Connect Contextick to Windsurf

Windsurf reads MCP servers from a JSON config file. You'll create a Contextick API key, paste it into that file along with the Contextick endpoint, and you're done.

What you'll need

• Windsurf, on any plan — the free plan works. On Enterprise, MCP has to be turned on in settings first.
• A Contextick API key. Create one at your account page under MCP connection → API keys → Create API key.

Two things about the key. It's shown once, right after you create it — copy it then, because you can't view it again. And the name you give the key becomes the origin recorded on everything saved through it, so calling this one "Windsurf" means you can later tell what you saved in Windsurf from what you saved elsewhere.

Steps

1. Create an API key at your account page and copy it.
2. Open ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json. You can get there from the MCPs icon in Cascade's top-right menu, or through Settings → Cascade → MCP servers. Create the file if it doesn't exist.
3. Add Contextick:

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "contextick": {
         "serverUrl": "https://contextick.ai/mcp",
         "headers": {
           "Authorization": "Bearer ${env:CONTEXTICK_API_KEY}"
         }
       }
     }
   }

   Note that Windsurf calls the endpoint field serverUrl, not url — if you're copying a snippet from another tool's docs, that's the field that will bite you.

   Windsurf expands ${env:CONTEXTICK_API_KEY} from your environment, which keeps the key out of the file. If you'd rather not set an environment variable, paste the key directly in place of ${env:CONTEXTICK_API_KEY}.

4. Save the file and refresh the MCP server list in Cascade (or restart Windsurf). Contextick should appear as connected.

Check it worked

Test it in two parts, and make the second part a new conversation. If you ask in the same one, Cascade can answer from what you just said without ever calling Contextick — so a broken connection would still look like it worked.

1. Save something you'd actually want back. At the end of a session where you worked out a rule, say: "Save the deploy rules we just agreed on to Contextick."
2. Start a new conversation and ask: "What are our deploy rules?"

If it comes back in the new conversation, you're connected — and you've just seen the point of it: you didn't have to explain the rules again. That note is also available in Claude, ChatGPT, or any other AI you connect to Contextick.

If it doesn't show up

• Contextick isn't listed. Refresh the MCP server list in Cascade, then restart Windsurf. Check the JSON is valid.
• You used url instead of serverUrl. Windsurf documents serverUrl for remote servers. Use that.
• It's listed but every call fails. That's almost always the key. If you used ${env:CONTEXTICK_API_KEY}, make sure the variable is set in the environment Windsurf was launched from.
• You're on Enterprise and see no MCP option. An admin has to enable MCP in settings.
• You lost the key. Keys are shown once. Create a new one and delete the old one from your account page.

Official docs

Windsurf's own MCP guide: MCP in Cascade. (Windsurf's docs now live on the Devin documentation site.)