Tab completions behave erratically for a developer who imported a VS Code profile: suggestions flicker, get replaced mid-typing, and a familiar shortcut now fires the wrong command. Which step should come first?

The principle — Tab completion and inline edit need exclusive use of the same trigger key and the same inline suggestion surface that every other completion tool also wants. Two assistants running side by side do not defer to one another; they race, and the visible symptoms are flicker, suggestions replaced mid-typing, and shortcuts firing the wrong command.

Why the key is correct — Cursor's guidance names extensions that supply their own AI completions or intercept keyboard shortcuts as the ones that interfere, and other AI coding assistants as the most common source of conflicts. A VS Code import carries exactly those extensions across without comment, so they are the first thing to switch off. Disabling them and re-enabling one at a time both stops the symptom and identifies which extension caused it.

Why the others are wrong — Adding a completion delay arbitrates nothing between two engines; both still fire, merely later, and the keystroke is still contested. Reinstalling the editor leaves the profile and its extensions untouched on disk, so the race resumes on the first launch afterwards. And moving to a different model changes what gets suggested rather than who is competing to display it, which leaves the flicker and the hijacked shortcut exactly as they were.

Remember this — When Tab turns unreliable straight after a migration, suspect what travelled in with the profile before suspecting Cursor.

Sources — Cursor's Extension conflicts help page.