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2 min lesson

Ask the agent to interact with the page, not just describe it

Show why this lesson detail matters: "Start with this check: The browser reaches the intended page."

Step 1 of 2

The job: Cursor can operate the app and report evidence instead of guessing from code. Start with this check: The browser reaches the intended page. Keep it small enough to check the result yourself instead of taking the summary on trust.

Drive the page, then report what changed

0:35 · narrated
Read this demo as text
  1. Ask the agent to actually click Apply on the live cart — not just tell you the coupon exists. A number typed in chat proves nothing; a number read off the page does.
  2. Switch to the Browser tab and watch the agent drive the page itself — click Apply, and the cart total recalculates right there.
  3. Fifty dollars becomes forty-five. The agent reports the number it just read off the running page — browser-verified, not guessed from the code.
Ask the agent to interact with the page, not just describe it — then check the reported result against what changed.

Practice next: Now try it yourself: ask Cursor to click or type on a running page, then confirm the report matches what you see.

Simulated Cursor 3.12 (macOS, light) — beta educational reconstruction, not the real product.

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Full explanation

Agent-driven browser: navigate, type, console, network, screenshot

Browser tool — drive a login-gated flow and read what the page actually does
Agent-driven browser: navigate, type, console, network, screenshot
SayThe Delete-account confirmation only renders on /settings, which is behind login — reading the component proves nothing. Sign in as the seeded test user and drive the real page.
Typelocalhost:3000 → log in as qa@acme.test → open /settings → run the Delete-account confirm
DoLet Agent navigate to localhost:3000, type the test credentials into the login form and submit. The browser keeps the auth cookie for this workspace, so it stays signed in for the rest of the run.
SeeIt lands on /settings as the logged-in user. Skip the login and the route just bounces to /login — you would be verifying an empty redirect, not the dialog.
SayOpen the Delete-account dialog, type the account name to confirm, and watch the console and network output — the confirm button is not enabling.
SeeThe network panel shows the name-check returning 409 and the console logs a trailing-space mismatch: the field sends 'Acme Inc ' with a stray space, so the compare never matches. Reading the code alone would not have shown that.
SayTrim that trailing space on the confirm handler and nothing else, then re-run the flow and capture the result.
Typescreenshot settings-delete-confirmed.png for the PR
SeeThe shot shows the confirm button enabling with a clean console and the name-check back at 200 — a reviewer sees the gated flow works without signing in themselves.
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Optional practice

Practice: Ask the agent to interact with the page, not just describe it

QYou've applied it. What actually proves the work is done, not just a plausible answer?