CodeBolt CLI

External MCP Server

The CLI can run a CodeBolt MCP server for external agents and applications.

The recommended MCP client config uses stdio. In stdio mode the MCP client starts the process automatically.

Example mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "codebolt": {
      "command": "codebolt",
      "args": ["mcp", "start"]
    }
  }
}

This starts:

MCP client <-> stdio <-> codebolt mcp start <-> websocket <-> CodeBolt external gateway

By default, the MCP server connects to:

ws://localhost:12345/direct-execution-gateway?ownerId=external-sdk

If CodeBolt is running somewhere else, set the gateway URL:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "codebolt": {
      "command": "codebolt",
      "args": ["mcp", "start"],
      "env": {
        "CODEBOLT_EXTERNAL_GATEWAY_URL": "ws://localhost:12345/direct-execution-gateway?ownerId=claude-code"
      }
    }
  }
}

You can also pass CLI flags:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "codebolt": {
      "command": "codebolt",
      "args": ["mcp", "start", "--host", "localhost", "--gateway-port", "12345", "--owner-id", "claude-code"]
    }
  }
}

Exposed MCP Tools

The server exposes a small meta-tool surface. It does not expose every CodeBolt runtime tool as a separate MCP tool.

• codebolt_list_tools
• codebolt_find_tools
• codebolt_get_tool
• codebolt_get_tool_definitions
• codebolt_execute_tool
• codebolt_list_tool_namespaces
• codebolt_list_tool_sources

Runtime tools such as filesystem, git, browser, terminal, plugin, miniapp, and configured MCP tools are discovered through the meta-tools above. They are not registered directly in MCP tools/list.

Tool discovery accepts grouped filters:

{
  "toolSource": {
    "builtIn": true,
    "registered": true,
    "agentLocal": false
  },
  "toolContext": {
    "includeChatOnly": false
  },
  "grep": "file",
  "limit": 50
}

builtIn means CodeBolt built-in tools, registered means runtime-registered tools such as MCP/plugin/miniapp/cloud tools, and agentLocal is reserved for SDK-owned local agent tools. Chat-only tools are hidden by default for external MCP clients.

Optional SSE Mode

Use SSE only when an MCP client expects an HTTP/SSE endpoint instead of spawning a stdio process:

codebolt mcp start --transport sse --mcp-port 3005

This starts:

http://127.0.0.1:3005/sse

For local MCP configs, stdio is usually preferred because the MCP client owns the server process lifecycle.