MCP Server

Connect your IDE to PromptRails with the built-in MCP server for Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, and other MCP-compatible tools.

MCP Server

PromptRails includes a built-in MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that exposes the full platform API as tools for AI-powered IDEs. This enables you to manage agents, execute prompts, review traces, and more directly from Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, or any MCP-compatible client.

What is the MCP Server?

The MCP server translates PromptRails API operations into MCP tools that AI assistants can invoke. When connected, your IDE's AI assistant can:

• Create and manage agents, prompts, and data sources
• Execute agents and view results
• Browse execution traces and costs
• Manage credentials, guardrails, and memories
• Handle approval requests
• Send chat messages

Connection Configuration

Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude Desktop configuration file (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "promptrails": {
      "command": "promptrails",
      "args": ["mcp", "serve"],
      "env": {
        "PROMPTRAILS_API_KEY": "your-api-key",
        "PROMPTRAILS_WORKSPACE_ID": "your-workspace-id",
        "PROMPTRAILS_API_URL": "https://api.promptrails.ai"
      }
    }
  }
}

Cursor

Add to your Cursor MCP settings (.cursor/mcp.json in your project root):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "promptrails": {
      "command": "promptrails",
      "args": ["mcp", "serve"],
      "env": {
        "PROMPTRAILS_API_KEY": "your-api-key",
        "PROMPTRAILS_WORKSPACE_ID": "your-workspace-id",
        "PROMPTRAILS_API_URL": "https://api.promptrails.ai"
      }
    }
  }
}

Windsurf

Add to your Windsurf MCP configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "promptrails": {
      "command": "promptrails",
      "args": ["mcp", "serve"],
      "env": {
        "PROMPTRAILS_API_KEY": "your-api-key",
        "PROMPTRAILS_WORKSPACE_ID": "your-workspace-id",
        "PROMPTRAILS_API_URL": "https://api.promptrails.ai"
      }
    }
  }
}

Available Tools

The MCP server exposes tools across all major PromptRails resource categories:

Agents

Prompts

Data Sources

Chat

Credentials

MCP Tools

Guardrails

Memories

Approvals

Executions

Traces

API Key Authentication

The MCP server authenticates using the same API keys used by the SDKs. The key's scopes determine which tools are available:

• An API key with agents:read scope enables list_agents and get_agent
• An API key with * scope enables all tools

Example Usage

Once connected, you can interact with PromptRails naturally through your IDE's AI assistant:

User: "List my agents"
Assistant: [calls list_agents] You have 5 agents:
1. Customer Support Bot (simple, active)
2. Data Pipeline (chain, active)
...

User: "Execute the Customer Support Bot with message 'What are your hours?'"
Assistant: [calls execute_agent] The agent responded:
"Our support hours are Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm EST..."
Cost: $0.002, Duration: 1.2s

User: "Show me the trace for that execution"
Assistant: [calls list_traces] The execution trace shows:
1. [agent] Customer Support Bot (1200ms)
   - [guardrail] prompt_injection scan (15ms) - OK
   - [prompt] Render main prompt (2ms)
   - [llm] gpt-4o call (1150ms, 340 tokens, $0.002)
   - [guardrail] pii output scan (8ms) - OK

Related Topics

• CLI -- CLI installation (required for the MCP server)
• MCP Tools -- Using MCP tools within agents
• API Keys and Scopes -- Authentication