How to use MCP Tools (like SQLcl-MCP) in Composer Agent Mode?

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Hi everyone! :waving_hand:

I’m trying to integrate the Oracle SQLcl MCP Server with Cursor’s Composer in Agent mode, but I’m running into what seems like a fundamental limitation, and I’d love some guidance.

My Setup:

  • Cursor with SQLcl-MCP server configured and running (shows green dot in MCP settings)
  • Server is working correctly - logs show it offers 5 tools and 1 prompt (connect, disconnect, run-sql, run-sqlcl, list-connections)
  • Server provides 0 resources (which is expected based on the server’s design)

The Problem:
When working in Composer with Agent mode enabled, the AI assistant only has access to two MCP-related functions:

  • ListMcpResources - lists MCP resources
  • FetchMcpResource - fetches MCP resources

Since the SQLcl-MCP server exposes tools (not resources), the agent can’t invoke any of the database operations like connect or run-sql.

My Questions:

  1. Is there a way to enable MCP tool invocation for agents in Composer, or is this currently only available for MCP resources?
  2. Are there additional configuration steps needed to expose MCP tools to the agent?
  3. Is this a known limitation, or am I missing something in my setup?

I’ve successfully configured other MCP servers in the settings, and the server itself is running fine. It just seems like there’s a gap between “MCP tools that exist” and “MCP tools that agents can use.”

Any insights would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance! :folded_hands:

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Hey, thanks for the report. Your observations are spot on. This is a known issue with discovery MCP tools in agent mode.

What’s happening: the MCP server connects fine and the tools get registered (you can see it in the logs, like “Found 5 tools”), but the agent only sees ListMcpResources and FetchMcpResource (for resources), not the actual tools. The bug showed up somewhere between versions 2.3.34 and 2.3.41.

Try these workarounds:

  1. New chat + explicit request: Open a new chat and ask “list all MCP tools you have access to”. After that, tools might start working in the same session.

  2. Update to 2.4: A lot of users confirmed it works there: Downloads | Cursor Docs

  3. Restart Cursor after setting up MCP or explicitly mention the server name (for example “use SQLcl-MCP”). This helps some users.

Related threads with the same bug:

If the workarounds don’t help, send the Request ID from the broken chat (three dots in the top right of the chat > Copy Request ID). This will help the team with debugging.

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Hi @deanrie — thanks a lot for the clarification and the workarounds!

Quick update: the “new chat + explicit request” workaround fixed it for me.
In a fresh Composer Agent session I asked:

list all MCP tools you have access to

After that, the agent immediately started seeing and invoking the SQLcl-MCP tools (e.g. list-connections, connect, run-sql). Before doing this, it looked exactly like I described in my original post: only ListMcpResources / FetchMcpResource showed up, and no tool invocation was possible.

Also kind of funny: after I pasted my “tools vs resources” problem into the Cursor AI, it responded with something like “I can disprove this by calling the SQLcl MCP tools right now…” — which made me smile, because that was precisely the gap I was hitting in Composer Agent mode. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

Thanks again — this workaround unblocked me!

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