For two decades, we’ve built applications on the internet the hard way, taking our apps to the network. You build something cool, then schlep it to a cloud provider, configure security, set up infrastructure, pray nothing breaks, and hope you didn’t miss a vulnerability or obscure setting. It’s like moving your entire house closer to the post office instead of just getting mail delivery.
Datum MCP flips this model on its head and brings the network to your application, right where Cursor and Claude are already helping you build it.
A Brief History of “Please Come to the Network”
Let’s rewind. In the telecom world, connectivity between two points usually means physical wires dug into the ground or cross connects between routers in a datacenter: literally plugging one network port into another. Powerful, but expensive and slow.
The dot com era brought Ethernet over MPLS, which was… still expensive and slow (and actually pretty complicated to maintain). Although this new Internet Age offered a cheaper, faster alternative vs dragging all users and networks back to your corporate office, you still had to get your app onto the internet, which required:
- Hosting providers (to host your servers)
- Cloud providers (to scale those servers)
- Platform-as-a-Service, Database-as-a-Service, and every-other-thing-as-a-Service to make it run
Fast forward to 2025 and we’re swimming in clouds: hyperscalers, alt-clouds, neo-clouds - you name it! Trying to orchestrate them all while building apps with the latest AI assisted IDE’s like Cursor can be a bit of a mess. How do you connect everything without becoming a networking expert or selling a kidney to pay for infrastructure and tokens?
Datum MCP isn’t the answer to all your problems, but we have a hunch it will change the way you build and ship by bringing more of the internet to your app, instead of always forcing your app to go to the internet.
Cursor as Conductor, Datum as the Orchestra
The Model Context Protocol is exploding in popularity, letting AI agents access data, SaaS apps, and tools directly from the prompt window. Datum MCP plugs into this ecosystem, working alongside your other MCP tools, such as Vercel for app deployment, Supabase for databases, Grafana for observability etc.
Here’s the magic: Datum MCP helps you tap into internet superpowers like DNS, domain management, an Envoy-based global proxy and built-in WAF protection right from that Cursor window. No separate portals. No context switching. Just prompts.
What’s in the Box
Here’s what our initial release of Datum MCP can do:
- Domains & DNS - Access your domain inventory and configure authoritative DNS zones without leaving Cursor.
- Global Front Door - Use Datum’s global Anycast edge to interact with users globally, while keeping your local environment safe. Your app stays on your Mac, Windows, or Linux machine; the internet comes to you.
- Security & Protection - Configure Datum’s 1-Click WAF to implement industry standard OWASP protection rules, get real-time threat intelligence, and protect against DDoS—all from the same chat window where you’re building your app.
- Authentication & Authorization - OAUTH2.1 flows for Datum tool calling (for example rate-limiting to origin/upstream application server) configured conversationally with Claude.
- Observability - OpenTelemetry (OTel) exported directly to Grafana Cloud and configurable with Grafana MCP. Understand where traffic comes from and how users behave, then adapt accordingly.
From Prompt to Production?
Let’s paint a picture. You’re iterating fast in Cursor. Your app is running locally. Traditionally, testing with friends means deploying somewhere, configuring DNS, setting up SSL certificates… ugh.
With Datum MCP, it’s different: “Cursor, give my app a public URL with basic auth for testing.” Done. Your app stays local; the network finds it.
Maybe you’re ready to let some beta users or colleagues in? “Cursor, add rate limiting and restrict access to this list of email addresses.” Your local development environment now has enterprise-grade access control.
Time to go further: “Cursor, remove access restrictions, enable standard WAF rules, and be sure to send telemetry to my Grafana Cloud account.” You’re globally distributed and protected, all while your app still runs on your laptop,
The secret? Nobody on the internet knows where your app actually lives. They knock on Datum’s front door; Datum proxies traffic securely to your local machine or cloud environment.
Why This Matters
The cross connect has evolved. It’s no longer about physically plugging cables in a datacenter. It’s about Cursor or Cursor understanding your goals via natural language and open, programmable platforms like Datum making it happen: securely, globally, instantly.
While there is still plenty of work to do and problems to solve, we think this is a real unlock for builders, helping them orchestrate the internet without leaving their laptops.
The network comes to you, finally! No networking team required.