Add the Gitea MCP server to Cursor

Config last verified Jun 1, 2026

The exact config to run Gitea in Cursor — paste it in, restart, and the tools load.

Prerequisites

Cursor installed.
GITEA_HOST — Base URL of your Gitea instance, e.g. https://gitea.com or your self-hosted host. Equivalent to the --host flag.
GITEA_ACCESS_TOKEN — A Gitea personal access token. Equivalent to the --token flag.

Setup

1. Open `~/.cursor/mcp.json`

2. Add this configuration

Add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json

~/.cursor/mcp.json

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gitea": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "-i",
        "--rm",
        "-e",
        "GITEA_ACCESS_TOKEN",
        "-e",
        "GITEA_HOST",
        "docker.gitea.com/gitea-mcp-server",
        "-t",
        "stdio"
      ],
      "env": {
        "GITEA_HOST": "<GITEA_HOST>",
        "GITEA_ACCESS_TOKEN": "<GITEA_ACCESS_TOKEN>"
      }
    }
  }
}

3. Restart Cursor and confirm the Gitea tools load.

Gotchas

Cursor keeps MCP servers under an "mcpServers" object in ~/.cursor/mcp.json for global use, and also reads a project-scoped .cursor/mcp.json so a repository can ship its own servers. Remote servers are configured with a bare "url" field and connect natively, with OAuth handled in-app when a server requires it.

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