Name: MCP Media Player
Author: danielsims

LABSCO SUMMARY

The Cursor rules are the feature, not the two tools.

Play and pause over Home Assistant is a few lines of code. What makes this worth installing is the automation around it — the agent's working state drives the playback, so the break starts and ends on its own instead of on your self-control. It controls one entity, named in the config, so this is a single-screen setup rather than a whole-house remote.

What it is

An MCP server that connects a Home Assistant media player — a TV, a projector, a speaker — to the Cursor coding environment. It exposes play and pause, and ships Cursor rules that call them at the right moments, so playback starts when the agent begins working and stops when it finishes.

What you get

Play and pause controls for one configured media player entity, exposed as MCP tools
Integration with Home Assistant's media player API, so it works with whatever device Home Assistant already controls
Cursor rules in the repository that automate the calls: a system prompt rule that plays while the agent is working and pauses when it is done, rather than you remembering to

Requirements

A running Home Assistant instance and a long-lived access token from it. Three variables: HA_URL for the instance, HA_TOKEN for the token, and ENTITY_ID naming the one media player it controls. Node.js 18 or higher, for native fetch and ES modules. There is no published package: clone, npm install, copy mcp.json.example into your MCP config with real values, and let the client launch it. The Home Assistant token grants what your account can do, so serve the instance over HTTPS before handing it out.

Setup effort

Build from source — git clone https://github.com/danielsims/mcp-media-player.git

See installation options

USE CASES

01

Watching something only while the agent works

Install the Cursor rules so playback starts with the task and pauses the moment it needs you again.

02

Pausing without reaching for a remote

Ask the assistant to pause the player, which is faster than finding the remote when a call comes in.

03

Driving whatever device Home Assistant already knows

Point the entity ID at the TV, the projector or a speaker — the server does not care which, because Home Assistant handles the device.

BEFORE YOU INSTALL

What to know first

Requires

Node.js 18 or later
HA_TOKEN in your environment

INSTALLATION

Connect your client

You clone this one yourself.

Server setup

TERMINAL

git clone https://github.com/danielsims/mcp-media-player.git
cd mcp-media-player
npm install

To have Cursor play and pause automatically while the agent works, copy the rules in cursor-rules.example into your Cursor rules.

MCP Clients

Cursor

CURSOR · JSON

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "MediaPlayer": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": [
        "<YOUR_PATH_TO_MCP_MEDIA_PLAYER>/media-player-mcp.js"
      ],
      "env": {
        "HA_URL": "http://<YOUR_HA_URL>:8123",
        "HA_TOKEN": "<YOUR_HA_TOKEN>",
        "ENTITY_ID": "<YOUR_ENTITY_ID>"
      }
    }
  }
}

MCP Media Player