Connect Vindex to Cursor
In Cursor the story often arrives as a paste into Agent chat. Connecting Vindex lets Agent score that paste before it edits anything, and a rule in .cursor/rules makes that the default for the whole project.
Three steps, about 3 minutes. Open to every registered Vindex user; new users create an account during sign-in.
The walkthrough
Add the Vindex MCP server
Open Cursor Settings, go to Tools and MCP (labelled MCP and Integrations in some versions), and choose New MCP Server. Cursor opens mcp.json; add the entry below and save.
Use ~/.cursor/mcp.json to make Vindex available in every project, or .cursor/mcp.json inside a repository to share it with the team through version control. The file holds only the URL.
{
"mcpServers": {
"vindex": {
"url": "https://mcp.vindexgateway.com/mcp"
}
}
}Sign in with your Vindex account
Back in the MCP settings, the Vindex row shows that it needs login. Click it; Cursor opens your browser on the Vindex sign-in. Use the account you use for the Vindex Portal, or create one to start on the free plan.
When the browser confirms, the row turns green and lists three tools. Cursor keeps the session, so this is a one-time step per machine.
Score your first story
Open Agent chat, paste a story, and ask for a Vindex score before any changes. Agent calls score_story and shows the finding, the percentage, and the band. Approve the tool call if Cursor asks, or allow Vindex tools in settings so it does not ask each time.
Include the tracker key. Agent passes it as the story id, and the re-check after you fix the story is free.
Try this in Cursor
“Score this story with Vindex (story id NW-108) before making any changes, and tell me if it is ready to build: Warehouse scanning should be faster and better. The scanning process in the warehouse is slow and the team complains about it.”
What comes back
The result reads finding first: the one change that moves the score most, in plain language. Then the overall percentage and its band (Healthy 80 to 100, Needs review 60 to 79, At risk 0 to 59), then the six INVEST dimensions with reasons and suggestions when you ask for them.
The band is Vindex’s suggestion. Cursor does not stop or change anything on its own; what happens next is your call. Fix the story and ask again: the re-check of a counted story is free.
Make the check automatic
A rule file in .cursor/rules with alwaysApply set to true is read on every Agent request in the project. Put the ready-check rule there and Agent scores before it edits, every time.
## Before implementing a story
1. Score it with the Vindex score_story tool. Pass the tracker key as story_id.
2. Healthy: proceed. Draft the acceptance checks from the Testable reasoning before writing code.
3. Needs review or At risk: do not write code. Report the finding and the top
recommendations, and ask the product owner the open questions.The threshold is the team’s to set; see putting a ready check into your agent’s standing instructions.
Troubleshooting
The Vindex row shows an error instead of needs login
Check that the URL in mcp.json is exactly the server endpoint and that the entry uses url, not command. Save the file and toggle the server off and on.
Agent edits files without scoring first
Add the rule file in .cursor/rules with alwaysApply true, and ask for the score explicitly until it is in place. Agent follows the rules it is given for the project.
The tool returned one sentence and no percentages
That is a Vindex error message: a timeout, a busy company, or an exhausted allowance. Ask Agent to call get_usage, or try again in a moment.
Using a different client?
Next steps
Finding first, then the band, then the dimensions.
Score before building; proceed on Healthy.
Endpoint, sign-in, tools, limits.
Cursor was connected to the live Vindex MCP server before this page was published.