TidyPorts MCP server

Exposes the tidy-ports CLI as structured tools over the Model Context Protocol, so any MCP client (Claude Code, Cursor, Claude Desktop, Windsurf, Zed) can see and kill local dev servers natively, not just Claude Code.

Where the Claude Code skill advises the model how to shell out, this server gives it typed tools with structured results.

Tools

| Tool | What it does | |---|---| | list_servers | Listening dev servers: port, process, branch, owner, idle. Read-only. | | kill_port | Stop the server on a given port. | | alloc_port | A stable, collision-free port for this worktree (dodges parallel-agent EADDRINUSE). | | free_port | A port that nothing is listening on right now, to bind immediately. |

Install

Requires the tidy-ports CLI on your PATH (install TidyPorts first) and Node ≥ 18.

cd integrations/mcp
npm install

Then register it with your client, pointing at the absolute path to server.js:

Claude Code (.mcp.json in your project, or claude mcp add):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tidyports": { "command": "node", "args": ["/ABS/PATH/TidyPorts/integrations/mcp/server.js"] }
  }
}

Cursor (~/.cursor/mcp.json) / Claude Desktop (claude_desktop_config.json) use the same mcpServers shape.

Restart the client and the tidyports.* tools appear in its tool list (and can be permissioned there). Once published to npm this becomes "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "@tidyports/mcp"], no clone required.

Skill vs. MCP

• Skill: cheapest on-ramp, Claude Code only, advises the model. Start here.
• MCP: portable across clients, structured I/O. The platform layer. See docs/roadmap.md.