How to connect Onplana to Cursor
Five steps. Generate a PAT, paste the mcpServers snippet, reload Cursor, verify with a tool call. About 5 minutes.
What you can do after: ask Cursor’s Agent things like “create a project plan for the Q3 launch with weekly milestones,” or “summarize this week’s risks across all active projects,” and Cursor runs the work directly in Onplana without leaving your editor.
The five steps
- 1
Generate an Onplana connection token
Sign in to Onplana at app.onplana.com. Go to Integrations, then AI agents, then Generate connection (pick the Cursor tile, or the "Other MCP client" tile). Copy the personal access token (it starts with pat_). The token has MCP_AGENT scope only: it can call MCP tools but cannot create other tokens, modify billing, or touch anything outside the MCP surface.
- 2
Open Cursor MCP settings
In Cursor, open Settings (Cmd+Shift+J on macOS, Ctrl+Shift+J on Windows or Linux), then go to the MCP section and choose "Add new MCP server". Cursor also reads a JSON config directly: project-scoped at .cursor/mcp.json in your repo root, or global at ~/.cursor/mcp.json. Editing the JSON gives you the same result as the UI.
- 3
Paste the Onplana MCP server config
Add an "onplana" entry under the "mcpServers" key. The full config: {"mcpServers": {"onplana": {"url": "https://mcp.onplana.com/mcp", "headers": {"Authorization": "Bearer pat_paste-your-token-here"}}}}. Replace pat_paste-your-token-here with the token from step 1. Save the file.
- 4
Reload Cursor
Reload the Cursor window (Cmd+Shift+P or Ctrl+Shift+P, then "Reload Window"), or toggle the onplana server off and on in Settings, then MCP. The Onplana tools appear in the Agent tool list with a green status dot once the handshake succeeds.
- 5
Verify the connection
In Cursor's Agent chat, ask: "list my Onplana projects". Cursor calls Onplana's list_projects tool and shows the result. If you see an error: re-check the token, confirm your Onplana plan tier includes MCP (PRO and above), and confirm the config file is valid JSON.
.cursor/mcp.json (project) or ~/.cursor/mcp.json (global)
{
"mcpServers": {
"onplana": {
"url": "https://mcp.onplana.com/mcp",
"headers": {
"Authorization": "Bearer pat_paste-your-token-here"
}
}
}
}How to verify it’s working
Open Cursor’s Agent chat and try any of:
- “List my Onplana projects.”
- “What’s overdue in my Onplana account?”
- “Create an Onplana task in project X called ‘Migrate Postgres to Aurora’.”
- “Generate a status report for project Y.”
Cursor shows the tool call before running it, so you can review what data is read or written. Mutations on free or starter plans return a PREVIEW result by default (not committed until you approve); PRO and above commit immediately.
Frequently asked
Which Onplana plan includes MCP access?
MCP access is included with the PRO plan ($12/seat/month, $10 annual) and above. FREE and STARTER plans do not include MCP. You can change plans at any time from app.onplana.com/billing.
Is Cursor MCP support stable?
Cursor ships MCP support as a preview feature. The Onplana connection works today (Cursor resolves to the CURSOR provider and gets the full read plus create plus update tool surface), but Cursor's own MCP UI and config format can change between Cursor releases. If a future Cursor update moves the settings, check docs.cursor.com for the current location and keep the same onplana server entry.
Project config or global config?
Either. .cursor/mcp.json in a repo root scopes the connection to that project (handy when different repos map to different Onplana orgs via separate tokens). ~/.cursor/mcp.json applies the connection to every Cursor window. Project config wins when both define an "onplana" server.
What tools does Cursor get access to?
The same catalog every MCP client sees: reads (list_projects, get_project, list_tasks, list_my_tasks, list_overdue, list_risks, search_org_knowledge, summarize_project, generate_status_report), writes (create_project, create_task, update_task, assign_task, create_milestone, create_comment, bulk_update_tasks, create_sprint_with_tasks, link_dependency), and the governance, change-control, compliance, document, and workflow surfaces. Plan tier gates some tools; see onplana.com/mcp for the full catalog.
Can Cursor delete projects or tasks via MCP?
No. Onplana does not expose delete_* tools through MCP by design. Updates are reversible via the audit log; deletes would not be. Soft-delete via an update_task status change is the closest available primitive.
Is OAuth available instead of pasting a PAT?
Onplana publishes OAuth 2.1 discovery metadata (RFC 9728 + RFC 8414) at mcp.onplana.com/.well-known/. Whether Cursor uses it automatically depends on your Cursor version's MCP auth support; the PAT-header flow described here works on every version that supports remote MCP servers.
Where do I revoke the connection?
Onplana, then Integrations, then AI agents, then tap the token row and Revoke. It takes effect immediately; Cursor's next tool call returns 401. Audit logs in OrgSettings, then Security show every action the token took.