Overview
What is MCP
AfterShip Post-purchase MCP
Reference
Tool reference
Installation
Claude
Claude Code
ChatGPT
Cursor
VS Code (GitHub Copilot)

Install on Cursor

Cursor connects to MCP servers through its MCP settings and makes their tools available to Agent.

Prerequisites

  • Cursor installed and signed in — download it here.
  • An AfterShip account with access to the organization you want to connect.

Install

Where Cursor keeps MCP servers changed in version 3.18. If Cursor Settings shows a banner reading "Plugins, MCPs, Skills, and Rules have moved to Customize", use the first path. Otherwise use the second.

Cursor 3.18 and later

  1. Click Customize in the sidebar.
  2. Select the MCPs tab.
  3. Click New MCP Server ("Add a Custom MCP Server"). Cursor opens a file called mcp.json.

Earlier versions

  1. Open Cursor Settings: press ⌘⇧J (macOS) or Ctrl+Shift+J (Windows).
  2. Go to Tools & MCP.
  3. Click New MCP Server. Cursor opens a file called mcp.json.

Then, on either path, put this inside mcp.json and save:

preparing...

If the file already lists other servers, add the aftership-post-purchase block alongside them — don't delete what's there.

aftership-post-purchase is just a label. You can call it anything; the rest of this page assumes that name.

If you can't find either screen, edit the file yourself instead: ~/.cursor/mcp.json applies to every project, .cursor/mcp.json to one project.

Sign in

Go back to the MCP list. The server you added should be there, marked Needs authentication.

  1. Click Connect on that row.
  2. A browser tab opens. Sign in to AfterShip and pick the organization you want Cursor to work with.
  3. Come back to Cursor.

The row turns green and lists the tools it can use. Nothing is saved into mcp.json — Cursor stores the sign-in for you.

Verify

Open Cursor's chat panel and ask:

Cursor should list the available tools without calling any of them — such as list_shipments, get_shipment, list_returns, and so on. If Cursor reports no such server or lists no tools, go back to the MCP list and confirm the server you added is connected.

Troubleshooting

  • The server is not in the list. Check mcp.json is valid JSON — one missing comma or bracket makes Cursor skip the whole file.
  • Can't find the MCPs screen. Cursor 3.18 moved MCP settings to Customize. Older versions keep them in Cursor Settings → Tools & MCP.
  • It works in one project but not another. A server saved in .cursor/mcp.json only exists inside that project. Move the block to ~/.cursor/mcp.json to get it everywhere.
  • You're seeing the wrong company's data. Remove the server, add it again, and sign in — this time picking the right organization.

Still stuck? Contact us at AfterShip Support