The developer toolchain is officially collapsing. Cursor, the AI-native code editor, announced today it has acquired Graphite, the popular code review and stacked PR platform. The deal, which sees Graphite join Cursor, is a direct response to the massive acceleration in code creation driven by generative AI, aiming to eliminate the bottleneck that has shifted from writing code to reviewing it.
Graphite CEO Merrill Lutsky noted that while AI empowers engineers to build features in hours, the subsequent review process has become the new choke point. "The bottleneck is how quickly we can review it," Lutsky wrote in the announcement. This realization has driven leading engineering organizations—including Shopify, Figma, and Snowflake—to adopt Graphite’s tools for managing complex code changes at speed.
The acquisition is not merely about consolidation; it’s about integration. Both companies share a vision of an "integrated platform where humans and agents create, review, and merge code changes collaboratively." For users, this means connecting the "inner loop" (local development and code generation, Cursor’s specialty) with the "outer loop" (collaboration, review, and merging, Graphite’s specialty).
Graphite, which gained significant traction by offering "stacked PRs" and advanced merge queues—features many users argue GitHub should have built years ago—will continue to operate as an independent product. However, its core functionality will now be deeply interwoven with Cursor’s AI capabilities.
The immediate roadmap promises tighter integrations: seamless connections between local development environments and pull requests, and a combined AI offering that merges Graphite’s existing AI Reviewer with Cursor’s Bugbot. The ultimate goal, according to Lutsky, is a future where PRs become "self-driving."
The strategic alignment is clear. Cursor has focused on making the act of writing code faster and more intuitive using large language models. Graphite, meanwhile, has focused on making the subsequent collaboration and validation process manageable, especially for large, complex projects that require multiple dependent pull requests.
By bringing Graphite joins Cursor, the combined entity is positioning itself as the single, end-to-end platform for the AI-driven developer workflow.
