willibrandon/CursorMCPMonitor

A .NET console application that monitors Model Context Protocol (MCP) interactions in the Cursor AI editor. This tool helps developers debug and analyze MCP server-client communications by monitoring log files in real-time.
What is MCP?
The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open protocol that standardizes how applications provide context to LLMs. It follows a client-server architecture where:
- **MCP Hosts** (like Cursor) connect to multiple servers
- **MCP Clients** maintain 1:1 connections with servers
- **MCP Servers** expose specific capabilities through the standardized protocol
- **Local Data Sources** and **Remote Services** are accessed securely through MCP servers
Features
- Real-time monitoring of MCP client-server interactions in Cursor:
- Client creation and connection events
- Server offering listings and capabilities
- Protocol errors and warnings
- Client lifecycle transitions
- Monitors the Cursor logs directory for new MCP log files
- Parses and color-codes different message types:
- Green: Client creation and successful connections
- Yellow: Server offering listings
- Red: Protocol errors and client closures
- Gray: General information messages
- Supports log rotation and file truncation
- Cross-platform support (Windows, macOS, Linux)
- Smart error handling with exponential backoff and retry logic
- Configurable polling interval and log file patterns
- Command-line interface for easy customization
- **Structured logging** with Serilog for improved observability:
- Console logging with formatted output
- File logging with daily rotation
- Contextual properties (machine name, thread ID, etc.)
- Log level filtering and output customization
Interactive Dashboard
The application includes a web-based dashboard for monitoring and analysis, accessible at http://localhost:5050 when the application is running. The dashboard features real-time event streaming through WebSocket connections with automatic reconnection handling and event rate monitoring.
The terminal display shows timestamps with millisecond precision and color-coded message types for easy identification of different event types. Advanced search functionality includes text-based search with highlighting and keyboard shortcut support.
A command palette (Ctrl/Cmd + P) provides quick access to common actions:
- Clear logs (Ctrl/Cmd + K)
- Copy visible entries (Ctrl/Cmd + C)
- Toggle auto-scroll (Ctrl/Cmd + S)
- Focus search (/)
The dashboard includes status indicators for WebSocket connection state, active client count, and events per second. It supports both dark and light themes with system theme detection.
Installation
You can install the tool globally using the .NET CLI:
After installation, you can run the tool from anywhere using:
To update to the latest version:
To uninstall:
Configuration
The application can be configured through appsettings.json:
- LogsRoot: The root directory to monitor for Cursor MCP logs. If null, defaults to:
- Windows: %AppData%/Cursor/logs
- macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Cursor/logs
- Linux: ~/.config/Cursor/logs
- PollIntervalMs: How often to check for new log lines (in milliseconds)
- LogPattern: The log file pattern to monitor (supports glob patterns like "Cursor MCP*.log")