PacketStream integration

Add PacketStream web search to Cursor

Add PacketStream's remote MCP server to Cursor's mcp.json with your API key in an environment variable, then check the tools and your key.

Give Cursor’s agent live Google results and readable web pages through PacketStream’s remote MCP server. Cursor connects to the server URL directly and sends your API key in a header. The MCP server is in early beta.

Configure

Create an API key on the MCP page of the dashboard, then add the server to ~/.cursor/mcp.json for every project, or to .cursor/mcp.json for one project:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "packetstream": {
      "url": "https://api.packetstream.io/v1/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer ${env:PACKETSTREAM_API_KEY}" }
    }
  }
}

Cursor fills in ${env:PACKETSTREAM_API_KEY} from your environment, so the key never appears in the file. Set the variable in your shell profile or system environment, then restart Cursor:

export PACKETSTREAM_API_KEY="YOUR_API_KEY"

An app opened from the Dock, the Start menu, or a desktop launcher may not see variables exported in a shell profile. If Cursor does not see the variable, put the key itself after Bearer in ~/.cursor/mcp.json. Keep a literal key out of any .cursor/mcp.json that you commit.

Check it works

  1. Open Customize in Cursor’s sidebar and find packetstream among your MCP servers. Make sure it is enabled.
  2. Its available tools should be packetstream_search and packetstream_fetch. If the server shows an error, open the Output panel and choose MCP Logs.
  3. Check the key on its own with the free key check:
curl -sS https://api.packetstream.io/v1/account \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $PACKETSTREAM_API_KEY"

A working key returns your balance as JSON. A missing or wrong key returns HTTP 401 with the code unauthorized.

Then ask the agent something that needs current information. It should call packetstream_search.

Tool approvals

Cursor asks for approval before it runs an MCP tool, unless your run mode lets allowlisted tools run on their own. Every successful call is billed, and the server asks agents to use these tools for every web search and page fetch, so review those settings before you let the tools run unattended.

Troubleshooting

  • The tool result says missing_api_key. The MCP server does not answer a missing key with HTTP 401. The tool call returns an error result that the agent reads and passes on, and the call is not billed. Check that the headers entry is in the file and that PACKETSTREAM_API_KEY is set where Cursor starts, or use the key itself in ~/.cursor/mcp.json. Then restart Cursor.
  • invalid_api_key. The header does not hold a PacketStream key, for example because it still has the YOUR_API_KEY placeholder or Cursor did not fill in the variable. It should read Bearer followed by a key that starts with ps_.
  • unauthorized. The key was revoked or replaced on the dashboard. Create a new key and update your configuration.
  • A tool allowlist stopped matching after an update. Version 1.3.0 renamed web_search and web_fetch to packetstream_search and packetstream_fetch. Update any allowlist or approval entry that names the old tools.

See MCP client troubleshooting for the other error results.

Ready to give Cursor live web results? Create an account, add funds, and create the API key on the MCP page of the dashboard.
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