3.1 – Build a React Frontend with Cursor Lesson

Lesson Overview

Starting a new software project can feel overwhelming, especially when building something as ambitious as Super Coach Pro. This lesson focuses on the very first steps: organizing your workspace, deciding exactly what to build, and setting up the essentials of your React frontend. Instead of writing code blindly, you’ll see how to think through requirements, use a to-do list to sequence your features, and work with AI (in this case, Cursor) to automate setup and handle common issues.

Proper setup and planning save significant time and frustration later. Many developers run into trouble by skipping this phase, which leads to confusion or lost work as projects grow. That’s why you’ll also learn how to structure your repository for both UI and backend work, making your project ready for future full-stack features.

This approach is particularly helpful for founders, solo developers, or anyone building a prototype with limited resources. By the end of this lesson, you’ll know how to get a professional-grade React workspace running and see how AI can help you build, debug, and steadily refine your frontend—step by step before moving on to more advanced features.

Who This Is For

Getting started with a modern frontend stack is an essential skill for:

• Entrepreneurs preparing to build and test a new digital product
• Early-stage startups needing a reliable starting point for their app UI
• Developers new to React who want a repeatable setup process
• UI/UX designers looking to prototype with real data and interactions
• Product managers and team leads aiming to understand or review front-end planning
• Anyone who wants to harness AI tools to speed up and simplify web development

Where This Fits in a Workflow

This lesson lays the groundwork for your web application's development cycle. You’ll use this process at the very start of a project, before diving into individual features or complex backend logic. For example:

• When beginning Super Coach Pro, setting up the repository, folder structure, and planning documents ensures everyone knows where code lives and what the next steps are.
• As you outline and tackle initial features—like the workout planner—you’re building the workflow for feature development, review, and improvement.

Whether you’re working alone or with teammates, this phase is about building confidence: you get quick feedback from Cursor AI, troubleshoot early, and put guardrails in place with version control. A solid foundation here allows smoother progress when you implement persistent data and server-side features in later lessons.

Technical & Workflow Benefits

Skipping a structured setup often leads to repetitive errors, untracked code, or confusion about how pieces fit together. In earlier days, creating and styling a React app required running several different tools, manual installs, and plenty of troubleshooting. In this lesson’s approach:

• You’ll see how using Vite streamlines React app setup, with faster startup and simpler configuration compared to older tools like Create React App.
• Cursor AI resolves common setup problems and dependency mismatches (such as issues with Tailwind CSS or component libraries) much faster—meaning less hunting for fixes online and more time building features.
• Using a clear to-do list with input from AI helps you avoid overbuilding or skipping steps, especially as tasks grow in complexity.

This organized, AI-assisted workflow increases your speed, lets you make targeted changes, and—most importantly—keeps your project on track as new requirements arise.

Practice Exercise

Put these planning and setup skills to use:

1. Create a new private repository on GitHub and name it after your prototype idea (for example, “Super Coach Pro”).
2. Clone your repository to your local computer, then open it in Cursor or your editor of choice.
3. Before writing any code, use a markdown file to list your main feature requirements—focus only on frontend needs for now.
4. Use Cursor AI to suggest, revise, and refine your to-do list until it covers the UI features for your project’s first phase.

**Reflection:**
After setup, compare your project’s folder structure and to-do list to working production code you’ve seen or used before. What’s similar? What would you change to suit your own product’s needs?

Course Context Recap

This lesson marks the true beginning of your journey from planning to implementation for Super Coach Pro. You’ve moved beyond overview and are now building, organizing, and testing real features in React with the aid of AI. Previously, you learned about the course goals and essential tools; now you’re architecting the project, planning what to build, and getting the frontend running. Next, you’ll connect all this UI work to a server and database, giving your app the ability to store and recall information for real users.

Ready to continue? Keep going with the course to bring your prototype to life.