Add the Mobilebox MCP server, https://mobilebox.dev/mcp, to the client’s MCP config with your API key in an Authorization: Bearer header read from the environment. After a restart the agent has the phone tools: create a phone, read its screen, tap, type, install apps, watch it live, park it.

Client documentation reviewed on November 8, 2026: Cursor MCP, Codex MCP and VS Code MCP configuration. Claude Code has its own guide, and so do Gemini CLI, Windsurf, Cline and GitHub Copilot.

The shortest way: let the agent do it

Paste this into the agent: "Set up Mobilebox for me: read https://mobilebox.dev/setup.md and follow it." It asks for your email, gets a key at once, stores it without printing it, and adds the server for the client it runs in; the 6-digit code from your inbox keeps the workspace.

The key

Sign up at mobilebox.dev/signup and create a key in the dashboard, or let the agent get one through setup.md. Put it in your shell profile as MOBILESANDBOX_API_KEY and open a new terminal, so the client inherits it. Never paste the key into a chat or a committed file.

Cursor

~/.cursor/mcp.json for every project, or .cursor/mcp.json in one repository:

json
{ "mcpServers": { "mobilebox": { "url": "https://mobilebox.dev/mcp", "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer ${env:MOBILESANDBOX_API_KEY}" } } } }

Cursor also signs in to MCP servers over OAuth: add the entry with the url alone and it opens a browser where you sign in and click Allow.

Codex

~/.codex/config.toml:

toml
[mcp_servers.mobilebox]
url = "https://mobilebox.dev/mcp"
bearer_token_env_var = "MOBILESANDBOX_API_KEY"

Codex sends the variable’s value as the bearer token. The CLI and the IDE extension read the same file.

VS Code

.vscode/mcp.json in the workspace, or MCP: Open User Configuration for all of them. VS Code’s format uses servers and a type:

json
{ "servers": { "mobilebox": { "type": "http", "url": "https://mobilebox.dev/mcp", "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer ${env:MOBILESANDBOX_API_KEY}" } } } }

Copilot’s agent mode then lists the Mobilebox tools; the GitHub Copilot guide has the one-click install and the newer ~/.copilot/mcp-config.json file. To be asked for the key instead, use ${input:mobilebox-key} and an inputs entry with "password": true.

Check it

Ask the agent: "Create a Mobilebox phone, open Settings and tell me the Android version, then park the phone." It calls create_phone, observe and act, and watch_phone gives you a link to watch it live. The agent guide covers the observe, act, verify loop.