@lostgradient/cinder-mcp

A Model Context Protocol server exposing Cinder component discovery, comparison, and best-practice guidance to MCP clients — Claude Code, Codex, GitHub Copilot, and any other MCP-compatible agent.

It is read-only: every tool, resource, and prompt below reads Cinder's generated component manifest and metadata. Nothing it exposes writes to your project.

Install

npm install --save-dev @lostgradient/cinder-mcp

Installing this package pulls in @lostgradient/cinder, the @modelcontextprotocol/sdk, and zod as regular dependencies — nothing else to install, and installing @lostgradient/cinder on its own never pulls in the MCP SDK or zod.

Requirements

• Node.js >= 18. The published cinder-mcp binary is Node-only — no Bun installation is required to run it.

Launch

Every client below should invoke the installed binary the same way:

npx --no-install cinder-mcp

--no-install resolves the binary already installed in your project's node_modules/.bin — it never reaches out to the npm registry at invocation time.

Client configuration

Verified against each client's current documentation as of this package's initial release. If a client changes its schema, prefer that client's own docs over this file.

Claude Code — .mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cinder": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["--no-install", "cinder-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Source: Claude Code MCP docs. A server entry with no url is read as stdio automatically — no "type" field is needed.

Codex — .codex/config.toml

[mcp_servers.cinder]
command = "npx"
args = ["--no-install", "cinder-mcp"]
default_tools_approval_mode = "auto"

Source: Codex configuration reference. default_tools_approval_mode is optional — omit it to use Codex's interactive default.

GitHub Copilot (repository / coding agent) — .github/workflows MCP configuration

The GitHub Copilot coding agent's repository-level MCP schema requires an explicit type and a tools allow-list:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cinder": {
      "type": "local",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["--no-install", "cinder-mcp"],
      "tools": ["*"]
    }
  }
}

Source: Configure MCP servers for Copilot coding agent. "tools": ["*"] allows every tool this server exposes; list individual tool names (search_components, get_component, compare_components, get_best_practices) to narrow the allow-list.

VS Code Copilot — .vscode/mcp.json

VS Code's schema uses servers, not mcpServers, and does not require a type field for a stdio server:

{
  "servers": {
    "cinder": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["--no-install", "cinder-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Source: Use MCP servers in VS Code.

What it exposes

Tools

• search_components — search Cinder components by purpose, id, tag, category, guidance, or overlap family.
• get_component — manifest guidance plus schema, variables, examples, and constraints for one component.
• compare_components — compare two or more components using manifest useWhen/avoidWhen/overlap guidance.
• get_best_practices — Cinder import, style, metadata, and overlap decision guidance.

Resources

• cinder://manifest — the full generated Cinder component manifest.
• cinder://component/{id} — manifest guidance and generated artifacts for one component.
• cinder://component/{id}/schema, /variables, /examples, /constraints — the generated artifact for one component.

Prompts

• choose_cinder_component — guide an agent to choose an appropriate Cinder component before writing UI.
• review_cinder_usage — review code for Cinder import, style, metadata, and component-choice best practices.

Non-goals

This package deliberately does not add HTTP/SSE/authenticated transports, write-capable tools, or Chat/Editor discovery. See the package boundaries decision for the full rationale behind the @lostgradient/cinder / @lostgradient/cinder-mcp split.