diff --git a/cmd/cue/cmd/custom.go b/cmd/cue/cmd/custom.go
index 52abb8b56..1b8537fab 100644
--- a/cmd/cue/cmd/custom.go
+++ b/cmd/cue/cmd/custom.go
@@ -113,8 +113,8 @@ func customCommand(c *Command, typ, name string, tools *cue.Instance) (*cobra.Co
 		txt := docs[0].Text()
 		short, txt = splitLine(txt)
 		short = lookupString(o, "short", short)
-		if strings.HasPrefix(txt, "Usage:") {
-			usage, txt = splitLine(txt[len("Usage:"):])
+		if rest, ok := strings.CutPrefix(txt, "Usage:"); ok {
+			usage, txt = splitLine(rest)
 		}
 		usage = lookupString(o, "usage", usage)
 		usage = lookupString(o, "$usage", usage)
diff --git a/cmd/cue/cmd/get_go.go b/cmd/cue/cmd/get_go.go
index f58fbcd04..95c753bf2 100644
--- a/cmd/cue/cmd/get_go.go
+++ b/cmd/cue/cmd/get_go.go
@@ -1498,7 +1498,8 @@ func (e *extractor) addFields(x *types.Struct, st *cueast.StructLit) {
 		if t := tags.Get("protobuf"); t != "" {
 			split := strings.Split(t, ",")
 			split = slices.DeleteFunc(split, func(s string) bool {
-				return strings.HasPrefix(s, "name=") && s[len("name="):] == name
+				rest, ok := strings.CutPrefix(s, "name=")
+				return ok && rest == name
 			})
 
 			// Put tag first, as type could potentially be elided and is
diff --git a/encoding/protobuf/pbinternal/attribute.go b/encoding/protobuf/pbinternal/attribute.go
index 53000453e..8f2e82e0d 100644
--- a/encoding/protobuf/pbinternal/attribute.go
+++ b/encoding/protobuf/pbinternal/attribute.go
@@ -99,8 +99,8 @@ func FromValue(name string, v cue.Value) (info Info, err error) {
 		}
 
 	case cue.StructKind:
-		if strings.HasPrefix(info.Type, "map[") {
-			a := strings.SplitN(info.Type[len("map["):], "]", 2)
+		if rest, ok := strings.CutPrefix(info.Type, "map["); ok {
+			a := strings.SplitN(rest, "]", 2)
 			info.KeyTypeString = strings.TrimSpace(a[0])
 			switch info.KeyTypeString {
 			case "string":
diff --git a/internal/cuetxtar/inline.go b/internal/cuetxtar/inline.go
index 01353ec69..3890e0b92 100644
--- a/internal/cuetxtar/inline.go
+++ b/internal/cuetxtar/inline.go
@@ -664,8 +664,8 @@ func (r *inlineRunner) subpath() string {
 	prefix := []byte("#subpath:")
 	for line := range strings.SplitSeq(string(r.archive.Comment), "\n") {
 		b := []byte(strings.TrimSpace(line))
-		if strings.HasPrefix(string(b), string(prefix)) {
-			return strings.TrimSpace(string(b[len(prefix):]))
+		if rest, ok := bytes.CutPrefix(b, prefix); ok {
+			return strings.TrimSpace(string(rest))
 		}
 	}
 	return ""
diff --git a/internal/cuetxtar/inline_err.go b/internal/cuetxtar/inline_err.go
index c60b5150c..03723b3c5 100644
--- a/internal/cuetxtar/inline_err.go
+++ b/internal/cuetxtar/inline_err.go
@@ -1136,8 +1136,8 @@ func relativePathTo(epath, fieldPath string) string {
 	if epath == fieldPath {
 		return ""
 	}
-	if strings.HasPrefix(epath, fieldPath+".") {
-		return epath[len(fieldPath)+1:]
+	if rest, ok := strings.CutPrefix(epath, fieldPath+"."); ok {
+		return rest
 	}
 	return epath
 }
diff --git a/internal/cuetxtar/txtar.go b/internal/cuetxtar/txtar.go
index 81a5fea13..ade91a768 100644
--- a/internal/cuetxtar/txtar.go
+++ b/internal/cuetxtar/txtar.go
@@ -202,8 +202,8 @@ func (t *Test) Value(key string) (value string, ok bool) {
 	s := bufio.NewScanner(bytes.NewReader(t.Archive.Comment))
 	for s.Scan() {
 		b := s.Bytes()
-		if bytes.HasPrefix(b, prefix) {
-			return string(bytes.TrimSpace(b[len(prefix):])), true
+		if rest, ok := bytes.CutPrefix(b, prefix); ok {
+			return string(bytes.TrimSpace(rest)), true
 		}
 	}
 	return "", false