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Connect Cursor to GTD Brain

Half of what you need to remember shows up while you are coding: the TODO you just wrote, the flaky test you promised to look at, the message to send once the PR lands. Connect Cursor to GTD Brain and the agent captures those to your Inbox in one sentence — “add ‘fix the flaky auth test’ to my inbox” — without leaving the editor.

Cursor speaks MCP (Model Context Protocol) natively, and GTD Brain hosts an MCP server, so the setup is a one-click install from cursor.directory or three lines in mcp.json, plus a browser sign-in. Your board stays the same board: everything captured from Cursor is on the web, iOS, and Android apps in real time.

What you’ll need

  • A GTD Brain account — free to create at gtdbrain.com.
  • Cursor installed, on a version with MCP support (any recent release).

Your connection address

The setup below uses this address — GTD Brain’s hosted MCP server:

Step-by-step setup

  1. Add the GTD Brain MCP server

    Easiest: open GTD Brain on cursor.directory and click “Add to Cursor” — it opens Cursor with the server pre-filled, and you confirm. Or add it by hand: open Cursor Settings → Tools & MCP → “New MCP Server”, which opens your mcp.json, and paste the config below. Save the file in ~/.cursor/mcp.json to have GTD Brain in every project, or in .cursor/mcp.json inside one project.

    { "mcpServers": { "gtdbrain": { "url": "https://mcp.gtdbrain.com/api/gtdbrain/v1/mcp" } } }

  2. Sign in with your email code

    Cursor shows the new server as “Needs login”. Click it — a browser tab opens with GTD Brain's sign-in page. Enter your email, type the code we send you, and click Allow. No API key and nothing else to configure; Cursor keeps the connection signed in from then on.

  3. Check the tools are listed

    Back in Cursor Settings → Tools & MCP, the gtdbrain server should be green with its tools listed (capture, list_next_actions, list_projects, and so on). The agent picks them up automatically in chat.

  4. Try it

    In the agent chat, ask “what's in my GTD Brain inbox?” or tell it to capture something. It reads and updates your real board through the same tools ChatGPT and Claude use.

What you can do once connected

Inside an editor the connection is mostly about capture-without-context-switching and about turning code artifacts into tasks. Things people actually say mid-session:

  • “Add a card to my GTD inbox: fix the flaky auth test.”
  • “Capture a card for each TODO comment in this file, with the file path in the note.”
  • “What are my next actions tagged @computer?”
  • “I'm done for today — capture where I left off (reviewing the payment webhook) to my inbox.”
  • “Move the upgrade-CI-runners card to Done and archive it.”
  • “Show my Waiting For list — anything I should chase before the weekend?”

Every change lands on the same board as the web, iOS, and Android apps — instantly. And whatever you ask, cards can be archived but never deleted, so nothing is ever lost to a misfired prompt.

Troubleshooting

The “Add to Cursor” button does nothing.

Your browser may have blocked the cursor:// link. Allow it when prompted, or add the server by hand with the mcp.json config above.

The server stays on “Needs login” or shows a red dot.

Click the server entry to start the sign-in again — it opens the browser sign-in page. If the tab never opens, check Cursor's Output panel (Cmd+Shift+U → “MCP Logs”) for the sign-in URL and open it yourself.

GTD Brain is connected in one project but missing in another.

A .cursor/mcp.json inside a project only applies to that project. Move the entry to ~/.cursor/mcp.json to make it available everywhere.

Frequently asked questions

Does this also work with other MCP-capable editors and coding agents?

Yes. The config above is Cursor's mcp.json syntax, but the server address works with any MCP-capable client — point your tool of choice at the same URL and sign in the same way. Claude Code has its own one-command guide.

Is it safe to let an AI assistant touch my GTD board?

The connection is deliberately limited: your assistant can read, add, edit, move, and archive cards, but it can never delete one. Archived cards stay recoverable, so nothing is ever lost to a misfired prompt. You can disconnect at any time from the assistant's connector settings.

Do I need a paid GTD Brain subscription?

You can try it free: after connecting, your assistant can create your first 3 cards on a free GTD Brain account. Ongoing use of the connection needs a GTD Brain subscription — the same one subscription that covers the web, iOS, and Android apps.

What is MCP?

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard that lets AI assistants securely talk to outside tools and data. GTD Brain hosts an MCP server, so any MCP-capable assistant — ChatGPT, Claude, Claude Code, and others — can work with your board without a plugin or API key.

Do changes made by the assistant sync to my other devices?

Yes. The assistant works on the same board as the web, iOS, and Android apps, and every change syncs in real time. Add a card from a chat and it is on your phone before you switch apps.

Other connections

Connect ChatGPT · Connect Claude · Connect Claude Code · VS Code extension · Connect Telegram · Connect Gemini CLI

New to GTD Brain? Get started free — create your board first, then connect Cursor from this page in a couple of minutes.