External Recon MCP server

This MCP server template is designed for creating the server side of a VS Code Agent, allowing you to extend VS Code with custom AI-powered tools. It provides a foundation for building MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers that can be used with VS Code's AI features.

Installation

Prerequisites

First, install uv, a Python package manager and installer. Visit the official uv documentation for various installation options.

Setting Up the Project

# Initialize project
uv init external-recon
cd external-recon

Configure Python Version

You may need to adjust the Python version in two files:

1. In .python-version, set to 3.11 or higher
2. In pyproject.toml, modify the line requires-python = ">=3.11" to version 3.11 or higher

Create and Activate Virtual Environment

# Create virtual environment with Python 3.11
uv venv --python 3.11

# Activate the virtual environment
source .venv/bin/activate

# Install MCP and dependencies
uv add "mcp[cli]"
uv pip install dnspython

# Create the MCP server file
touch external-recon.py

Configuration

VS Code Settings

You need to modify your VS Code settings.json to register the MCP server:

1. Find the path to uv using which uv
2. Replace the placeholder paths in the following configuration with absolute paths

"mcp": {
    "servers": {
            "external-recon": {
             "command": "/path/to/uv",
             "args": [
              "--directory",
              "/path/to/project/external-recon",
              "run",
              "external-recon.py"
             ]
            }
    }
},

Running the Server

To start the MCP server, activate the virtual environment and run:

uv run external-recon.py

Example output:

(external-recon) user@workstation external-recon % uv run external-recon.py

Implementation Note

When implementing functionality in your external-recon.py file, use the @mcp.tool() decorator instead of @mcp.prompt() for defining your tools.

How to add this MCP server to Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > MCP and click "Add new global MCP server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "cursor-rules-mcp": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "cursor-rules-mcp"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explictly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.