Why does Context7 MCP keep turning red in Cursor after a minute?
In September 2025, the Context7 MCP server in Cursor turns green for a minute and then flips to red. I tried two JSON configurations: one with "type": "http" pointing to https://mcp.context7.com/mcp/ (opens external site) plus Authorization and CONTEXT7_API_KEY headers, and another under mcpServers with just the URL and CONTEXT7_API_KEY header. Manually toggling the server restores green only briefly. Is this a real connection failure or a known bug with a workaround?
Originally asked on GitHub: https://github.com/upstash/context7/issues/686
4 answers
Status: explained. A Context7 maintainer confirmed this is a known Cursor UI bug, said they were actively working with the Cursor team to fix it, and stated the server is still usable while the icon is red. The issue is closed, but no fixed Cursor or Context7 version was mentioned in the thread.
The workaround reported by multiple users is to manually disable and re-enable the Context7 server in Cursor. That temporarily makes the icon green, though in the original report it went red again after 1-2 minutes.
Both configurations from the issue were tried and produced the same green-to-red behavior:
- Config with "type": "http", url https://mcp.context7.com/mcp/ (opens external site), and headers including Authorization Bearer and CONTEXT7_API_KEY.
- Config with mcpServers containing context7, url https://mcp.context7.com/mcp (opens external site), and headers containing CONTEXT7_API_KEY.
The red icon is not purely cosmetic for everyone: one user reported that tool calls returned errors and no data while it was red, and another user could not connect from an MCP client outside Cursor and got a timeout.
A "Total Cost" field shown in Cursor was also called a bug by the maintainer; it should only appear for enterprise customers, and Context7 is free for developers. If you see that field, it is not a usage charge.
Did this work for you?What a GitHub user tried on GitHub (Didn't work)
Tried both JSON configurations: one with "type": "http" at https://mcp.context7.com/mcp/ (opens external site) and Authorization plus CONTEXT7_API_KEY headers, and one under mcpServers with url https://mcp.context7.com/mcp (opens external site) and a CONTEXT7_API_KEY header. The icon still flipped to red after 1-2 minutes with both configs.
Source: https://github.com/upstash/context7/issues/686 (opens external site)
Did this work for you?What @changjingli tried on GitHub (Partly worked)
Manually toggled the Context7 switch off and on in Cursor. This temporarily fixed the red icon, but the issue was expected to return until an official fix arrived.
Source: https://github.com/upstash/context7/issues/686#issuecomment-3288047623 (opens external site)
Did this work for you?What @agn-7 tried on GitHub (Didn't work)
Tried connecting to Context7 from an MCP client outside Cursor; the connection raised a timeout and could not connect.
Source: https://github.com/upstash/context7/issues/686#issuecomment-3310807395 (opens external site)
Did this work for you?
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