# Connect Cursor to Nodary

Cursor’s agent can read the specs, decisions and plans your team keeps in Nodary while it writes code, and write back what it learns, with your permissions.

Checked against each vendor’s documentation on 22 October 2026.

## Before you start

- Cursor’s desktop app. Cursor’s pricing page did not say which plans include MCP servers when we checked; on Enterprise, admins control MCP access, and a team can keep an allowlist of servers.
- A Nodary account. The MCP server is in every plan; on Free, while the workspace stays within the free plan: 1 project, 10 documents and folders, 2 members. Cursor spends no Comets: it uses its own model.

No workspace yet? Create one, then come back to connect. [Create a free workspace](https://nodary.ai/sign-up)

## Add Nodary to mcp.json

1. Open ~/.cursor/mcp.json in your home folder (Nodary in every project) or .cursor/mcp.json in a project (that project only) and add the server:

   ```
   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "nodary": {
         "url": "https://nodary.ai/api/mcp"
       }
     }
   }
   ```
2. Open Customize in Cursor’s sidebar, find nodary among the MCP servers, turn it on and sign in when Cursor asks: Nodary’s consent page opens in your browser.
3. Approve the access. Cursor then lists Nodary’s tools as available.

**Sharing the file:** a .cursor/mcp.json committed to the repository gives the whole team the same server; each person still signs in with their own account. Never commit an API key.

## Sign in and choose workspaces

Nodary’s consent page names the app that asks and the address it will be sent back to. Sign in if you are not already, then choose the workspaces Cursor may reach: with one workspace you pick it, and with several none is ticked for you, so tick each one Cursor may use. If you signed in more than 10 minutes ago, Nodary asks for your password again. Approve, and the browser hands you back to Cursor.

Cursor then acts as you: it sees and changes only what your role allows, in the workspaces you ticked. Its access lasts 60 minutes at a time and Cursor renews it on its own.

## Use Nodary from the agent

Ask the agent in plain words. Cursor uses Nodary’s tools when your request needs them, and by default asks for your approval before it runs one. A few requests to start with:

- Read the API design document in Nodary and check this endpoint against it.
- Write a decision record for moving to Postgres, file it under Architecture and link it to the spec.
- Which documents in the Backend project are still drafts, and who owns them?

## With an API key instead

Put your key in the NODARY_API_KEY environment variable and send it as a header; Cursor reads ${env:NODARY_API_KEY} from your environment:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "nodary": {
      "url": "https://nodary.ai/api/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ${env:NODARY_API_KEY}"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

Create the key in Nodary under Profile, API keys and MCP. It starts with gdc_, is shown once, acts with your permissions, can be limited to one project, and expires after 30, 90 or 365 days, or never, as you choose.

![The API keys and MCP section of a Nodary profile: the address of the MCP server to paste into an AI client, and an agent key with its scope.](https://nodary.ai/marketing/mcp-connect.webp)

## If something does not work

- Nodary’s tools do not show: open Customize and check that nodary is turned on, then read the errors in the Output panel, under MCP Logs.
- The sign-in does not finish: connect with an API key instead, as above.
- A first request answered 401 is expected: it tells the client where to sign in.
- quota_locked: the workspace is above the free plan after its trial and is locked until the owner subscribes. It works again at once after that.
- billing_locked: a payment failed, so the workspace is locked until the owner settles it in the workspace’s billing settings. It works again once the payment goes through.
- workspace_suspended: Nodary has suspended the workspace, so nothing reaches it, agents included. The owner can write to support@nodary.ai.
- workspace_required: the connection reaches several workspaces, so name the one to work in, or connect again and tick only one.

## Questions

### Does connecting Cursor cost anything?

Not on Nodary’s side. The MCP server is in every plan, Free included within its limits, and Cursor spends no Comets: Comets count Studio AI only. Your Cursor plan decides whether you can add the server.

### Can my whole team use the same setup?

Yes. Commit .cursor/mcp.json with the address and nothing else: each person signs in with their own Nodary account, so Cursor acts with their permissions. Keep keys in each person’s environment, never in the repository.

### Does Cursor send my code to Nodary?

Only what its agent puts in a request to Nodary, such as a document it writes or a passage it searches for. Nodary keeps what is written to the workspace, and nothing else.

### Can Cursor delete or overwrite my documents?

Only where your role lets you, and a change can be put back: each editing session of up to ten minutes makes a version, and so does every agent write. A document keeps its 50 newest versions by people and its 50 newest by agents (an agent’s never push out people’s), which you compare and restore, and a deleted document comes back for 30 days. Share links, access, members, roles, keys, billing and deleting a project stay human decisions: no agent can do them.

### How do I disconnect it?

In Nodary, open Profile, Security, Connected apps and disconnect it: it stops at once. In Cursor, turn the server off in Customize or remove it from mcp.json. A key is revoked under Profile, API keys and MCP, and owners and admins can revoke any key of the workspace in its settings, under MCP.

### Does Nodary use my documents to train AI?

No. Nodary does not use workspace content to train AI models. What Cursor does with what it reads is set by its maker’s own terms.

## Read next

- [Connect Claude Code to Nodary](https://nodary.ai/docs/mcp/claude-code): One command adds Nodary to Claude Code, then /mcp signs you in.
- [Connect VS Code to Nodary](https://nodary.ai/docs/mcp/vs-code): MCP: Add Server in VS Code, then sign in for GitHub Copilot.
- [The Nodary MCP server](https://nodary.ai/docs/mcp): The server, signing in, the 98 tools, safety and every client at a glance.
- [MCP server](https://nodary.ai/glossary/mcp-server): An MCP server is a program that offers tools, resources and prompts to AI applications over the Model Context Protocol.
- [AI agent](https://nodary.ai/glossary/ai-agent): An AI agent is a language model that pursues a goal in steps, calling tools, reading their results and deciding what to do next.

https://nodary.ai/docs/mcp/cursor