add-mcp

Add MCP servers to your favorite coding agents with a single command.

Supports Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode, VSCode and 10 more.

Install an MCP Server

Install an MCP server by remote URL or package name:

npx add-mcp url | package name [options]

Example installing the Context7 remote MCP server:

npx add-mcp https://mcp.context7.com/mcp

Example installing the Context7 remote MCP server via the programmatic API — great for integrating add-mcp in your own CLI tool:

import { upsertServer } from "add-mcp";

const result = upsertServer(
  "cursor",
  "context7",
  { type: "http", url: "https://mcp.context7.com/mcp" },
  { local: true },
);
console.log(result);

You can add env variables and arguments (stdio) and headers (remote) to the server config using the --env, --args and --header options. With ${VAR} placeholders, interactive installs prompt for each variable (omit skipped optional keys so empty strings are not written to config).

Find MCP Servers

Find and install MCP servers from the add-mcp registry:

npx add-mcp find vercel

The first find/search run automatically saves the add-mcp registry to ~/.config/add-mcp/config.json (or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/add-mcp/config.json). You can edit that file to replace the default registry, add the official Anthropic registry, or point at any registry-compatible server.

Supported Agents

MCP servers can be installed to any of these agents:

| Agent | --agent | Project Path | Global Path | | ---------------------- | -------------------- | ----------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Antigravity | antigravity | - | ~/.gemini/config/mcp_config.json (shared by Antigravity, Antigravity IDE, and Antigravity CLI) | | Cline VSCode Extension | cline | - | ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/globalStorage/saoudrizwan.claude-dev/settings/cline_mcp_settings.json | | Cline CLI | cline-cli | - | ~/.cline/data/settings/cline_mcp_settings.json | | Claude Code | claude-code | .mcp.json | ~/.claude.json | | Claude Desktop | claude-desktop | - | ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json | | Codex | codex | .codex/config.toml | ~/.codex/config.toml | | Cursor | cursor | .cursor/mcp.json | ~/.cursor/mcp.json | | Gemini CLI | gemini-cli | .gemini/settings.json | ~/.gemini/settings.json | | Goose | goose | .goose/config.yaml | ~/.config/goose/config.yaml | | GitHub Copilot CLI | github-copilot-cli | .vscode/mcp.json | ~/.copilot/mcp-config.json | | MCPorter | mcporter | config/mcporter.json | ~/.mcporter/mcporter.json (or existing ~/.mcporter/mcporter.jsonc) | | OpenCode | opencode | opencode.json | ~/.config/opencode/opencode.json | | VS Code | vscode | .vscode/mcp.json | ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/mcp.json | | Windsurf | windsurf | - | ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json | | Zed | zed | .zed/settings.json | ~/Library/Application Support/Zed/settings.json |

Aliases: codeium, cascade → windsurf, cline-vscode → cline, gemini → gemini-cli, github-copilot → vscode

Installation Scope

| Scope | Flag | Location | Use Case | | ----------- | --------- | ----------------------- | --------------------------------------------- | | Project | (default) | .cursor/mcp.json etc. | Committed with your project, shared with team | | Global | -g | ~/.cursor/mcp.json | Available across all projects |

Smart Detection

The CLI automatically detects agents based on your environment:

Default (project mode):

• Detects project-level config files (.cursor/, .vscode/, .mcp.json, etc.)
• Selects detected agents (have project config in the current directory) by default
• Shows detected agents plus all other supported agents for selection

With -g (global mode):

• Detects all globally-installed agents (including Claude Desktop, Codex, Zed)
• Selects detected agents by default
• Shows detected agents plus all other supported agents for selection

No agents detected:

• Interactive mode: Defaults to the last selection and shows all agents for selection
• With --yes: Installs to all project-capable agents (project mode) or all global-capable agents (global mode)

Commands

Besides the implicit add command, add-mcp also supports the following commands:

| Command | Description | | ------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ | | find | Search MCP registry servers and install a selected match | | search | Alias for find | | list | List installed MCP servers across detected agents | | remove | Remove an MCP server from agent configurations | | sync | Synchronize server names and installations across agents | | unify | Alias for sync | | list-agents | List all supported coding agents with scope (project/global) |

