How do I connect VS Code, Cursor or Gemini CLI to the NIS2 walkthrough over MCP?
Any client that talks to an MCP server over Streamable HTTP and either signs in through the browser with automatic registration or sends a key in a header can read and fill in the walkthrough. The steps for VS Code, Cursor and Gemini CLI follow the vendors' guides as of 16.10.2026. We have tested none of them ourselves.
What does a client need for the MCP server?
MCP (Model Context Protocol) is the protocol an AI assistant uses to talk to other software. The client has to reach the MCP server over the network, using Streamable HTTP, at https://nisd2.eu/api/mcp or your own instance's address.
It can sign in two ways. Through the browser under OAuth 2.1 with automatic registration (Dynamic Client Registration), or with a key from Settings, which it sends in the Authorization header as Bearer.
The walkthrough's sign-in service offers no other way, such as published client documents (Client ID Metadata Documents) or fixed client credentials. So far we have tested Claude Code.
According to OpenAI, ChatGPT cannot present custom API keys, so only the browser sign-in can work there. Our own article on ChatGPT explains the setup.
How do I connect VS Code with GitHub Copilot?
In VS Code you add the server to the file mcp.json, with the type http and the address. Microsoft advises against hardcoding API keys there and points to input variables or environment files instead.
VS Code runs on your computer, so it also reaches an instance inside the company network. For some servers it shows a dialog on first start, where you decide whether to trust it.
How do I connect Cursor?
Cursor speaks Streamable HTTP. For OAuth sign-in, its guide names fixed client credentials as the exception for servers without automatic registration.
The walkthrough offers automatic registration, so the browser sign-in should work. We have not tested it.
Alternatively Cursor sends headers from its mcp.json, so it can send the key too, reading the value from an environment variable. According to Cursor, it asks for approval by default before using an MCP server's tools.
How do I connect Gemini CLI?
Gemini CLI signs in through the browser as soon as the server asks for it. With /mcp auth nisd2 you start the sign-in yourself.
With a key, add the server as below. The option -s user stores it in your user settings (~/.gemini/settings.json); without it, according to Google, it lands in .gemini/settings.json in the project, key included.
Do not set trust to true for this server. According to Google, that makes Gemini CLI skip every confirmation before a tool call, including before filling in.
gemini mcp add -s user --transport http --header "Authorization: Bearer $NISD2_MCP_KEY" nisd2 https://nisd2.eu/api/mcpHow do I judge an assistant?
Does it ask before it changes data? The tool that fills in is marked as one that changes data, and a client that asks before such calls asks here. The MCP specification recommends that a person can deny any tool call.
Does it run on your computer or in the vendor's cloud? VS Code, Cursor, Gemini CLI and Claude Code run on the computer and also reach an instance inside the company network. According to their vendors, ChatGPT and Claude on the web need an instance reachable from the internet, or a tunnel; for Copilot Studio we assume the same.
Where does the data go? What the assistant reads goes to the vendor of its model, even when the program runs on your computer, under your company's agreement with that vendor. If both the program and the model run on your own hardware, the walkthrough data stays in your network.
How the walkthrough does it
Whichever assistant you use, item 2.2 is a good first task.
2.2 "Write down what your company has" has four lists to tick: what your company does every day, software for customers, staff and money, software everyone uses, and technology and rooms.
Then the item asks which software and which technology exactly, and from whom. A provider the assistant names there then appears on your supplier list in 5.1.
Give the assistant an inventory list and ask it to leave open whatever the list does not show. The server gives every assistant the same instruction.
Every screen an assistant wrote shows its name and the day. You finish the item in the app.
Common questions
Are there European AI assistants with MCP?
Mistral Le Chat and Langdock describe their own connections to MCP servers in their documentation. We have checked neither the details nor a connection to the walkthrough. Judge whether they fit with the questions above.
My client cannot find the sign-in. What now?
Without a key the server answers 401 and points to its description at /.well-known/oauth-protected-resource/api/mcp. From there a client finds the sign-in service and the automatic registration. If your client cannot do that, use the key.
How do we connect our own script or agent?
With the key: it lasts 90 days, in one company, and is sent in the Authorization header as Bearer. The tools get_walkthrough, fill_walkthrough_item and upload_file describe their own inputs as JSON Schema.
Can an assistant delete anything over MCP?
No tool deletes a supplier, an asset or a training, finishes an item or signs. It can replace, though: an answer with a new one, a row with a corrected one, and in 9.1 the crypto list as a whole, where a method it leaves out drops off the list. It cannot empty a field; a person removes a wrong row in the app.
Read next
- Connecting ChatGPT to the NIS2 walkthroughAs a custom MCP server with a browser sign-in, since ChatGPT takes no pasted key. What has to be reachable for it.
- Connecting MCP with OAuth or an API key?Browser sign-in or key: when to use which, how long tokens and keys last, and what ends a connection.
- Claude Code: adding the NIS2 walkthrough as an MCP serverOne command, one browser sign-in, and Claude Code reads and fills your walkthrough. With a key for scripts and a first task for 5.1.
- Connecting Copilot Studio to the NIS2 walkthrough over MCPAdd the walkthrough as a tool of an agent, with OAuth 2.0 and Dynamic discovery. Why OAuth rather than an API key, and what the agent may do then.
Sources
- OpenAI, Authentication and Connect from ChatGPT, developers.openai.com/plugins
- Microsoft, MCP servers in VS Code, code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/customization/mcp-servers
- Cursor, Model Context Protocol, cursor.com/docs/context/mcp
- Google, Gemini CLI, docs/tools/mcp-server.md, github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli
- MCP specification 2026-07-28, Tools and Authorization, modelcontextprotocol.io
- open-isms, lib/mcp/server.ts, lib/mcp/screens.ts and app/.well-known, github.com/NISD2/open-isms
In practice
Where this comes up in the walkthrough
The walkthrough turns this into steps you fill in, with the law explained beside each one. Open a step to see its screen, filled in for a made-up company.
Risk Management
Write down what your company has
A list of the processes, software and devices you work with.
What the walkthrough costs
€4,800 net a year, plus VAT
30 days money backBy invoice, due in 30 days. Cancel within the first 30 days, before the first export or sign-off: invoice cancelled or money back.
Guided NIS 2 implementation, step by step
A history of changes and sign-offs to show your regulator
Deadlines and reminders for each requirement
Security questionnaire for your suppliers
Export to PDF or CSV at any time
Been asked to handle NIS2?
In the end you have everything in one document: what is done, what is still open, and your management's approval with name and date. The app writes the texts.
