Protocol Studio

Design health and biology protocols for Hurdle's managed runtime. Visual editing, AI assistance, and deploy-ready output.

Getting Started

Install from the VS Code Marketplace or search "Protocol Studio" in the Extensions sidebar
Open the Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P) > Protocol Studio: Initialize Project
Restart Cursor/VS Code when prompted

The extension creates a workflows/ directory and configures the MCP connection automatically.

Configuration

Open Settings (Cmd+,) and search "Protocol Studio" to configure:

Setting	Description	Required
Partner API Key	Enables node catalog and order validation. Get one from the Hurdle dashboard (Settings > Developer > API Keys).	Recommended
Internal API Key	Admin API key for questionnaire and admin endpoints (used at build time).	Recommended
Environment	`production` (default) or `staging`	No

The extension writes these into .cursor/mcp.json automatically when you initialize a project.

Workflow Lifecycle

Create — Command Palette > Protocol Studio: New Protocol — choose a type, creates intent files
Document — Write clinical intent markdown in workflows/in_progress/<slug>/current/
Configure — Add node config files in workflows/in_progress/<slug>/config/
Build — Command Palette > Protocol Studio: Build — compiles to compiled/<slug>.workflow.json
Preview — Click the eye icon in the editor title bar on any .workflow.json file
Validate — Cmd+Shift+V on a .workflow.json file, or Command Palette > Validate Protocol
Pre-publish check — Command Palette > Protocol Studio: Lifecycle: Pre-Publish Check — runs 5 validation gates
Publish — Command Palette > Protocol Studio: Lifecycle: Publish — creates an immutable versioned release

MCP Tools

Protocol Studio includes an MCP server that gives your AI assistant (Cursor, Claude Desktop) 26 tools for workflow authoring:

Category	Tools
Discovery	`list_workflows`, `get_workflow`, `get_node_catalog`, `get_product_catalog`
Creation	`create_workflow`
Building	`build_workflow`, `validate_workflow`, `extract_workflow_config`, `validate_workflow_config`, `analyze_intent_structure`, `smart_extract_configs`, `validate_spec`
Lifecycle	`check_workflow_drift`, `acknowledge_drift`, `sync_to_source`, `pre_publish_check`, `publish_workflow`, `list_published_versions`
Platform	`publish_to_platform`, `list_platform_workflows`, `get_platform_workflow`, `update_workflow_status`
Auth	`get_auth_status`, `request_auth`, `sign_out`
Setup	`setup_cursor_agents`

Manual MCP Setup

The extension configures MCP automatically on initialization using a local stdio server. If you need to set it up manually, add this to your MCP config (.cursor/mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "protocol-studio": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["<path-to-extension>/mcp/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "WORKFLOW_WORKSPACE": ".",
        "WORKFLOW_ENV": "production",
        "PARTNER_API_KEY": "<your-key-from-hurdle-dashboard>",
        "INTERNAL_API_KEY": "<your-internal-api-key>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace <path-to-extension> with the installed extension path (shown in the extension details page).

Remote MCP (advanced)

For clients that can't run the local server (e.g., Claude Desktop without Node.js, CI pipelines), use the hosted remote server via Portkey:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "protocol-studio": {
      "url": "https://mcp.portkey.ai/protocol-studio/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "x-portkey-api-key": "1qYbjlGZu8WVlNE/ThUULYAAu8Y+",
        "X-Partner-Api-Key": "<your-key-from-hurdle-dashboard>",
        "X-Internal-Api-Key": "<your-internal-api-key>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Note: The remote server cannot access your local filesystem — tools like list_workflows, build_workflow, and auth will not work. Use the local server for full functionality.

For Claude Desktop on macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

License

MIT

Built by Hurdle | Docs