2 min lesson
Index, then retrieve
Take "Index, then retrieve" step by step, then finish with the result that proves it worked.
Step 1 of 2
Index, then retrievehow the slice gets chosen
Cursor builds an index of your codebase so it can find relevant code fast, then retrieves a curated slice into the context at request time. Two distinct stages and conflating them is a common teaching mistake.
Interactive diagram. Step through it with the Next and Previous controls below, or Tab to a region to read its detail.
diagram: flow
Indexing is ahead-of-time; retrieval is per request. Only the assembled slice reaches the model - everything else is invisible.