ClarifyDoc in Cursor. One command, then ask.

SET IT UP

From install to the first answer

1. Install ClarifyDoc and connect Cursor

   The CLI is on npm and needs Node.js. From the project root, the second command merges the entry into Cursor’s config and keeps everything else in it. Add --print to see what it would write first.

   npm install -g clarifydoc && clarifydoc install . --client cursorCopy

   With the VS Code extension instead: Cursor installs the extension from Open VSX. Its ClarifyDoc: Set Up MCP for an AI Agent… → Cursor writes this entry — into the project’s .cursor/mcp.json when there is one, else into ~/.cursor/mcp.json — pointed at the extension’s own launcher, so no Node.js is needed.

2. Where the entry goes

   .cursor/mcp.json in the project

   The entry names no project: the server serves the folder Cursor runs in, so the same file works for everyone who opens the project.

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   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "clarifydoc": {
         "command": "clarifydoc",
         "args": [
           "mcp"
         ]
       }
     }
   }

3. Reload Cursor

   Cursor reads .cursor/mcp.json when the project opens. Open Cursor’s settings at the MCP section and make sure clarifydoc is switched on; reload the window if it does not appear.

4. Ask the first question

   Type this as it is. If the project has no analysis yet, the first call makes one; a large repository can take a few minutes, and every analysis after it reads only the files that changed. To have it ready first, run clarifydoc analyze . from the project root.

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   Call clarifydoc_status, then use clarifydoc_routes to pick one API route. Tell me which screen calls it and which tables it reads and writes, with path:line for each.

   Then one about your own change:

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   Before I change <a file you know>, what depends on it and which tests should I run?

5. Check that it worked

   clarifydoc_status answers with the project root, when it was analyzed and how many routes, screens and tables were found. If it says no analysis was found, the server is looking at another folder: start Cursor from the project root.

   Cursor’s MCP settings list clarifydoc with its tools and a status dot.

6. Keep it current

   Ask the agent to call clarifydoc_analyze, or run clarifydoc analyze . --incremental: either re-reads only the files that changed. clarifydoc install --git-hooks does it in the background after each commit, merge and branch checkout. To update ClarifyDoc itself, npm install -g clarifydoc@latest (the extension updates itself, and its launcher keeps its path), then reload Cursor.

7. Remove it

   Delete the clarifydoc entry from .cursor/mcp.json (or ~/.cursor/mcp.json). Delete .clarifydoc/ in the project, and npm uninstall -g clarifydoc. If you asked for them, --guidance wrote between <!-- clarifydoc:start --> and <!-- clarifydoc:end --> in AGENTS.md, and --git-hooks between # clarifydoc:start and # clarifydoc:end in the repository’s git hooks. Nothing else is written.

OPTIONAL

More than the server

Each is a flag on the same clarifydoc install command, off unless you ask for it, and --print shows it before anything is written.

WHAT IT ANSWERS

23 tools, all read-only but two

Routes and who calls them, the tables a screen reads and writes, the call path between two functions, what a diff reaches, one function’s source instead of its file. Only clarifydoc_analyze and clarifydoc_diff write, and only to .clarifydoc/. Nothing leaves your machine — every network request any part can make.

OTHER HOSTS

The same server, elsewhere