Add Command

Usage Examples

# Remote MCP server (streamable HTTP)
npx add-mcp https://mcp.example.com/mcp

# Remote MCP server (SSE transport)
npx add-mcp https://mcp.example.com/sse --transport sse

# Remote MCP server with auth header
npx add-mcp https://mcp.example.com/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

# Remote server with a request timeout and OAuth scopes
# (each agent only keeps the fields it supports; others are dropped with a warning)
npx add-mcp https://mcp.example.com/mcp --timeout 30000 --scopes "read,write"

# Auto-approve all tools for agents that support it (Codex, Claude Code)
npx add-mcp "executor mcp" --name executor -a codex -a claude-code --auto-approve

# Auto-approve only selected tools
npx add-mcp "executor mcp" --name executor -a codex --auto-approve --approve-tool execute

# npm package (runs via npx)
npx add-mcp @modelcontextprotocol/server-postgres

# Non-interactive installation to all detected agents in the project directory
npx add-mcp https://mcp.example.com/mcp -y

# Non-interactive installation to the global Claude Code config
npx add-mcp https://mcp.example.com/mcp -g -a claude-code -y

# Full command with arguments
npx add-mcp "npx -y @org/mcp-server --flag value"

# Node.js script
npx add-mcp "node /path/to/server.js --port 3000"

# Local stdio server with environment variables (repeatable)
npx add-mcp @modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem --env "API_KEY=secret" --env "DATABASE_URL=postgres://localhost/app"

# Install for Cursor and Claude Code
npx add-mcp https://mcp.example.com/mcp -a cursor -a claude-code

# Install with custom server name
npx add-mcp @modelcontextprotocol/server-postgres --name postgres

# Install to all supported agents
npx add-mcp mcp-server-github --all

# Install to all agents, globally, without prompts
npx add-mcp mcp-server-github --all -g -y

# Add generated config files to .gitignore
npx add-mcp https://mcp.example.com/mcp -a cursor -y --gitignore

Options

| Option | Description | | ------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | -g, --global | Install to user directory instead of project | | -a, --agent <agent> | Target specific agents (e.g., cursor, claude-code). Can be repeated. | | -t, --transport <type> | Transport type for remote servers: http (default), sse | | --type <type> | Alias for --transport | | -h, --header <header> | HTTP header for remote servers (repeatable, Key: Value) | | --env <env> | Env var for local stdio servers (repeatable, KEY=VALUE) | | --timeout <ms> | Request timeout (ms) for remote servers (capability-gated, see below) | | --scopes <scopes> | OAuth scopes for remote servers, comma-separated (capability-gated) | | --oauth-scopes <scopes> | Alias for --scopes | | --auto-approve | Auto-approve MCP tool calls for supported agents (Codex, Claude Code) | | --approve-tool <tool> | Tool to auto-approve with --auto-approve (repeatable; defaults to all) | | -n, --name <name> | Server name (auto-inferred if not provided) | | -y, --yes | Skip all confirmation prompts | | --all | Install to all agents | | --gitignore | Add generated config files to .gitignore |

Capability-gated fields (--timeout, --scopes)

Not every MCP client understands every field. add-mcp keeps one canonical server config and each agent declares which optional fields it supports, mapping them into that client's native shape:

| Field | Flag | Supported by | Mapped to | | ------------------ | ----------------------------------- | ----------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------- | | Timeout | --timeout | Claude Code, Gemini CLI | timeout (milliseconds) | | OAuth scopes | --scopes | Cursor, Gemini CLI | Cursor auth.scopes, Gemini oauth.scopes | | Tool auto-approval | --auto-approve / --approve-tool | Codex, Claude Code | Codex approval modes; Claude Code permission allow rules |

When you target an agent that does not support a field, add-mcp drops it from that agent's config and prints a warning (e.g. "request timeout is not supported by VS Code; dropped from that config."). Other agents still receive it. --timeout and --scopes apply to remote servers only; --auto-approve applies to both remote and local servers.

