Use Mission Dispatch MCP Server in Cursor

Overview

This tutorial explains how to run the Mission Dispatch MCP server and connect it to Cursor. This allows you to control robot missions using natural language prompts in Cursor’s AI chat.

It uses direct MCP configuration in ~/.cursor/mcp.json and does not require a .env file.

Tutorial Walkthrough

1. Confirm prerequisites:

   • Ubuntu/Linux environment (validated on Ubuntu 24.04)

   • Python 3.10+

   • Cursor installed (v2.4+ recommended)

   • Install and launch Isaac Sim using the Isaac ROS Isaac Sim Setup Guide

   • Mission Control services already launched using: Mission Control Tutorial (this bringup starts both Mission Control and Mission Dispatch)

   • The Isaac Sim setup and Mission Control tutorial bringup can be done in parallel.

2. Verify Mission Dispatch health:

   curl http://localhost:5002/health
   

3. Set up the MCP package from the mission_dispatch repository root:

   cd packages/agentic-utilities/mission-dispatch-mcp
   python3 -m venv venv
   ./venv/bin/python -m pip install -U pip
   ./venv/bin/python -m pip install -e .
   

4. Configure Cursor MCP directly in ~/.cursor/mcp.json (or use Cursor Settings -> Tools & MCP, which writes this file).

   

   

   Add or update this server entry with your real local paths:

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "mission-dispatch": {
         "command": "bash",
         "args": [
           "-lc",
           "set -euo pipefail; cd \"/ABS/PATH/TO/mission_dispatch/packages/agentic-utilities/mission-dispatch-mcp\" && exec \"/ABS/PATH/TO/mission_dispatch/packages/agentic-utilities/mission-dispatch-mcp/venv/bin/python\" -m mission_dispatch_mcp.server"
         ],
         "env": {
           "MISSION_DISPATCH_URL": "http://localhost:5002"
         }
       }
     }
   }
   

   Note

   Replace /ABS/PATH/TO/mission_dispatch with your actual path. If your Mission Dispatch API runs on a different host/port, update MISSION_DISPATCH_URL.

5. Enable the mission-dispatch server in Cursor Settings -> Tools & MCP.

6. Start a new chat and ask:

   Use Mission Dispatch MCP to test the connection.

   If configured correctly, the server responds with a successful connection result.

   

Troubleshooting

Connection Refused

• Confirm Mission Dispatch API is reachable at the configured MISSION_DISPATCH_URL.

Tools Do Not Appear

• Disable/re-enable the MCP server in Cursor settings.

• Start a new chat.

• Restart Cursor.

Check Server Logs

• /tmp/mission_dispatch_mcp.log

Implementation References

• MCP server tools: packages/agentic-utilities/mission-dispatch-mcp/src/server.py

• Mission Dispatch API client used by MCP: packages/agentic-utilities/mission-dispatch-mcp/src/queries.py