GPT-4.1 Needed Fewer Retry Loops in My Editors

Using GPT-4.1 in Windsurf and Cursor, I was spending less time asking for the same edit twice. The benchmark jump was useful context, but the cleaner diffs were what I noticed in actual work.

SWE-bench Results

• 54.6% on SWE-bench Verified, a 21.4-point gain over GPT-4o (OpenAI).
• SWE-bench tests real software engineering tasks in open-source Python repos: bug fixes and feature additions.
• This is a benchmark result under OpenAI’s evaluation setup, not a guarantee that an edit in my repository will pass tests.

Aider Polyglot Diffs

• Aider’s polyglot diff benchmark measures code changes across multiple languages, outputting only necessary diffs.
• GPT-4.1 doubles GPT-4o’s score and beats GPT-4.5 by 8 points (OpenAI).
• The model follows diff formats more reliably, reducing merge conflicts for devs who need precise, minimal changes.
• Output token limit is now 32,768 — double GPT-4o’s — for those who prefer full file rewrites.

Windsurf Integration

• GPT-4.1 in Windsurf, free for all users April 14–21 (Reddit). The launch benchmark results were a reason to try it, not a measured productivity gain in my projects. I did not count file edits, tool calls, or retries.

Cursor Integration

• GPT-4.1 selectable in Cursor via Settings → Models (Cursor Forum, Reddit).

That matched my experience in both editors: fewer back-and-forth iterations and more code that worked on the first try. The benchmark explained why I tried the model. The cleaner diffs were why I kept selecting it.