Recipe: MCP Desktop Integration · rousseau-agent docs

Overview

Register rousseau mcp as a stdio MCP server in Claude Desktop or Cursor. Your desktop agent gains four tools: rousseau_search_sessions, rousseau_list_sessions, rousseau_read_session, rousseau_cron_list. This lets it recall a WhatsApp conversation from three days ago while you plan a new feature at your desk.

Prerequisites

Rousseau installed (rousseau version prints a real version).
Claude Desktop 0.7+ or Cursor with MCP support.
A sessions.db with some content — start from rousseau chat at least once.

Wiring

Edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rousseau": {
      "command": "rousseau",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. The tools appear under the tool picker.

In Cursor Settings → MCP Servers → Add:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rousseau": {
      "command": "/usr/local/bin/rousseau",
      "args": ["mcp"],
      "env": {
        "ROUSSEAU_STATE_PATH": "/home/you/.local/share/rousseau/sessions.db"
      }
    }
  }
}

Use absolute paths — Cursor's PATH may differ from your shell.

Verification

Checkbox Claude Desktop tool picker lists rousseau_search_sessions, rousseau_list_sessions, rousseau_read_session, rousseau_cron_list.
Checkbox Prompt: "Search my rousseau sessions for 'payments outage' and summarise." — the agent invokes rousseau_search_sessions and the results appear inline.
Checkbox Prompt: "Show my three most recent sessions." — the agent invokes rousseau_list_sessions.

Failure modes

Host reports "server exited immediately" — permission on state.path. ls -l ~/.local/share/rousseau/sessions.db.
Tools present but always return empty — you pointed at an empty sessions.db. Run rousseau chat once.
Absolute vs relative path — GUI apps do not inherit shell PATH. Use /usr/local/bin/rousseau or wherever which rousseau reports.

Overview

Prerequisites

Wiring

Verification

Failure modes

Related pages