Connect Cursor, Codex and VS Code to any desktop app

ands is a standard MCP server. Any agent that speaks MCP can use it to see and operate the apps on your computer. Here are the exact snippets. You can also print each one with npx -y andsh mcp --config <client>.

Cursor

In ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ands": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "andsh", "mcp"] }
  }
}

Codex

In ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.ands]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "andsh", "mcp"]

VS Code

In .vscode/mcp.json:

{
  "servers": {
    "ands": { "type": "stdio", "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "andsh", "mcp"] }
  }
}

Claude Desktop

Settings, then Developer, then Edit Config, and add the same mcpServers block as Cursor.

Claude Code

claude mcp add ands -- npx -y andsh mcp

More in Give Claude Code control of your desktop apps.

Check that it works

Run npx -y andsh doctor. It checks the engine and the Accessibility permission. On macOS, allow your editor or terminal in Settings, then Privacy and Security, then Accessibility.

Then ask your agent something small: "Use ands to list the open apps." Next: "Open Notes and write today’s date."

Approvals

Whichever client you use, every call passes the same gate: read, change or sensitive. Sensitive actions (send, pay, delete, install, sign in, submit a form, screenshot, read the clipboard) always ask a person, inside the client when it supports MCP elicitation, or in a system dialog when it doesn’t.

From the cloud

Running an agent somewhere else? ands link gives your computer an MCP address that a cloud agent can call, and approvals still come to you. See agents that work with ands.