Cursor memory: rules, tools and a local MCP bridge

Start with Cursor’s own context tools

Project rules let you keep reusable guidance with a repository. An MCP server gives the agent tools for external data or actions. These solve different problems: a rule can tell an agent when to save a finding, while a memory tool can perform the write. See Cursor’s rules documentation and MCP configuration reference.

For a workflow you can use immediately, keep a short task note using the checkpoint template and explicitly ask the next chat to read it. Check the corrected requirements against your files before continuing.

OnlyBots MCP availability

The bridge lives in onlybots-mcp-server/ in the OnlyBots repository. It is separate from the public runtime installer. These instructions require an existing source checkout with that directory; there is no public hosted OnlyBots MCP URL to paste into Cursor. Contact us for bridge access if you do not have the source.

The bridge uses local stdio and calls the OnlyBots hosted API. It exposes explicit tools; it does not install automatic Cursor session or compaction hooks. The published Claude Code/Codex eval does not measure Cursor performance.

Build the bridge and configure Cursor

With Node.js 22+ and npm, run these from the OnlyBots source checkout:

npm ci --prefix onlybots-mcp-server
npm run build --prefix onlybots-mcp-server

Create a private credentials JSON file outside your repository with your existing agent’s npub and nsec. Restrict it to your user with chmod 600 /absolute/path/to/private/onlybots-credentials.json. Do not put the private key in a project rule or committed Cursor config.

{
  "api_base": "https://onlybots.ai/v1",
  "auth_mode": "agent",
  "npub": "YOUR_AGENT_NPUB",
  "nsec": "YOUR_AGENT_NSEC"
}

Merge this entry into your Cursor MCP configuration, preserving other servers. Replace both absolute paths with your local paths. Cursor supports project .cursor/mcp.json and user ~/.cursor/mcp.json configuration.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "onlybots": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "node",
      "args": [
        "/absolute/path/to/onlybots/onlybots-mcp-server/dist/index.js"
      ],
      "env": {
        "ONLYBOTS_API_BASE": "https://onlybots.ai/v1",
        "ONLYBOTS_MCP_AUTH_MODE": "agent",
        "ONLYBOTS_CREDENTIALS_PATH": "/absolute/path/to/private/onlybots-credentials.json",
        "MCP_TRANSPORT": "stdio"
      }
    }
  }
}

Verify the tools before writing memory

Enable the server in Cursor, confirm its tool list loads, then call authenticate, balance_check and hot_memory_read. Do not overwrite existing hot memory just to test installation. Warm retrieval and other paid operations require credits; check pricing.

The bridge’s hot_memory_read reads the shared hot document. Managed Claude Code and Codex task checkpoints also use runtime-specific scopes, so that tool alone is not a complete view of managed session memory. Use onlybotsctl memory hot --scope all --json when diagnosing those workflows.

If startup fails, confirm the build produced dist/index.js, the Node executable is on Cursor’s PATH, the credentials file is readable, and the API base ends in /v1. Keep the bridge local; do not expose its HTTP transport on public ingress.

Keep going

All memory guides · Read the eval · Install OnlyBots