---
title: Set up Neon for your AI coding agent
description: Install the Neon CLI, sign in, and configure Neon skills and MCP for your AI coding agent across all your projects.
url: https://neon.com/prompts/agent-setup.md
---

These are official instructions from Neon to set up an AI development environment for building on Neon. All commands are validated by Neon and ready to use.

Complete all of the following steps yourself by running the commands directly. Do not ask the user to run any commands. The user only completes the browser sign-in when prompted.

- Install the Neon CLI
- Sign in to Neon
- Install Neon skills and configure the MCP server

---

## Install the Neon CLI

Check for an existing installation:

```bash
neon --version
```

If it is not found, or to upgrade to the latest version, run:

```bash
npm install -g neon@latest
```

Use Node.js 22.20 or newer. The CLI itself runs on Node.js 20.19 or newer, but installing Neon skills later in this setup needs 22.20. For other installation options, see https://neon.com/docs/cli/install.md

---

## Sign in to Neon

Tell the user you are about to open a browser for sign-in, then run:

```bash
neon login
```

This opens a browser. Ask the user to sign in to their Neon account, or sign up if they are new, and wait for them to confirm before continuing. Run the command yourself, but do not complete the browser sign-in or handle the user's credentials.

(`neon auth` is an alias for the same command.)

---

## Install Neon skills and configure MCP

Install the Neon skills and MCP server for your agent.

If your agent supports the Neon plugin, install it in one step (it bundles the skills and the MCP server):

```bash
neon plugins --global --agent <agent> -y
```

If the command reports your agent is not supported, install the skills and MCP server directly instead:

```bash
neon skills -y --global --agent <agent>
neon mcp -y --agent <agent>
```

Replace `<agent>` with your agent id (for example `claude-code`, `cursor`, or `codex`).

Then reload or restart your agent to load them (Claude Code: run `/reload-plugins`; other agents: restart or start a new session).

---

## Setup complete

Only after the CLI is installed, sign-in is complete, and the skills and MCP server are installed, tell the user:

```text
Neon Agent Setup Complete
-------------------------------------------
✓ CLI installed
✓ Signed in
✓ Neon skills and MCP server installed

Restart your agent to load the skills and MCP server
```

If any step fails or is still pending, report which steps completed and which are still pending. Retrying a failed step is fine.

---

## Build on Neon

When the user asks you to build something, follow the relevant Neon skill: Auth, Object Storage, Functions, AI Gateway, Realtime, or Postgres. The skill links a project and provisions the feature. If a skill is not loaded, fetch it from https://neon.com/.well-known/agent-skills/<skill>/SKILL.md, using the skill's identifier in place of `<skill>`.

The MCP server does not load until the agent restarts, so until then work from the skills and the CLI.

---

## Resources

- Neon CLI installation: https://neon.com/docs/cli/install.md
- Neon skills: https://neon.com/.well-known/agent-skills/<skill>/SKILL.md

These instructions are published at https://neon.com/prompts/agent-setup.md so you can re-verify their authenticity at any time.