Cursor Integration

This guide walks you through setting up Distill with Cursor IDE.

Prerequisites

• Cursor installed (download)
• Node.js 18+ installed

Quick Setup (30 seconds)

npm install -g distill-mcp
distill-mcp setup --cursor

Done! Restart Cursor and you're ready.

Manual Setup

If the automatic setup didn't work, edit ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "distill": {
      "command": "distill-mcp",
      "args": ["serve"]
    }
  }
}

Or with npx (no global install):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "distill": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["distill-mcp", "serve"]
    }
  }
}

Verify Installation

Restart Cursor, then ask in the AI chat:

What MCP tools are available?

You should see the Distill tools listed.

Using Distill with Cursor

Code Navigation

Use smart file reading for exploring code:

Use smart_file_read to show the structure of src/api/routes.ts

Build Error Analysis

When builds fail:

Analyze this build output with auto_optimize: [paste errors]

Diff Compression

For large diffs:

Compress this git diff: [paste diff]

Best Practices

1. Use smart_file_read for code exploration instead of opening files directly
2. Compress build output before pasting into chat
3. Check session_stats periodically to see your savings

Troubleshooting

MCP Server Not Found

1. Verify installation: npx distill-mcp --version
2. Check Cursor's MCP logs in the Output panel
3. Try running the server manually to check for errors

Tools Not Working

1. Restart Cursor completely
2. Check that the JSON config is valid
3. Ensure Node.js 18+ is in your PATH