Auto-approving tool calls (--auto-approve)

--auto-approve preconfigures agent-level approval so the agent doesn't prompt before each MCP tool call — useful for servers that already gate actions internally. Use --approve-tool <name> (repeatable) to approve only specific tools; without it, all tools are approved.

• Codex — writes approval modes into config.toml: per-tool tools.<name>.approval_mode = "approve", or default_tools_approval_mode = "approve" for all tools.
• Claude Code — writes permission allow rules to a separate settings file (.claude/settings.local.json for project installs, ~/.claude/settings.json for global), e.g. mcp__<server>__<tool>, or mcp__<server> for all tools. The MCP server entry itself stays clean.

Note: Claude Code's all-tools rule (mcp__<server>) follows the documented format, but a known Claude Code bug (#34739) can still prompt for non-fully-qualified MCP rules. Listing tools explicitly with --approve-tool is the most reliable path there.

Transport Types

add-mcp supports all three transport types: HTTP, SSE, and stdio. Some agents require type option to be set to specify the transport type. You can use the --type or --transport option to specify the transport type:

| Transport | Flag | Description | | --------- | ------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------- | | HTTP | --transport http | Streamable HTTP (default) | | SSE | --transport sse | Server-Sent Events (deprecated by MCP but still used) |

Local servers (npm packages, commands) always use stdio transport.

Note that most agents like Cursor and opencode do not require the type information to be set.

Find Command

Usage Examples

# Search for servers by keyword and choose one interactively
npx add-mcp find vercel

# Browse servers without a keyword
npx add-mcp find

# Use search alias (same as find)
npx add-mcp search notion

# Install a found server globally to a specific agent without prompts
npx add-mcp find neon -a claude-code -g -y

# Install to all agents and add generated project configs to .gitignore
npx add-mcp find github --all --gitignore

Options

| Option | Description | | ----------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | -g, --global | Install to user directory instead of project | | -a, --agent <agent> | Target specific agents (e.g., cursor, claude-code). Can be repeated. | | -n, --name <name> | Server name override (defaults to the selected catalog entry name) | | -y, --yes | Skip confirmation prompts | | --auto-approve | Auto-approve MCP tool calls for supported agents (Codex, Claude Code) | | --approve-tool <tool> | Tool to auto-approve with --auto-approve (repeatable; defaults to all) | | --all | Install to all agents | | --gitignore | Add generated config files to .gitignore |

Transport for find/search is inferred from registry metadata. The CLI prefers HTTP remotes when available and only falls back to SSE when HTTP is not available for the selected install context.

When a server offers both remote and stdio package options, interactive mode lets you choose one (remote is the default). With -y, it auto-selects remote.

If a selected remote server defines URL variables or header inputs:

• required values must be provided
• optional values can be skipped with Enter
• with -y, placeholders are inserted (for example <your-header-value-here>)

Configuring Registries for Find / Search

The first time you run find or search, the CLI automatically saves the add-mcp registry to ~/.config/add-mcp/config.json (respects XDG_CONFIG_HOME) and reuses that registry on every subsequent search.

Built-in Registries

| Registry | Base URL | Description | | ------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | add-mcp registry | https://add-mcp.com/registry/api/v1/servers | MCP servers discovered by integrations.sh and exposed through an MCP registry-compatible API, using add-mcp's checked-in registry.json as the source of truth. | | Official Anthropic registry | https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io/v0.1/servers | The community-driven MCP server registry maintained by Anthropic. Contains the broadest catalog of MCP servers. |

The add-mcp registry previously lived at https://mcp.agent-tooling.dev/api/v1/servers. That URL keeps working, and saved configs referencing it are migrated to the add-mcp.com address automatically on the next find/search run.

Missing A Server in integrations.sh?

The default add-mcp registry is generated from integrations.sh. To be listed in add-mcp, add your MCP server to integrations.sh. Package-only entries that integrations.sh cannot represent yet can still be contributed to add-mcp's registry.overlay.json.

Maintainers can refresh the checked-in registry snapshot with:

bun run registry:sync
bun run registry:verify

Editing or Removing Registries

Registry selections are stored in ~/.config/add-mcp/config.json under the findRegistries key. You can edit this file directly to replace, add, remove, or reorder registries.

