captain-tool

An MCP server that connects your AI coding agent to Captain — a release train management and SDLC orchestration platform.

Once installed, your AI agent can interact with your Captain workspace directly in conversation: checking pipeline status, reviewing deployments, managing artifacts, and more.

Supported clients

• Claude Desktop
• Claude Code (CLI)
• VS Code + Copilot
• Cursor
• Windsurf

Requirements

• Node.js 16+
• A Captain account
• One of the supported AI clients above

Installation

npm install -g captain-tool

Setup (recommended)

Run the interactive setup wizard to automatically configure your AI client(s):

captain-tool setup

The wizard will detect your platform, find the binary, and write the correct MCP config for whichever client(s) you select. Supports all 5 clients above in one step.

Manual setup

Claude Desktop

Edit %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows) or ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS):

macOS / Linux:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "captain-tool": {
      "command": "captain-tool",
      "env": {
        "CAPTAIN_API_URL": "https://app.getcaptain.dev/"
      }
    }
  }
}

Windows (requires cmd /c wrapper so the shell can resolve the .cmd shim):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "captain-tool": {
      "command": "cmd",
      "args": ["/c", "captain-tool"],
      "env": {
        "CAPTAIN_API_URL": "https://app.getcaptain.dev/"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop to activate.

Claude Code (CLI)

claude mcp add captain-tool -- cmd /c captain-tool

VS Code + Copilot

Or edit %APPDATA%\Code\User\mcp.json (Windows) / ~/.config/Code/User/mcp.json (Linux) / ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/mcp.json (macOS):

{
  "servers": {
    "captain-tool": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "captain-tool",
      "env": {
        "CAPTAIN_API_URL": "https://app.getcaptain.dev/"
      }
    }
  }
}

Reload VS Code (Ctrl+Shift+P → "Developer: Reload Window") to activate.

Cursor

Edit ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "captain-tool": {
      "command": "captain-tool",
      "env": {
        "CAPTAIN_API_URL": "https://app.getcaptain.dev/"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Cursor to activate.

Windsurf

Edit ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json (macOS/Linux) or %USERPROFILE%\.codeium\windsurf\mcp_config.json (Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "captain-tool": {
      "command": "captain-tool",
      "env": {
        "CAPTAIN_API_URL": "https://app.getcaptain.dev/"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Windsurf to activate.

First use

Once connected, ask your AI agent:

"Check captain status and get me set up."

It will walk you through logging in and selecting your workspace. After that, you can ask things like:

Show me all my pipelines.
What's the current state of my active workspace?
List any unhealthy connectors.
What components do we have?
Show me the deployment history for component comp-xyz.

Configuration

| Variable | Default | Description | |----------|---------|-------------| | CAPTAIN_API_URL | https://app.getcaptain.dev/ | Captain backend URL | | CAPTAIN_DB_PATH | platform default | Local state and auth token | | CAPTAIN_REQUEST_TIMEOUT_SECONDS | 30 | HTTP timeout per request |

Learn more

Visit app.getcaptain.dev to learn more about Captain.