How to Give Cursor Context from the Videos and Repos You Saved

Developers save a lot of video: conference talks, "build this in 10 minutes" Shorts, TikToks recommending a library, Reels demoing a UI pattern. They also save GitHub repos and blog posts. When it's time to build, that context is stuck in a feed or a bookmark list, and Cursor can't see it.

If you save those things to ORANO, it has already pulled out the useful parts: the speech, the code and settings shown on screen, the links in the description, plus a summary and ordered steps. ORANO MCP lets Cursor's agent read all of that.

What you need

• Cursor with agent mode.
• Saves in ORANO, from the iOS or Android share sheet, a pasted link, or the web app.
• An ORANO MCP key from the $5/month web plan. It's shown once on the access page, so copy it then.

Step 1: Put the key in your environment

Add this to your shell profile (for example ~/.zshrc), or set it as a user environment variable on Windows:

export ORANO_MCP_KEY="your-orano-key"

Restart Cursor so it picks the variable up. Remote MCP servers in Cursor can't read an envFile, so the variable has to live in your environment.

Step 2: Add ORANO to mcp.json

Create or edit ~/.cursor/mcp.json to make ORANO available everywhere, or .cursor/mcp.json for one project:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "orano": {
      "url": "https://orano-ai-backend-1037939693300.us-central1.run.app/mcp/",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ${env:ORANO_MCP_KEY}"
      }
    }
  }
}

Step 3: Check it's connected

Open the Output panel (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+U), choose MCP Logs, and check that ORANO initialized. You can turn the server on and off from Cursor's MCP settings. In a chat, ORANO's tools show under Available Tools.

Step 4: Build from what you saved

• "Search my ORANO library for the auth tutorial I saved last week and follow its steps in this codebase."
• "Get the on-screen text from my saved Reel about Tailwind grid tricks and apply the layout to Dashboard.tsx."
• "Which GitHub repos have I saved about rate limiting? Compare their approaches with ours."
• "Pull the transcript and links from my saved talk on caching and write a short design note."

Under the hood, the agent calls search_library to find the save, get_project for the summary and tasks, and get_project_context to fetch only the evidence it needs (transcript, visual and on-screen analysis, links, caption) in structured or Markdown form. Asking for just one or two fields keeps the context small.

Good to know

• Read-only: Cursor can't edit your projects, memory or account.
• Personal: the key reads only your library. Rotate or revoke it on the access page.
• Not in your repo: because the config uses ${env:ORANO_MCP_KEY}, you can commit a project mcp.json without leaking the key. Each teammate uses their own.

Using Claude Code as well? See the Claude Code setup. It's one command with the same key.

Frequently asked questions

Does Cursor support remote MCP servers with headers?

Yes. In mcp.json, a remote server uses a url key, and Cursor sends any headers you define. Cursor also expands ${env:NAME} variables inside url and headers.

Where is Cursor's mcp.json?

Use ~/.cursor/mcp.json for servers available in every project, or .cursor/mcp.json inside a project for project-specific servers.

How do I know ORANO connected?

Open the Output panel, choose MCP Logs, and look for ORANO's tools initializing. In chat, the ORANO tools appear under Available Tools. A 401 in the logs means the key is missing or wrong.

Can I use envFile for the key?

Not for remote servers. Cursor's docs say HTTP and SSE servers don't support envFile, so set ORANO_MCP_KEY in your shell profile or system environment instead.

What can the Cursor agent read?

Your ORANO projects (summary, ordered tasks, resources, research), selectable evidence from each saved video or page (transcript, on-screen text and visual analysis, links, caption), a search over your library, and memory facts you've chosen to share. It can't change anything.