So far in this course, you have created and tested an agent in the Aura Console.
In this lesson, you will learn how to publish your agent and make it available to external applications.
Internal and external access
When you create an agent, it starts in Internal mode. Only members of your Aura project can use it, and only through the Aura Console preview panel. There is no public endpoint and no additional charges.
Switching to External exposes the agent’s HTTP API so that applications outside your Aura project can call it.
External agents incur usage-based charges. See the Aura Agent documentation for pricing.
Enabling MCP
Switching to External also reveals the Enable MCP server toggle.
Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open protocol for connecting AI applications to external tools and data sources. In MCP, a host is an AI application such as Cursor or Claude Desktop, and a server exposes tools the host can discover and call.
Enabling the toggle starts an MCP server that wraps your agent as a callable tool, so host applications can connect and invoke it without any custom integration code.
Both External access and the MCP toggle must be on for MCP clients; the HTTP API works with the External toggle alone.
Check your understanding
Internal vs External Access
You want to query your graph from Cursor or another MCP host using your Aura Agent. What do you need?
Select the correct answer.
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❏ Keep the agent on Internal access. Cursor can use the Console preview
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✓ Set the agent to External access and enable the MCP server
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❏ Create a separate API key. Access mode does not matter
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❏ Grant your teammate Project Member role so they can use the agent
Hint
The lesson defines two access modes: Internal (only Aura Console preview, no public endpoint) and External (REST API and MCP server for host applications). What do you need for Cursor?
Solution
Set the agent to External access and enable the MCP server.
Internal agents are only reachable from the Aura Console preview panel. To connect from Cursor or Claude Desktop, the agent must be External and the MCP server must be enabled. API keys and project roles do not replace that. Project Member can use the agent from the Console but does not enable external endpoints.
Summary
You learned how agents move from Internal to External access, and what enabling the MCP server makes possible.
In the next lesson, you will enable external access for your agent and connect it to Cursor.