Cutline MCP — Engineering Guardrails for Vibecoding

Security, reliability, and scalability constraints for your coding agent. Free code audits, 9 compliance frameworks, pre-mortem analysis, and a Red-Green-Refactor workflow — all injected directly into Cursor, Claude, Windsurf, or any MCP client.

Install

npm (Recommended)

npm install -g @kylewadegrove/cutline-mcp-cli@latest

Docker

docker run -i ghcr.io/kylewadegrove/cutline-mcp serve constraints

Claude Desktop (.mcpb)

Download cutline-mcp.mcpb from the latest release and double-click to install.

Quick Start

# 1. Authenticate (email only, no password)
cutline-mcp login

# 2. Initialize your project (writes IDE rules)
cd /path/to/your/project
cutline-mcp init

# 3. Connect MCP servers to your IDE
cutline-mcp setup

Then ask your AI agent: "Run a code audit on this codebase"

What It Does

| Capability | Free | Premium | |---|---|---| | Code Audit — security, reliability, scalability scan | 3/month | Unlimited | | 9 Compliance Frameworks — SOC 2, PCI-DSS, HIPAA, GDPR, OWASP LLM, FedRAMP, GLBA, FERPA/COPPA | Auto-loaded | Auto-loaded | | Engineering Audit — deep product-linked scan + RGR remediation plan | — | Unlimited | | Pre-Mortem Analysis — risks, assumptions, competitive threats | — | Unlimited | | Constraint Graph — product-specific NFR routing | — | Full access | | AI Personas — stakeholder feedback on features | — | Full access | | Idea Validation — fast-track from free web validation | — | Included |

54 MCP Tools

Free Tier

| Tool | Description | |---|---| | code_audit | Security, reliability, and scalability scan (3/month) | | exploration_start | Start a guided product idea exploration | | exploration_chat | Continue an exploration conversation | | exploration_graduate | Graduate top idea (teaser for free, full for premium) | | llm_status | Check AI/LLM provider health | | perf_status | Check MCP server performance metrics |

Premium Tier (50+ tools)

Pre-Mortem & Deep Dive: premortem_run, premortem_from_idea, premortem_queue, premortem_status, premortem_kick, premortem_list, premortem_render_pdf, premortem_qa, premortem_regen_assumptions, premortem_regen_experiments

Personas: personas_list, personas_get, personas_chat

Constraint Graph: constraints_query, constraints_auto, constraints_ingest, constraints_list, constraints_learn, constraints_embed, constraints_semantic_query, constraints_ingest_persona, constraints_ingest_wiki, constraints_ingest_doc, constraints_heal

Graph Operations: graph_ingest_requirements, graph_get_boundaries, graph_bind_codebase, graph_bind_confirm, graph_view, graph_conflicts, graph_metrics

Code & RGR: engineering_audit, rgr_plan, rgr_complete_phase, export_readiness_badge

Wiki & Integrations: wiki_load, wiki_save, wiki_apply_edits, agent_chat, integrations_create_issues

Templates: template_list, template_get, template_create, template_discover

Config: generate_cutline_md

Commands

login

Authenticate with Cutline. Opens your browser for a quick email-only signup (no password needed). Stores credentials in your system keychain.

cutline-mcp login
cutline-mcp login --staging   # Use staging environment
cutline-mcp login --signup    # Full sign-up page (email + password)

init

Generate IDE-specific config files for your project. Adapts to your tier:

cutline-mcp init
cutline-mcp init --project-root /path/to/project

Free tier writes:

• .cursor/rules/rgr-workflow.mdc — RGR cycle with code_audit
• .cursor/rules/ambient-constraints.mdc — Constraint checking guidance
• CLAUDE.local.md — Same instructions for Claude Code

Premium tier adds:

• .cursor/rules/cutline.mdc — Points agent to .cutline.md

All files are gitignored automatically.

setup

Print the MCP server configuration to add to your IDE.

cutline-mcp setup

serve <server>

Start an MCP server (used by IDE MCP configs).

cutline-mcp serve constraints    # Main server (engineering audit, constraints, graph)
cutline-mcp serve premortem      # Pre-mortem and deep dive
cutline-mcp serve exploration    # Idea exploration
cutline-mcp serve tools          # Utility tools
cutline-mcp serve output         # Export and rendering
cutline-mcp serve integrations   # External integrations

upgrade

Open the upgrade page and refresh your session.

cutline-mcp upgrade

status / logout

cutline-mcp status    # Check auth and subscription
cutline-mcp logout    # Remove stored credentials

How It Works

Authentication

1. cutline-mcp login
2. CLI starts local callback server on localhost:8765
3. Browser opens — enter email, receive magic link, click it
4. CLI receives token and stores it in your OS keychain

Existing users who are already signed in complete automatically. Password sign-in is also available.

RGR Workflow

The init command creates rules that make your AI coding agent follow the Red-Green-Refactor cycle automatically:

1. Plan — Check constraints before implementing
2. Implement — Write code addressing the constraints
3. Verify — Run a code audit to check coverage
4. Complete — Mark the phase done to update readiness scores

Compliance Frameworks

Cutline auto-detects your stack and loads the appropriate compliance constraints:

| Framework | Triggers | |---|---| | SOC 2 | Always loaded | | Security Baseline | Always loaded | | PCI-DSS | Stripe, payment libs | | HIPAA | Health/FHIR/HL7 libs | | GDPR / CCPA | Analytics, auth libs | | OWASP LLM Top 10 | OpenAI, LangChain, RAG | | FedRAMP | GovCloud, FIPS | | GLBA | Plaid, banking SDKs | | FERPA / COPPA | Clever, Canvas, EdTech |

Registry Listings

Official MCP Registry

# Verify namespace
mcp-publisher login dns --domain thecutline.ai

# Publish
mcp-publisher publish

Config: server.json

Smithery

Config: smithery.yaml with Dockerfile

Claude Desktop Extension

npm run build:mcpb
# → cutline-mcp.mcpb (drag into Claude Desktop)

Config: mcpb/manifest.json

Troubleshooting

Port 8765 in use

lsof -i :8765
kill -9 <PID>

Authentication timeout

The browser didn't complete within 10 minutes. Run cutline-mcp login again.

Failed to refresh token

cutline-mcp logout
cutline-mcp login

Keychain Access Denied (macOS)

1. Open Keychain Access
2. Find "cutline-mcp" entry
3. Right-click → Get Info → Access Control
4. Add your Terminal/IDE to allowed applications