Add Onboard to your SaaS with Cursor

Cursor can absolutely help you build a first-run checklist.

That is not the hard part.

The hard part is everything that starts after the first successful demo:

  • host-asserted identity (opaque stable user.id and workspaceKey)
  • mixed user/workspace progress and 409 stale generations
  • facts that reconcile without double-firing completion
  • BYO adapter vs Hosted storage
  • draft/publish flow config and restore
  • authorToken from your BFF for live Hosted
  • Hosted webhooks without leaking host context
  • live entitlements (BYO $9.99 / Hosted $19.99)

If you are using Cursor to ship a SaaS quickly, Bootstrapware Onboard is for the moment you realize:

"Yes, Cursor can build this. No, I do not want to maintain this subsystem forever."

The right use of Cursor here

Use Cursor for what it is excellent at:

  • integrating a package
  • wiring UI into your app
  • connecting a BYO adapter to your API
  • adapting styling
  • generating surrounding glue code
  • creating/publishing flow config via MCP (no host context)

Do not use your precious hours re-deriving a DAP from scratch unless onboarding analytics is genuinely core to what you sell. See build vs buy.

Recommended MCP setup

  1. Open Onboard → Keys and use Add to Cursor (OAuth).
  2. Sign in at app.bootstrapware.co and allow workspace access.
  3. Point Cursor at AGENTS.md rules and ask it to embed @bootstrapware/onboard.

OAuth URL-only mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bootstrapware-onboard": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://onboard.bootstrapware.co/mcp"
    }
  }
}

MCP tools configure flows only (list_flows, create_flow, update_draft, publish_flow, get_install_snippet, list_revisions, restore_revision, …). Never put host context or flags into MCP. Key mint/revoke, webhooks, Hosted export, and billing stay dashboard-only. If env has no publishable key, the agent must stop and ask you to mint one.

A practical Cursor prompt

Install and integrate Bootstrapware Onboard into this Next.js app.

Requirements:
- Add a setup page at /dashboard/setup
- Render the Onboard component
- Import @bootstrapware/onboard/styles.css
- Pass user from our session (opaque id + name). Never invent user.id
- Pass workspaceKey from our workspace id
- Use flowId + publishable key from env (Hosted) OR an OnboardAdapter to our API (BYO)
- For live Hosted, mint authorToken in a Route Handler; never in the browser
- Do not expose secret keys in the browser
- Never send host context or flags through MCP
- If no publishable key is in env, stop and ask me to mint one
- Call completeStep from host actions; pass facts for reconciliation
- Keep the implementation modular

That is a much better use of a coding agent than "Build me Userflow," because it narrows the agent's job to integration rather than reinvention.

For a reusable blank, see Agent prompt template or Give this to your coding agent.

Why this fits the Cursor workflow

Cursor users are often shipping on a short loop: idea → prompt → feature → ship.

That creates an obvious temptation to let the agent build everything.

Bootstrapware fits when you want to keep the velocity without adopting ownership of every annoying subsystem the agent can theoretically produce.

Use Cursor to wire the thing in.

Do not use Cursor to volunteer yourself as the lifetime maintainer of first-run onboarding unless you mean to.

Related: Onboard · Agents · Next.js · AI coding agents · Agent prompt template