How I Built FSMvid (With a Little Help From Cursor and Next.js)

The idea for FSMvid was pretty simple: I wanted to create a clean, fast, and modern platform something users could enjoy without feeling overwhelmed. Right away, I knew I needed something powerful, flexible, and optimized for performance. That’s why I chose Next.js as the foundation. Next.js gave me everything I needed: server-side rendering, static generation, API routes all the good stuff. Discovering Cursor Early into the project, I decided to try out Cursor, an AI-powered coding editor I kept hearing about. Honestly? It made a massive difference. Cursor felt like having an extra developer sitting next to me, ready to jump in whenever I needed help. Whether it was suggesting better code structure, helping me debug tricky bugs, or just saving me from typing repetitive boilerplate — Cursor had my back. Without it, I probably would’ve finished FSMvid.com eventually... but it would’ve taken a lot longer (and involved a lot more frustration). Tech Stack Here’s what I ended up using to bring My Project to life: - Next.js : for the core framework Tailwind CSS : because writing custom CSS by hand would’ve slowed me down way too much Framer Motion : to add those smooth little animations that make everything feel more alive shadcn/ui : prebuilt components that look good and are super easy to customize Lucide-react : for icons that fit perfectly into the design TypeScript : to keep everything safe and catch bugs early Every tool I picked helped me move faster without sacrificing quality — exactly what I needed for this project. The Roadblocks Of course, it wasn’t all smooth sailing. Here are some of the headaches I ran into: Dynamic routing in Next.js : took me longer than I’d like to admit to get everything working properly. Dark mode toggle : what should’ve been a small feature turned into two solid days of wrestling with theme states and local storage. TypeScript errors : combining libraries (especially animations with Framer Motion) sometimes led to type conflicts that took hours to untangle. Each of these hurdles taught me something new — even if it was frustrating at the time. Building FSMvid was a huge learning experience. It reminded me that no matter how many tutorials you watch or docs you read, nothing teaches you like actually getting your hands dirty. Would I recommend building your next project with Cursor and Next.js? Absolutely. Especially if you want to stay productive and still write code you’re proud of. If you want to check out the final product, you can visit it : I’m excited for what’s next — and if you’re thinking about starting your own project, my advice is simple: just go for it.

Apr 28, 2025 - 12:33

How I Built FSMvid (With a Little Help From Cursor and Next.js)

The idea for FSMvid was pretty simple:
I wanted to create a clean, fast, and modern platform something users could enjoy without feeling overwhelmed.
Right away, I knew I needed something powerful, flexible, and optimized for performance. That’s why I chose Next.js as the foundation.
Next.js gave me everything I needed: server-side rendering, static generation, API routes all the good stuff.
Discovering Cursor
Early into the project, I decided to try out Cursor, an AI-powered coding editor I kept hearing about.
Honestly? It made a massive difference.
Cursor felt like having an extra developer sitting next to me, ready to jump in whenever I needed help.
Whether it was suggesting better code structure, helping me debug tricky bugs, or just saving me from typing repetitive boilerplate — Cursor had my back.
Without it, I probably would’ve finished FSMvid.com eventually... but it would’ve taken a lot longer (and involved a lot more frustration).
Tech Stack
*Here’s what I ended up using to bring My Project to life:
*- Next.js : for the core framework

Tailwind CSS : because writing custom CSS by hand would’ve slowed me down way too much
Framer Motion : to add those smooth little animations that make everything feel more alive
shadcn/ui : prebuilt components that look good and are super easy to customize
Lucide-react : for icons that fit perfectly into the design
TypeScript : to keep everything safe and catch bugs early Every tool I picked helped me move faster without sacrificing quality — exactly what I needed for this project. The Roadblocks Of course, it wasn’t all smooth sailing. Here are some of the headaches I ran into:
Dynamic routing in Next.js : took me longer than I’d like to admit to get everything working properly.
Dark mode toggle : what should’ve been a small feature turned into two solid days of wrestling with theme states and local storage.
TypeScript errors : combining libraries (especially animations with Framer Motion) sometimes led to type conflicts that took hours to untangle. Each of these hurdles taught me something new — even if it was frustrating at the time.

Building FSMvid was a huge learning experience.
It reminded me that no matter how many tutorials you watch or docs you read, nothing teaches you like actually getting your hands dirty.
Would I recommend building your next project with Cursor and Next.js?
Absolutely. Especially if you want to stay productive and still write code you’re proud of.
If you want to check out the final product, you can visit it :
I’m excited for what’s next — and if you’re thinking about starting your own project, my advice is simple: just go for it.