Cucumber is a Behavior Driven Development framework used for automated browser testing that enables diverse project stakeholders to come up with test scenarios written in plain English, using the Gherkin language which can be easily understood by both technical and non-technical people. It supports multiple programming languages like Java, JavaScript, Ruby, Python, etc., and does not require prior coding experience to create test scenarios, making it a preferred choice for QA engineers. Cucumber is widely used in organizations adopting Agile methodologies, where stakeholders from various backgrounds collaborate on product testing. Setting up Cucumber in Eclipse or IntelliJ requires installing the necessary JARs and configuring the project structure, with Maven providing an easier approach by adding dependencies directly to the pom.xml file.