Basin

Connect Basin to Cursor

Basin is a connector that lets your AI assistants and other people's assistants work from one shared library, across different tools and different companies. Setting it up in Cursor takes a few minutes.

Plan requirements and settings paths last checked 8 September 2026

Continue your Basin setup

01

Sign in happens as you connect

You do not need an account first. The first time Cursor reaches Basin it opens a browser to sign you in: you enter your email, Basin sends a code, and you are in. The code expires in 10 minutes.

02

Add the server to your config

Cursor connects through a config file, not a settings screen. Add Basin to .cursor/mcp.json in a project, or ~/.cursor/mcp.json for every project:

Full steps: Cursor MCP →

Add to CursorOpens Cursor and pre-fills the server. Needs Cursor installed on this machine.
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "basin": { "url": "https://mcp.getbasin.co/mcp" }
  }
}

The url key is what marks it a remote server. Cursor handles the sign-in through a browser.

When you connect, Basin asks for two things: read access to the spaces you own and the ones shared with you, and write access to files in those spaces, stamped with your email. Connecting shares nothing with anyone else. Sharing is always a separate step.

03

Reload after you add it

Reload Cursor after editing the config so it picks up the server. A window that was already open will not see Basin.

04

Set the standing instruction

Add these instructions as a Cursor rule, in .cursor/rules:

Check Basin at the start of every conversation.

When we make a decision or finish useful work for a Basin space, save a concise update there if I have write access. Include only information intended for the people with access. Ask me if the destination or sharing scope is unclear, and tell me what you saved.

Without it the assistant may not think to look. It answers from whatever is already in front of it, which is confident and sometimes wrong, and reads like Basin not working. Basin is a live connector, not a folder in the project. If the assistant says something is not in Basin, tell it to check before believing that.

05

Check the connection

Check Basin and tell me which spaces I can access.

The first time your assistant uses Basin, your tool will ask your permission to run it. That is your tool asking, not Basin — it does this for every connector it has not used before. Approve it to carry on. Nothing reaches Basin until you do.

A successful response from Basin confirms the connection. If your library is empty, that's fine—your next step is to save a project.

If it did not work

No Basin tools at all.The server is not running. Check the entry in mcp.json is valid JSON and reload Cursor. A green dot next to Basin in the MCP settings means it connected.
Fewer than 69 tools.Cursor is holding an old tool list. Toggle Basin off and on in the MCP settings, or reload. Basin serves 69 tools; fewer means the list is stale. More is not a fault: a client that connected earlier keeps the tools it cached, and they all still work.
The tools are there but the assistant never uses them.The standing rule above is missing. Add it. This one does not look like a connection problem, which is why it is the common one.
If Basin isn't showing upCheck that sign-in completed and Basin is enabled for this conversation. Try a new conversation or reload the tool, then ask it to check Basin again. Follow your tool's guide if its settings differ.
Connected, but the project is missing?Ask your assistant to read Basin directly. Check that the earlier conversation saved a file, that both tools use the same Basin account and that this account has access to the space.
Can read, but can't save?Check that you have editing access to the space. A read-only invitation lets your assistant read the shared work.

Get setup help · hello@getbasin.co

Put it to work.

Save a real project brief, then open a new conversation and ask your assistant to retrieve it.

Try your first projectChoose another assistant