Human approval for Cursor agent actions

• handup runs as a stdio MCP server in Cursor, so the agent can call request_approval, ask_question and notify.
• The agent shows you the exact proposed action and waits for your decision before acting.
• A denial with a note is a normal answer: the agent reads your feedback and stops or revises.

1. Install handup

   On glibc Linux or macOS, use the install script below. On Alpine, use the musl APK package from the downloads page instead. On Windows, download the desktop EXE or CLI ZIP instead of running the install script: the desktop app starts the daemon, or run handup serve in its own terminal for the CLI ZIP. The service command below is Linux/macOS only. (handup setup starts handup and connects every agent it finds in one go; Windows has no background service.)

   curl -fsSL https://github.com/gethandup/handup/releases/latest/download/install.sh | shCopy
   handup service install # Linux/macOS only; on Windows run handup serveCopy

2. Add handup to Cursor

   Preview, then merge the handup server into ~/.cursor/mcp.json. Other servers are kept and the file is backed up first.

   handup integrate mcp --client cursor --dry-runCopy
   handup integrate mcp --client cursorCopy

3. Enable it in Cursor

   Restart Cursor and enable handup under Customize. Cursor may ask before MCP calls.

• Requests carry previews of what will happen: a command, a diff, a file, an email draft and more.
• What you approve is bound to a content hash; if the action changes, the agent must ask again.
• Approve, deny with feedback, or answer a question with choices or free text.

• This is an MCP-only integration: handup sees what the agent chooses to ask. It does not intercept Cursor's built-in prompts.

Full details: the Cursor guide in the handup docs.