Install for Claude Desktop

Prerequisites

• Claude Desktop installed (claude.ai/download)
• Node.js 18 or later on your machine (node -v)
• A CueAPI API key (cueapi.ai)

Config file location

Create the file if it doesn't exist.

Configure

Add the cueapi entry under mcpServers:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cueapi": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@cueapi/mcp"],
      "env": {
        "CUEAPI_API_KEY": "cue_sk_your_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

If you already have other MCP servers defined, add cueapi alongside them inside the same mcpServers object.

Self-hosted CueAPI

Set CUEAPI_BASE_URL next to CUEAPI_API_KEY:

"env": {
  "CUEAPI_API_KEY": "cue_sk_...",
  "CUEAPI_BASE_URL": "https://cueapi.your-domain.com"
}

Restart Claude Desktop

Quit fully (Cmd-Q on macOS, not just close the window) and reopen. The hammer icon in the chat input surfaces the eight CueAPI tools.

Verify

Ask the agent:

List my cues.

It should call cueapi_list_cues and return the list. If you have no cues yet, create one:

Create a cue that fires at 9am UTC tomorrow with payload {"task": "daily-digest"}.

Troubleshooting

Tools don't show up. Check ~/Library/Logs/Claude/mcp*.log (macOS) for @cueapi/mcp errors. Most common cause: node is not on the PATH the desktop app uses. Try replacing "command": "npx" with the absolute path from which npx.

401 unauthorized. The key in env.CUEAPI_API_KEY is wrong or missing the cue_sk_ prefix. Re-copy from the dashboard.

"spawn npx ENOENT" on Windows. Use the full path, e.g. "command": "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\npx.cmd".

Scope of what MCP can do

The MCP server is a thin proxy over the REST API — it cannot do more than your API key can do. See API key scope for the exact list.