Cursor

Give Cursor a brain that remembers between sessions.

Cursor has native MCP support. Add Vestige and your AI assistant remembers your architecture, preferences, and past fixes across every session.

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Setup

After npm install -g vestige-mcp-server@latest, the vestige-mcp binary is on your shell PATH. Cursor's GUI does not reliably inherit that PATH and does not expand ~. Paste the absolute path; do not guess /usr/local/bin.

1. Create or edit the config file

Global (all projects):

Platform	Path
macOS / Linux	~/.cursor/mcp.json
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\.cursor\mcp.json

# macOS / Linux
mkdir -p ~/.cursor
open -e ~/.cursor/mcp.json

2. Resolve the binary, then add Vestige

which vestige-mcp          # macOS / Linux
where vestige-mcp          # Windows

nvm, fnm, and Homebrew npm almost never install into /usr/local/bin. Paste whatever the command above prints.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vestige": {
      "command": "<absolute path from which vestige-mcp>",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

Windows: same shape. Official install is npm, not cargo — paste the absolute path from where vestige-mcp. A .cargo\bin path is only correct if you built from source.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vestige": {
      "command": "<absolute path from where vestige-mcp>",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

Intel Mac: Cursor does not inherit .zshrc. Put ORT_DYLIB_PATH in this same env block. Run brew --prefix onnxruntime and paste the result — do not hardcode /opt/homebrew vs /usr/local. See Intel Mac install.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vestige": {
      "command": "<absolute path from which vestige-mcp>",
      "args": [],
      "env": {
        "ORT_DYLIB_PATH": "<brew --prefix onnxruntime>/lib/libonnxruntime.dylib"
      }
    }
  }
}

3. Restart Cursor

Fully quit and reopen Cursor. The MCP server loads on startup.

4. Verify

Open Cursor's AI chat and ask:

"What MCP tools do you have access to?"

You should see Vestige's tools listed (smart_ingest, recall, backfill).

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First Use

Ask Cursor's AI:

"Remember that this project uses React with TypeScript and Tailwind CSS"

Start a new chat session, then:

"What tech stack does this project use?"

It remembers.

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Project-Specific Memory

To isolate memory per project, pass --data-dir with an absolute directory (Cursor does not expand ~ or relative paths in args):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vestige": {
      "command": "<absolute path from which vestige-mcp>",
      "args": ["--data-dir", "/Users/you/projects/my-app/.vestige"]
    }
  }
}

Or place a .cursor/mcp.json in the project root for project-level config.

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Troubleshooting

Vestige tools not appearing

1. Verify the binary exists and copy that exact path into command:

   which vestige-mcp          # macOS / Linux
   where vestige-mcp          # Windows
   

2. Test the binary manually:

   echo '{}' | vestige-mcp
   

3. Check the config is valid JSON:

   cat ~/.cursor/mcp.json | python3 -m json.tool
   

4. Fully restart Cursor (Cmd+Q / Alt+F4, not just close window).

Silent failures

Cursor does not surface MCP server errors in the UI. Test by running the command directly in your terminal to see actual error output.

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Also Works With

IDE	Guide
Xcode 26.3	Setup
Codex	Setup
VS Code (Copilot)	Setup
OpenCode	Setup
JetBrains	Setup
Windsurf	Setup
Claude Code	Setup
Claude Desktop	Setup

Your AI remembers everything, everywhere.