Cursor setup

1. Before you start

1. Buy SayWhat once on the pricing section.
2. Open the setup email, or sign in and visit Account → Setup.
3. Copy the setup prompt (it includes your short-lived activation code). The code is single-use and expires in hours — not a permanent API key.

2. Paste into Cursor Agent

1. Open Cursor → Agent chat.
2. Paste the full setup prompt and send it.
3. Let the agent detect Cursor, call POST https://saywhat.foo/api/activate, and store SAYWHAT_LICENSE_TOKEN in the SayWhat MCP server env (with SAYWHAT_API_URL=https://saywhat.foo).
4. When it works, you should see a short confirmation like: SayWhat connected, plus adapter / activation / Preflight / health check lines.

3. What gets configured

A healthy Cursor install wires three thin pieces:

• Skill — tells the agent to call SayWhat before implementing.
• MCP tool saywhat_preflight — talks to the hosted compiler.
• Optional command /saywhat — explicit Preflight on the latest instruction.

The agent should show the compact SayWhat.foo PreFlight receipt, then execute from the compiled assignment. It should not rewrite Cursor’s composer or use unsupported editor internals.

4. Verify it works

1. Reload Cursor if MCP was just added.
2. In Agent chat, send a harmless ask such as “say hello in a comment”.
3. Confirm the agent calls saywhat_preflight (or POST /api/preflight with your bearer token) before it edits files.
4. Optional health check: GET https://saywhat.foo/api/health/license with Authorization: Bearer <token>.

5. Manual fallback (if paste setup fails)

Only use this when the setup prompt cannot configure MCP for you.

1. Activate yourself:

   POST https://saywhat.foo/api/activate
   Content-Type: application/json
   
   {
     "activationCode": "<from email or /account/setup>",
     "adapter": "cursor",
     "installationName": "Cursor — your machine",
     "clientVersion": "cursor"
   }

2. Save the returned licenseToken once. You cannot fetch it again later.
3. Add the SayWhat MCP server to your user ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "saywhat": {
         "command": "node",
         "args": ["<path-to-repo>/apps/cursor-plugin/mcp/server.mjs"],
         "env": {
           "SAYWHAT_API_URL": "https://saywhat.foo",
           "SAYWHAT_LICENSE_TOKEN": "<licenseToken>"
         }
       }
     }
   }

4. Install or symlink the Cursor plugin companion so the Skill and /saywhat command are available (see apps/cursor-plugin in the SayWhat repo), then reload Cursor.

6. Inspect panel fallback

If you want to review a compile without Agent Preflight, use the Open VSX / Cursor extension review panel: Command Palette → SayWhat: Run Preflight. That path still talks to the same compiler (compatible POST /api/enhance alias).

Troubleshooting

• Activation code expired or already used — generate a new one from /account/setup.
• MCP tool missing — confirm the SayWhat server is enabled in Cursor Settings → MCP, then reload the window.
• Agent skips Preflight — remind it to run saywhat_preflight, or use /saywhat. The skill file is the doorway; the compiler still does the work.
• Web-only — you can keep using the homepage compiler without an IDE install.