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Install MCP Skills Cursor Mac: Config Guide & Reload Tips

Install MCP skills on Cursor Mac — find the ~/.cursor/mcp.json config location, add skills in JSON format, reload Cursor to apply changes, and verify tools are working in the AI assistant.

🕐Last updated 4 March 2026

⚡ Quick Answer

Edit ~/.cursor/mcp.json, add skills under mcpServers, then reload via Settings → Features → MCP Servers → restart button. Open Cursor Chat (⌘+L) and ask "what tools do you have?" to confirm it worked.

Cursor's MCP integration is solid — it has a built-in UI for managing servers and shows status indicators right in the settings panel. Setting it up is very similar to Claude Desktop, just in a different file location.

Config File Locations

# Global (all projects)
~/.cursor/mcp.json

# Project-specific
.cursor/mcp.json   # in project root

Creating and Editing the Config

mkdir -p ~/.cursor
code ~/.cursor/mcp.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "weather": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@trustedskills/weather-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Multiple skills

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "weather": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@trustedskills/weather-mcp"]
    },
    "github": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@trustedskills/github-mcp"],
      "env": { "GITHUB_TOKEN": "your-token" }
    }
  }
}

Cursor vs Claude Code: Config Comparison

AspectCursor MacClaude Code Mac
Global config~/.cursor/mcp.json~/.claude/settings.json
Project config.cursor/mcp.json.claude/settings.json
Config format keymcpServersmcpServers
CLI to add skillsManual onlyclaude mcp add
Status UISettings → Features → MCPclaude mcp list

Reloading Without Restarting

You don't have to fully restart Cursor after every change. Go to Settings (⌘+,) → Features → MCP Servers and click the refresh button next to your server. It reconnects without touching the rest of the editor.

🔬 From the field

Cursor's MCP status UI (the green/red dot in Settings → Features → MCP Servers) has saved us a lot of debugging time. When a skill isn't working, we check there first — a red dot tells you the server failed to start, and the error message usually points directly at the problem. Beats reading log files.

Verify It Worked

Open Cursor Chat (⌘+L) and ask:

What tools do you have available?

If the skill loaded, Cursor will list the tools. If it didn't, there'll be no mention of them — check the status UI.

💡 For nvm users: Same issue as Claude Desktop and Claude Code — use the full path to npx from which npx instead of just "npx".

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is the Cursor MCP config on Mac?

~/.cursor/mcp.json for global config. Project-specific: .cursor/mcp.json in your project root. Both use the same JSON format.

How do I reload MCP skills without restarting Cursor?

Settings (⌘+,) → search "MCP" → go to MCP Servers → click the refresh button next to the server. No full editor restart needed.

Can I use Cursor and Claude Code MCP skills together?

They're separate configs — ~/.cursor/mcp.json for Cursor, ~/.claude/settings.json for Claude Code. The same skill will work in both; you just need to add the config entry to both files.

TT

TrustedSkills Team

The TrustedSkills team builds and tests AI agent integrations across Claude, OpenClaw, Cursor, and VS Code. We verify every skill in our registry and have set up hundreds of MCP configs across every major platform.

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