---
title: "Add SuperEbook’s MCP server to Cursor"
description: "Add SuperEbook to Cursor with an API key in mcp.json, keep the key out of git, check it in Customize → MCPs, and write books from your project’s notes."
url: "https://www.superebook.ai/mcp/cursor"
---

# Add SuperEbook to Cursor. An API key in mcp.json, or sign in.

Add SuperEbook’s MCP server to Cursor and its Agent can plan and write books in your SuperEbook account, from notes in your project or anything you paste into the chat.

## Before you start

- **A SuperEbook account with Starter, Pro or any credit pack.** SuperEbook’s Free plan doesn’t include connecting apps: [see plans](https://www.superebook.ai/pricing.md).
- **An API key** from [Settings → Connect apps](https://www.superebook.ai/settings?tab=apps), below. Signing in instead is optional.
- **On Enterprise**, an admin can limit which MCP servers you may run, by URL. If yours does, ask for `https://www.superebook.ai` to be allowed.

## Server URL

`https://www.superebook.ai/api/mcp`

## Add it with an API key

1. Create an API key.

In SuperEbook, open [Settings → Connect apps](https://www.superebook.ai/settings?tab=apps) and choose Create API key. Name it after Cursor, then copy it: you see the whole key only once, and it starts `ebk_live_`. It needs a verified email address.

2. Open your MCP config file.

`~/.cursor/mcp.json` in your home folder works in every project; `.cursor/mcp.json` in a project works in that one. Cursor reads both, and if a server has the same name in each, the project’s wins. Create the file if it isn’t there.

3. Add SuperEbook to it.

Replace `ebk_live_YOUR_KEY` with your key. It’s a remote server, so it takes `url`, not `command`, and no `type`. Keep the www in the address.

```
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "superebook": {
      "url": "https://www.superebook.ai/api/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ebk_live_YOUR_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

4. Keep the key out of a file you commit.

In a project file that goes into git, write the key as `${env:SUPEREBOOK_API_KEY}` and set that variable where Cursor starts: Cursor fills in `${env:NAME}` in `url` and `headers`. Remote servers can’t use `envFile`.

```
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "superebook": {
      "url": "https://www.superebook.ai/api/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ${env:SUPEREBOOK_API_KEY}"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

5. Save the file and restart Cursor.

6. Check it’s on.

Open Customize in the sidebar, then MCPs, and check SuperEbook’s switch is on. A key needs no sign-in page: Cursor is connected as soon as it sends it.

## Ask the Agent

Ask the Agent for a book in plain words. To switch single tools on or off, select a tool’s name in the tools list at the top of the chat panel.

Cursor won’t always ask before a tool runs. Since Cursor 3.6 the default approval mode is Auto-review, in Cursor Settings → Agents → Approvals & Execution: allowlisted tools run at once, and every other call goes to Cursor’s safety classifier, which may run it without asking you.

To be asked before every book it writes, switch Approvals & Execution to Allowlist and keep `start_writing`, Write the book, off the allowlist: in Allowlist, only the tools on it run without your approval. On a team, an admin can limit which modes you may choose.

Whatever the mode, the Agent is told to quote the price and wait for your yes, SuperEbook charges nothing unless Cursor sends the book’s current price, and apps can start at most 5 books, or 150 credits’ worth, in any 24 hours.

## Or sign in instead

> **Not yet tested.** Not yet tested with Cursor: this should work, but the key above is the sure route.

