Sidekick for Cursor (switch assistant)

Sidekick runs as an MCP server that Cursor starts for you.

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Install Sidekick

Download for Mac

Open the downloaded file and follow the prompts. A Mac asks for your password, Windows for administrator permission.

Another computer?

Add Sidekick to Cursor

Add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json (Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.cursor\mcp.json), keeping any servers already there:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "indesign-sidekick": {
      "command": "indesign-sidekick",
      "args": ["start"]
    }
  }
}

On Windows, Cursor needs cmd to start it:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "indesign-sidekick": {
      "command": "cmd",
      "args": ["/c", "indesign-sidekick", "start"]
    }
  }
}

Check it

Restart Cursor. Under Customize → MCPs, indesign-sidekick should be switched on. Then, with a document open in InDesign, ask: how many pages does my document have?
No answer from InDesign? Ask sidekick health and send us the reply.
Cursor asks before it uses a tool. To stop the questions, allow Sidekick's tools under Cursor Settings → Agents → Approvals & Execution.
Cursor walks you through the setup and asks before every change it makes.
Step 2
Paste this into Cursor

In Cursor's agent, paste this and approve the steps it proposes:
```
Install Sidekick for InDesign by following https://sidekick.eastpole.nl/install/cursor.md
```
No installer and no password, for people who already use Node.js 20 or later.
Step 2
Check Node.js

In a terminal, this should print 20 or higher:
```
node --version
```

Add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json (Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.cursor\mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "indesign-sidekick": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "indesign-sidekick", "start"]
    }
  }
}

On Windows:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "indesign-sidekick": {
      "command": "cmd",
      "args": ["/c", "npx", "-y", "indesign-sidekick", "start"]
    }
  }
}

Check it

Restart Cursor. Under Customize → MCPs, indesign-sidekick should be switched on. Then, with a document open in InDesign, ask: how many pages does my document have?
No answer from InDesign? Ask sidekick health and send us the reply.
Cursor asks before it uses a tool. To stop the questions, allow Sidekick's tools under Cursor Settings → Agents → Approvals & Execution.

Other ways

Not working?

Sidekick switched on, but it doesn't work?: Open the Output panel (Cmd+Shift+U, Windows: Ctrl+Shift+U) and choose MCP Logs to see why it stopped.
Your assistant can't find indesign-sidekick?: Restart the assistant after installing, so it sees the updated PATH. Still nothing? Use the full path: /usr/local/bin/indesign-sidekick on macOS, or on Windows run where indesign-sidekick and take the path ending in .cmd.
"npx: command not found" or "spawn npx ENOENT"?: Apps started from the Dock or Start menu don't always see your terminal's PATH, common with nvm or fnm. Use the full path to npx instead: run which npx (Windows: where npx, and take the path ending in .cmd) and put that in as the command.
Slow start on a company network?: If your network blocks the npm registry, add --offline to the npx arguments (npx -y --offline indesign-sidekick start). Sidekick then stops picking up new versions until you remove it.
Using Sidekick in more than one assistant?: Install it once for the whole computer, then add it to each assistant, and only once per assistant: two entries in one assistant start two copies. See Using multiple AI assistants.