Cursor MCP server configuration for a task backlog

Add the Autoplans MCP server to Cursor with one mcp.json block, so the agent can read and update the project backlog from the editor.

The configuration

File: .cursor/mcp.json in the project, or ~/.cursor/mcp.json for every project · Transport: Streamable HTTP

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "autoplans": {
      "url": "https://autoplans.dev/api/v1/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer apk_live_..." }
    }
  }
}

The endpoint is https://autoplans.dev/api/v1/mcp. Create the key in the dashboard under Settings → API keys; see Accounts and API keys.

Step by step

1
Create an API key in the dashboard under Settings → API keys.
2
Create .cursor/mcp.json in the project root and paste the block.
3
Use ~/.cursor/mcp.json instead to add an MCP server to Cursor for every project you open.
4
Replace apk_live_... with the key, or write ${env:AUTOPLANS_API_KEY} and export the variable in your shell.
5
Open Customize in the sidebar and check that autoplans is switched on and its tools are listed.
6
Ask the agent what is in progress; the answer should come from list_tasks rather than from the files in front of it.

Specific to Cursor

•Cursor identifies a remote server by url alone. Its documented remote example carries no type field at all, so the block above is deliberately shorter than the Claude Code one.
•mcp.json expands ${env:NAME}, ${userHome}, ${workspaceFolder}, ${workspaceFolderBasename} and ${pathSeparator}, so a committed .cursor/mcp.json need not contain the key itself.
•Servers can be switched off from Customize without deleting the entry. That is worth doing when a smaller model starts ignoring tools: this server adds around forty schemas to every call.
•The hosted endpoint is a paid capability. A key from a free account authenticates and is then refused with a 403 and an upgrade message, which reads in Cursor like a server that connected and then would not answer.

What the agent can do once connected

Around forty tools: list and create projects, read the whole task graph in one list_tasks call, ask code_agent_get_task_with_dependencies whether a task is blocked, move it to in progress, comment on it, and mark it done. Every tool and its arguments is in the MCP tools reference; the server itself is described on the MCP server page.

curl -s https://autoplans.dev/api/v1/mcp \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -H "authorization: Bearer $AUTOPLANS_API_KEY" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/list"}'

Questions

How do I add an MCP server to Cursor?

Create .cursor/mcp.json in the project root, paste the block above, and put your key in the Authorization header. Customize in the sidebar shows the server and lets you toggle it. Nothing has to be installed locally, because this is a remote server and Cursor connects to the URL itself.

Does this Cursor mcp.json example work globally as well as per project?

Yes. The same JSON goes in ~/.cursor/mcp.json, where it applies to every project you open, or in .cursor/mcp.json inside one repository. Per project is the better default for a task backlog, since the block then travels with the code it describes; global is convenient when one account covers everything you work on.

Do I need the autoplans-mcp bridge for Cursor?

No. The bridge exists for clients that only start local commands. Cursor connects to the remote URL itself, so the url and headers block is the whole setup. The bridge is still there if you want it — npm install -g autoplans-mcp, then a command and env entry — but there is no reason to prefer it here.

Cursor shows the server but the agent never calls it. What should I check?

Check the server is toggled on in Customize and that its tools are listed there; an entry with no tools is a connection that failed after the handshake. Then check the key: curl the endpoint with a tools/list request and see whether you get a tools array, a 401, or a 403. Finally, ask for something only the backlog knows — "what tasks are blocked" — rather than something the agent can guess from the repository.

Checked against the Cursor documentation on 2026-08-28.