This is documentation for the next version of Grafana documentation. For the latest stable release, go to the latest version.

Enterprise Open source

Cursor

This guide helps you set up the mcp-grafana server for Cursor.

Prerequisites

  • Cursor IDE installed
  • Grafana 9.0+ with a service account token
  • mcp-grafana binary in your PATH

Configuration

Two options for configuration location:

ScopePath
Global (all projects)~/.cursor/mcp.json
Project-specific.cursor/mcp.json in project root

Add using the UI

  1. Open Cursor Settings -> Tools & Integrations
  2. Click New MCP Server
  3. This opens ~/.cursor/mcp.json for editing

Manual configuration

Create or edit ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

JSON
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "grafana": {
      "command": "mcp-grafana",
      "args": [],
      "env": {
        "GRAFANA_URL": "http://localhost:3000",
        "GRAFANA_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN": "<your-token>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Docker configuration

JSON
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "grafana": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "--rm",
        "-i",
        "-e",
        "GRAFANA_URL",
        "-e",
        "GRAFANA_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN",
        "grafana/mcp-grafana",
        "-t",
        "stdio"
      ],
      "env": {
        "GRAFANA_URL": "http://host.docker.internal:3000",
        "GRAFANA_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN": "<your-token>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Debug mode

JSON
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "grafana": {
      "command": "mcp-grafana",
      "args": ["-debug"],
      "env": {
        "GRAFANA_URL": "http://localhost:3000",
        "GRAFANA_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN": "<your-token>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Verify configuration

  1. Go to Cursor Settings -> Tools & Integrations
  2. Find grafana in the MCP servers list
  3. Click the refresh button if needed
  4. Green indicator = server running
  5. Open Composer and ask: “List my Grafana dashboards”

Troubleshooting

Server not appearing:

  • Check JSON syntax (trailing commas break it)
  • Restart Cursor
  • Verify binary path: which mcp-grafana

Tools not working:

  • Click refresh button in MCP settings
  • Check Grafana token permissions
  • Enable -debug flag and check output

Read-only mode

JSON
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "grafana": {
      "command": "mcp-grafana",
      "args": ["--disable-write"],
      "env": {
        "GRAFANA_URL": "http://localhost:3000",
        "GRAFANA_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN": "<your-token>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Next steps