Cursor acquires AI code review startup Graphite – News

Code editor provider Cursor has acquired Graphite, a startup with a tool that helps developers check software updates for bugs before releasing them to production.

The companies announced the transaction today. According to Fortune, Cursor plans to finance the transaction with a mix of cash and equity. Graphite previously raised more than $50 million from the Anthropic PBC-backed Anthology fund, Figma Ventures and other prominent backers.

The repository that contains an application’s production code is known as the main branch. When developers wish to add a new feature, they create a copy of the main branch, modify it and then sync the changes back to the original repository. Companies usually require that each engineer’s modifications be reviewed by a different member of the software team before they’re saved.

Graphite, officially Screenplay Studios Inc., has built an artificial intelligence tool that speeds up the code review workflow. It catches cybersecurity issues and features that don’t work as intended. The software also spots more subtle issues, such as a code snippet that performs its intended function but consumes more hardware resources than strictly necessary.

Software updates must often meet additional requirements besides being bug-free and performant. New code has to comply with company-specific formatting guidelines and contain documentation that explains how it works. According to Graphite, its software detects updates that fail to meet those requirements.

Adding a feature to an application often requires developers to create several new software modules. Usually, those modules are reviewed for bugs one at a time. That means engineers have to wait until a module is approved before they can start working on the next one, which slows down development.

Graphite provides a feature called stacked diffs that speeds up the workflow. It enables developers to submit a code snippet for review and immediately start working on the next one instead of waiting until the review is complete. Graphite also avoids merge conflicts, or situations where two different developers attempt to modify the same piece of code.

A dashboard shows engineers the outstanding code changes awaiting their review. They can customize the dashboard in various ways, such as by placing updates to an important project in a prominent section of the interface. Keyboard shortcuts speed up navigation.

Following the acquisition, Cursor plans to offer Graphite as a standalone product alongside its flagship code editor. The latter tool enables developers to create software and fix bugs using natural language prompts. After closing a $2.3 billion funding round last month, Cursor disclosed that its editor is generating more than $1 billion in annualized revenue.

“Graphite’s product and brand aren’t going anywhere,” Graphite co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Merrill Lutsky wrote in a blog post. “We’ll continue to be the place where hundreds of thousands of engineers at the world’s top software companies review and merge code. The only change is that we now have far greater resources to continue to deliver an incredible product.”

Those additional resources will enable Graphite to roll out new integrations between its code review tool and Cursor. Additionally, the companies plan to enhance Graphite’s AI-powered review automation features.

Image: Graphite