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Getting Started

Prerequisites

  • Cursor IDE - Download
  • Jira or Azure DevOps - Active account with API access
  • GitHub - Account with personal access token

Step 1: Configure MCP

MCP combinations: - GitHub + Jira — GitHub for repos/PRs, Jira for issue tracking - ADO only — Azure DevOps provides both repo management and issue tracking

Full MCP setup → (Option A or B).

Open Cursor Settings → Features → Model Context Protocol and add:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "github": {
      "url": "https://api.githubcopilot.com/mcp/",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer <TOKEN>"
      }
    },
    "atlassian": {
      "url": "https://mcp.atlassian.com/v1/sse"
    },
  }
}

Get GitHub Token:

  1. Go to github.com/settings/tokens
  2. Generate new token (classic)
  3. Select scopes: repo and read:org
  4. Copy token into config above

Authorize Atlassian:

First time you use Jira commands, Cursor will prompt OAuth authorization.

Azure DevOps Alternative

For Azure DevOps instead of Jira, use this configuration:

"ado": {
  "command": "npx",
  "args": [
    "-y",
    "--registry",
    "https://registry.npmjs.org/",
    "@azure-devops/mcp",
    "your-organization-name"
  ]
}

Replace your-organization-name with your ADO organization.

Detailed MCP setup →

Step 2: Install Commands

Command files live in commands/ (in the repo or in the release archive). Download the latest release and copy them into Cursor's commands directory.

View installation instructions →

Quick summary:

  1. Download the latest release from the Releases page
  2. Extract the archive
  3. Copy commands/* to ~/.cursor/commands/ (global) or .cursor/commands/ (per-project). Cursor Team/Enterprise: Dashboard → Team Content → Commands — create team commands from commands/; they sync to your team.
  4. Restart Cursor

Step 3: Run Your First Command

Open Cursor Chat (Cmd/Ctrl + L) and run:

/create-task --type=story for user profile page with avatar upload

AI will:

  1. Read the command instruction
  2. Connect to Jira via MCP
  3. Create story with title, acceptance criteria, and labels
  4. Return story ID (e.g., PROJ-123)

That's it! You're using agentic commands.

Try a Development Workflow

# Plan
/create-plan for PROJ-123

# Build
/start-task PROJ-123

# Ship
/complete-task PROJ-123

How It Works

AI agents handle routine tasks:

  • Story and epic creation
  • Implementation planning
  • Branch and PR creation
  • Test generation
  • Issue updates

You control decisions:

  • Plan approval
  • Code review
  • Work selection
  • Architecture

Full transparency:

  • Specs in specs/ folder (permanent feature contracts)
  • Plans in .plans/ folder (transient task implementation)
  • PRs link to stories
  • Commits include story IDs

See the product flow diagram →

Next Steps

Troubleshooting

Commands don't appear:

  • Verify files in ~/.cursor/commands/ or .cursor/commands/
  • Restart Cursor completely

MCP authorization fails:

  • Check Settings → MCP shows "Connected"
  • Verify GitHub token has repo and read:org scopes
  • Re-authorize Atlassian MCP

Command fails:

  • Check error message (AI explains the issue)
  • Verify story/repo exists and you have permissions
  • Ensure you're in a git repository

Integration error:

  • Verify credentials and permissions in MCP settings.

Plan not found:

  • Run /create-plan before /start-task.

Story missing detail:

  • Commands will ask for clarification when information is insufficient.