude Code from spring 2025 to spring 2026 and I noticed it’d regularly ignore CLAUDE.md & Claude rules. It’s part of why I came back to Cursor. The Cursor harness has produced more reliable results, but the excessive verbosity is still pretty common across harnesses, in my experience.
Because models that chat to themselves generate more tokens, hence more money is spent.
Easy
That's an over-simplification though, because models that waste tokens will lose users. Efficiency is a great marketing feature.