Default add-mcp registry:

{
  "version": 1,
  "findRegistries": [
    {
      "url": "https://add-mcp.com/registry/api/v1/servers",
      "label": "add-mcp registry"
    }
  ]
}

Replace the default with the official Anthropic registry:

{
  "version": 1,
  "findRegistries": [
    {
      "url": "https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io/v0.1/servers",
      "label": "Official Anthropic registry"
    }
  ]
}

Search both the add-mcp registry and the official Anthropic registry:

{
  "version": 1,
  "findRegistries": [
    {
      "url": "https://add-mcp.com/registry/api/v1/servers",
      "label": "add-mcp registry"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io/v0.1/servers",
      "label": "Official Anthropic registry"
    }
  ]
}

To reset to the default add-mcp registry, remove the findRegistries key or delete the config file.

Adding a Custom Registry

Any server that implements the registry API can be added as a custom entry. The CLI sends a GET request to the configured url with the following query parameters:

| Parameter | Value | | --------- | -------------------------------------- | | search | The user's search keyword (lowercased) | | version | latest | | limit | 100 |

The endpoint must return JSON in this shape:

{
  "servers": [
    {
      "server": {
        "name": "example-server",
        "description": "An example MCP server",
        "version": "1.0.0",
        "remotes": [
          {
            "type": "streamable-http",
            "url": "https://mcp.example.com/mcp"
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}

To add your own registry, append an entry to findRegistries in ~/.config/add-mcp/config.json:

{
  "url": "https://my-registry.example.com/api/v1/servers",
  "label": "My custom registry"
}

List Command

List installed MCP servers across detected agents:

# List servers for all detected agents in the project
npx add-mcp list

# List global server configs
npx add-mcp list -g

# List servers for a specific agent (shown even if not detected)
npx add-mcp list -a cursor

| Option | Description | | --------------------- | -------------------------------------- | | -g, --global | List global configs instead of project | | -a, --agent <agent> | Filter to specific agent(s) |

Remove Command

Remove an MCP server from agent configurations by server name, URL, or package name:

# Remove by server name (interactive selection by default)
npx add-mcp remove neon

# Remove all matches without prompting
npx add-mcp remove neon -y

# Remove by URL
npx add-mcp remove https://mcp.neon.tech/mcp -y

# Remove from global configs for a specific agent
npx add-mcp remove neon -g -a cursor -y

| Option | Description | | --------------------- | ------------------------------------ | | -g, --global | Remove from global configs | | -a, --agent <agent> | Filter to specific agent(s) | | -y, --yes | Remove all matches without prompting |

Sync Command

Synchronize server names and installations across all detected agents. Servers are grouped by URL or package name, and each group is unified to the shortest server name. Servers with conflicting headers, env, or args across agents are skipped with a warning.

# Sync project-level configs (interactive confirmation)
npx add-mcp sync

# Sync without prompting
npx add-mcp sync -y

# Sync global configs
npx add-mcp sync -g -y

| Option | Description | | -------------- | -------------------------------------- | | -g, --global | Sync global configs instead of project | | -y, --yes | Skip confirmation prompts |

unify is an alias for sync.

Programmatic API

import {
  detectProjectAgents,
  detectGlobalAgents,
  upsertServer,
  removeServer,
  listInstalledServers,
} from "add-mcp";

const project = detectProjectAgents("/path/to/project");
const global = await detectGlobalAgents();

// Remote server
upsertServer(
  "claude-code",
  "example",
  { type: "http", url: "https://mcp.example.com/api" },
  { local: true, cwd: "/path/to/project" },
);

// Stdio (npm package)
upsertServer("claude-code", "postgres", {
  command: "npx",
  args: ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-postgres"],
});

const projectServers = await listInstalledServers({
  cwd: "/path/to/project",
});
const globalServers = await listInstalledServers({ global: true });

removeServer("claude-code", "example", {
  local: true,
  cwd: "/path/to/project",
});

upsertServer and removeServer return { success, path, error? } rather than throwing.

Troubleshooting

Server not loading

Some agents & editors like Claude Code require a restart to load the new MCP server. Otherwise, like Cursor, require you to navigate to the MCP settings page and toggle the new server as enabled.