How to Add MCP Tools to Cursor: Gmail, GitHub, Notion, and More

MCP Support in Cursor

Cursor added native MCP support in version 0.45. With MCP enabled, Cursor's AI can call external tools during conversations in the Composer panel — the same way it can read files or run terminal commands, but for external services like Gmail, GitHub, and Notion.

MCP tools in Cursor work in both Agent mode and normal Composer mode. In Agent mode, Cursor will proactively call tools it thinks are relevant. In normal mode, you can ask Cursor to use a specific tool explicitly.

Configuring MCP in Cursor

Cursor reads MCP configuration from ~/.cursor/mcp.json. The format is identical to Claude Desktop's claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "syncore": {
      "command": "/Users/yourname/.syncore/bin/syncore-daemon",
      "args": ["--mcp-stdio"]
    }
  }
}

With Syncore, you don't need to write this file manually. Run:

syncore setup

Syncore detects Cursor on your machine and writes the correct configuration automatically.

What Tools Are Available in Cursor

After setup, Cursor's AI has access to all installed Syncore skills. The most useful ones for a development workflow:

GitHub — List open PRs, read file contents from any branch, create issues, trigger CI workflows. Useful when you want Cursor to understand your project's issue backlog or check the state of a PR without leaving the editor.

Linear — List and create issues, update issue status. Ask Cursor to "create a Linear issue for this bug I just found" and it will — with the right title, description, and team assignment.

Perplexity — Real-time web search. Ask Cursor "what's the latest stable version of this library?" and it will search and answer accurately instead of guessing from training data.

Slack — Read channel history, send messages. Useful for asking Cursor to post a summary of what you just built to your team's Slack channel.

Notion — Search and read your team's documentation. Ask Cursor to "check our Notion docs for how we handle authentication in this project" and it will find the relevant page.

Practical Cursor + MCP Workflows

Issue-driven development:

> "Read the Linear issue LIN-234 and implement the changes it describes."

Cursor fetches the issue, understands the requirements, reads the relevant files, and starts implementing.

Documentation-aware coding:

> "Check our Notion API docs page and implement the endpoint it describes."

Release coordination:

> "Summarize the changes in the last 10 commits and post it to the #releases Slack channel."

Troubleshooting Cursor MCP Setup

Tools not appearing in Cursor:

Cursor loads MCP config at startup. Fully quit and restart Cursor (not just close the window) after running syncore setup.

"Failed to connect to MCP server" error:

The Syncore daemon isn't running. Run syncore daemon start in a terminal, then restart Cursor.

Tool calls failing with auth errors:

Run syncore update to refresh credentials. If a specific app keeps failing, go to syncorelabs.ai/connect and re-authorize it.

Cursor Agent not using tools automatically:

In Agent mode, Cursor decides when to call tools. You can force tool use by being explicit: "Use the GitHub MCP tool to list open issues in this repo."

Using the Same Tools in Claude Code and Cursor

One of Syncore's key advantages: syncore setup configures both Cursor and Claude Code (and any other installed MCP clients) in a single pass. Your Gmail, GitHub, and Notion tools work identically in both clients — same credentials, same skill implementations, no duplicate setup.

If you switch between Cursor and Claude Code depending on the task, your tool access is identical in both.