Agents skip or ignore user-installed MCP servers since plugins were introduced

[user1603]

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

After the introduction of plugins, the Agent often does not use MCP servers that the user has installed and configured. It appears to rely on a different or limited set of MCPs (e.g. plugin/global ones) and ignores user-configured MCPs that are present in the project, even when their tools are relevant to the user’s request.

Steps to Reproduce

Install and configure a user MCP server (any third-party or custom MCP) so it is enabled for the project.

Confirm the MCP is present in the project’s MCP configuration (e.g. under the project’s MCP / mcps config).

In chat, ask the Agent to do something that clearly fits that MCP’s tools (e.g. a question or task that one of its tools can answer or perform).

Observe that the Agent uses other tools (e.g. web search) or says no relevant MCP is available, and does not call the user MCP’s tools.

Expected Behavior

The Agent should consider all enabled MCP servers for the project, including user-installed/configured ones, and use them when their tools match the user’s request. User MCPs should not be ignored in favor of only plugin or built-in MCPs.

Operating System

Linux

Version Information

IDE:
Version: 2.5.17
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: 7b98dcb824ea96c9c62362a5e80dbf0d1aae4770
Date: 2026-02-17T05:58:33.110Z
Build Type: Stable
Release Track: Early Access
Electron: 39.3.0
Chromium: 142.0.7444.265
Node.js: 22.21.1
V8: 14.2.231.22-electron.0
OS: Linux x64 6.17.0-8-generic

Additional Information

The issue appears to be that the Agent’s view of “available MCP servers” does not include or prioritize user-installed MCPs, so it never calls their tools even when they are configured and relevant. ‘Never’ might be too strong here, sometimes, maybe, with lots of extra prompting, it might?

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

[deanrie]

Hey, thanks for the report. There are a few known issues with MCP tool detection that the team is working on. Some are already fixed, and some are still being tracked.

To understand what’s happening in your case, I’ll need a few details:

1. Which MCP servers are being ignored? Please share the names and types of your custom MCPs.
2. What status do they show in Cursor Settings > Tools & MCP, green, yellow, or red?
3. Where are they configured, at the project level in .cursor/mcp.json, or in global settings?
4. One concrete example: what did you ask the agent to do, and what did it do instead of calling your MCP tool?
5. A Request ID from one of those chats (top-right menu in the chat > Copy Request ID).

Also, did you try turning the affected MCP servers off and back on after updating to 2.5.17? Similar reports were fixed by re-enabling the servers.

Related thread with a similar issue: The Agent cannot access the MCP Servers configured in Cursor Settings The Agent cannot access the MCP Servers configured in Cursor Settings

Let me know. Once I have a Request ID, I can dig in more.

[Gustave-241021]

Hi, thank you for continuously following up on this issue. Let me tell you the conclusion first: the problem has been successfully solved.

Solution:

After trying to update to the latest version 2.5.17, the same issue still occurred. I suspected that there was an error or loss in the local cursor configuration files or some important content, so I tried to completely uninstall it, clear the local cache data, and then reinstall it. When I initiated the conversation for the first time, I still couldn’t get the custom MCP Server I configured in the global mcp.json. After that, I created a new conversation and guided the Agent to use the specified tool of the specified service in the prompt (prompt: “Call the crm_list_object tool of the mcp-adapter service to obtain the list of crm objects”). As a result, it successfully called and returned the correct result!
Later, I tested it again in a new conversation and found that it can successfully find and call the relevant tools without needing to specify them (prompt: “Get the list of all currently available CRM objects”)

Anyway, thank you for your long-term attention to this issue and your team’s efforts in the repair work. This has been a great help to me. Thank you again!

[lucashawro (Lucas)]

I came here to report the exact same issue.

Plugin installation in my case: Stripe and Context7 - made my regular MCP servers inaccessible to the agent.
Completely uninstalling plugins and resetting options on and off made it possible for the agents to access the MCP servers again.

I’m on:
Version: 2.5.20
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: 511523af765daeb1fa69500ab0df5b6524424610
Date: 2026-02-19T20:41:31.942Z
Build Type: Stable
Release Track: Default
Electron: 39.4.0
Chromium: 142.0.7444.265
Node.js: 22.22.0
V8: 14.2.231.22-electron.0
OS: Darwin arm64 25.3.0

Request ID: 83535440-b857-428f-a6bd-9a9be7a6f826