How Payphone Cursor plugin, MCP, skills, and REST compose — use each alone or together.

Agent stack

Payphone agent integration is layered. Each layer works on its own; together they give rules, tools, and operator SMS without duplicate setup.

Layers

Layer	What it gives	Works alone?	Needs
Cursor plugin	Rules, skills, slash commands, Plugin MCP URL	Yes	`pnpm cursor:plugin:install` + restart Cursor
Plugin MCP	Remote tools at `payphone.wtf/mcp` (via plugin)	Yes (after plugin + OAuth Login)	Plugin MCP Servers → dial → Login
Project MCP (optional)	Same server under Installed MCP	Yes	`--with-project-mcp` — usually skip if plugin is loaded
REST + `DIAL_API_KEY`	All `/api/v1/*`, operator scripts, CI	Yes	Mint key in billing; export env
Skills	Playbooks (`dial`, `payphone`, `operator-sms`)	With plugin or copied to `.agents/skills`	Plugin install or Codex/Claude skill copy

pnpm cursor:agent:setup -- --api-key dial_live_… --phone +1…
Restart Cursor → Plugin MCP → dial → Login
Operator texts use REST (DIAL_API_KEY + operator-notify.sh or agent rule)

Plugin MCP is enough — do not add project .cursor/mcp.json unless you have a specific reason (duplicate dial entries confuse OAuth).

pnpm cursor:plugin:install

You get rules + skills + MCP registration. Add DIAL_API_KEY and OAuth when ready.

Add to .cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dial": { "type": "http", "url": "https://payphone.wtf/mcp" }
  }
}

Export DIAL_API_KEY — no Cursor required. MCP does not accept dial_live_* today; use REST for headless sends.

Need	Use
Milestone texts (default)	REST `operator-notify.sh` or agent with `DIAL_API_KEY`
Owned-line two-way	REST only — set `DIAL_OWNED_LINE_E164`
Quick MCP ping	`send_operator_update` (OAuth credits, pool only, optional `to`)

Policy file: .payphone/operator-notifications.json — created by setup or install-operator-policy.sh.

REST DIAL_API_KEY debits the key's Payphone account.
MCP OAuth Login debits the logged-in Payphone account — may differ from your API key account if you use both.

Use one account for production, or track both explicitly.