1. Add the server with no headers.

```
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "superebook": {
      "url": "https://www.superebook.ai/api/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

2. Restart Cursor and follow its authentication prompt.

Your browser opens SuperEbook’s page: sign in if it asks.

3. Allow it on SuperEbook.

What the page asks depends on where Cursor wants the answer sent. From the desktop app, on this computer, it asks “Connect localhost:8787 to SuperEbook?”, with no warning. From Cursor’s web address, or its own cursor:// address, it asks “Connect an app at www.cursor.com?” or “Connect an app at cursor://anysphere.cursor-mcp?”, says the app calls itself Cursor, and warns you: tick the box only if you started connecting from Cursor yourself. Then choose Allow.

## Try it

Once it’s connected, ask for a book in plain words. Planning is free, and the app is told to quote the price and wait for your yes before it writes.

- Read notes/webinar.md and use SuperEbook to turn it into a lead magnet. Show me the plan first.
- Plan a SuperEbook workbook from the exercises in docs/course/.
- List my SuperEbook books and check how far the newest one has got.
- What would a course companion cost in SuperEbook credits?

## If it doesn’t work

| What you see | Code | What to do |
| --- | --- | --- |
| It doesn’t connect |  | Open the Output panel (Cmd+Shift+U on a Mac, Ctrl+Shift+U on Windows and Linux) and choose MCP Logs. To restart the server, remove it in Customize → MCPs and add it again. |
| SuperEbook refuses the key |  | Check that the whole key follows “Bearer ” in the header, and that it isn’t revoked in Settings. With ${env:SUPEREBOOK_API_KEY}, Cursor has to start with that variable set; remote servers can’t read it from an envFile. |
| Your organization’s MCP allowlist blocks it |  | On Enterprise, remote MCP servers are limited to the addresses an admin allows. Ask them to allow https://www.superebook.ai. |

For credits, limits and the other messages an app may relay, see [if something goes wrong](https://www.superebook.ai/mcp#troubleshooting).

## Questions

**Should SuperEbook go in the global or the project mcp.json?** The global file, ~/.cursor/mcp.json, if you want it in every project; it stays on your computer. Use the project file to share the setup with a team, with the key written as ${env:SUPEREBOOK_API_KEY} so it never lands in git.

**Will Cursor ask before it writes a book?** Not in every mode. Since Cursor 3.6 the default, Auto-review, runs allowlisted tools at once and sends every other call to a safety classifier that may run it without asking you. To be asked every time, set Cursor Settings → Agents → Approvals & Execution to Allowlist and keep start_writing off the allowlist. Whatever the mode, SuperEbook charges nothing unless Cursor sends the book’s current price, and apps can start at most 5 books, or 150 credits’ worth, in any 24 hours.

**Why might SuperEbook’s page name localhost:8787?** That’s where Cursor’s desktop app receives a sign-in, on your own computer, so SuperEbook names it by that address and shows no warning. Signing in from Cursor’s web address shows a warning instead.

**How do I remove SuperEbook from Cursor?** Remove it in Customize → MCPs, or delete its entry from mcp.json, then revoke its key in SuperEbook’s Settings so it stops working everywhere.

## Checked against Cursor’s docs on October 18, 2026

- [Model Context Protocol (Cursor docs)](https://cursor.com/docs/mcp): remote servers with url and headers, ${env:NAME} and envFile, OAuth and its callback addresses, the Enterprise allowlist, and tool approval.
- [MCP (Cursor help center)](https://cursor.com/help/customization/mcp): the two mcp.json files and which wins, restarting Cursor, Customize → MCPs, the tools list, Auto-review as the default since Cursor 3.6, and MCP Logs.
- [Run Modes (Cursor docs)](https://cursor.com/docs/agent/security/run-modes): Auto-review and Allowlist, what each runs without asking, the safety classifier, and the modes an admin can limit.
- [MCP OAuth still uses cursor:// redirect (Cursor forum, staff reply)](https://forum.cursor.com/t/mcp-oauth-still-uses-cursor-redirect-hubspot-and-other-http-s-only-providers-cannot-connect/167935): Cursor falling back to its cursor:// address when it can’t listen on localhost:8787.

## More about connecting

- [Claude app](https://www.superebook.ai/mcp/claude-app.md)
- [Claude Code](https://www.superebook.ai/mcp/claude-code.md)
- [VS Code](https://www.superebook.ai/mcp/vscode.md)
- [GitHub Copilot](https://www.superebook.ai/mcp/github-copilot.md)
- [Codex](https://www.superebook.ai/mcp/codex.md)
- [Gemini CLI](https://www.superebook.ai/mcp/gemini-cli.md)
- [Zed](https://www.superebook.ai/mcp/zed.md)
- [Devin Desktop](https://www.superebook.ai/mcp/devin-desktop.md)
- [Other apps](https://www.superebook.ai/mcp/other-apps.md)