You build something in Cursor. You get a deploy link, a share URL, a file path that has to become a link for a commit message or a pull-request comment. Then the friction starts: copy the URL, open a browser, paste it, copy the short link back, return to Cursor.
Every time you leave the agent to do a browser chore, you break flow. After the third short link, you stop bothering and paste the long one.
That is the exact problem MCP servers solve. You can hand the agent a shorten_url tool and it shortens the URL itself.
How to add KooLink to Cursor
Cursor supports MCP servers natively. Add this to your .cursor/mcp.json (or the Cursor MCP settings UI):
{
"mcpServers": {
"koolink": {
"url": "https://mcp.kool.ink",
"type": "streamable-http"
}
}
}
Restart Cursor, or click the "Refresh" icon in the MCP panel. KooLink's shorten_url tool appears in the agent's tool list.
That is the entire setup. No API key. No account. No browser.
What it looks like in practice
Inside Cursor's agent:
You: shorten this for me: https://github.com/yourorg/yourrepo/blob/main/docs/very/long/path.md Agent: → https://kool.ink/xyz
You can also ask in the middle of a workflow:
Generate a URL shortener slug for the README badge and the commit message.
The agent calls shorten_url and you stay in the editor.
Why this beats a browser tab
Two reasons, and only one of them is the speed.
Context. When you are in Cursor you are looking at code, terminal output, and the agent's reasoning. A browser tab is a hard context break. A tool the agent already has is not.
Consistency. Every developer on the team gets the same shortener with the same rules. Shorten in a code review, the README, the commit, the PR comment — the agent does it the same way every time.
Other ways to use it
The same server works in any MCP client:
- Claude Desktop / Claude Code — same config, just add the server to your MCP settings.
- Windsurf, VS Code with Continue, Zed — any client that supports streamable-http MCP servers.
- Your terminal —
npx @koolink/koolink https://example.com/long/path.
What you get
A short link kool.ink/xyz, no account required, no API key, no free-tier cap. Free forever, unlimited.
Add the server to Cursor and your agent stops asking you to switch tabs to shorten a link.