Cursor

OpenKnowledge plugs into Cursor through MCP plus an installed skill that teaches the agent how to use the tools.

Install

There are two ways to connect Cursor, depending on how you run OpenKnowledge:

• macOS desktop app. The first time you open a project, a consent dialog detects Cursor and configures it for you. To re-trigger the dialog, choose File → Set up OpenKnowledge integrations….
• Web app / terminal (Linux, Windows, Intel Mac — see the web app guide). Run ok init in your project: it registers the OpenKnowledge MCP server with Cursor and the other editors it detects. Every ok start repairs the entry if it has drifted (it never adds one you removed).

Approve the server

Cursor prompts you to approve a new MCP server when you next open the project. Approve open-knowledge. Until you do, the agent can't see the tools.

Open with AI

From the editor, Open with AI ▸ Cursor dispatches the current file, folder, or project to Cursor. Entry points: the sidebar's right-click menu (file / folder / empty space), the command palette, and the macOS File → Open with AI menu. You can also hand the current doc to Cursor from the bottom Ask AI composer.

Cursor uses a two-step handoff: OpenKnowledge spawns cursor <projectDir> to open the workspace first, then fires the cursor:// URL with a short prompt asking Cursor to open the target in OpenKnowledge's web preview. The agent then grounds the rest of the conversation through MCP. See Editor → Open with AI for the full UX.

Both steps run through the local server's POST /api/handoff, the same path in the web app and the desktop app — so the Open with AI ▸ Cursor row works in both.

Verify

Ask the agent:

“List the first 5 documents you come across in this project.”Copy

The agent should call the OpenKnowledge exec tool and respond with some of your documents.

If it still doesn't see the tool after approval, restart Cursor so it picks up the new MCP entry. If it's still missing and ok init reported your config was left unchanged, OpenKnowledge couldn't safely edit ~/.cursor/mcp.json for the reason shown in parentheses (unreadable, too large, or a duplicate server block) — fix the config and re-run ok init.