Shinkuro - Universal prompt loader MCP server

Loads markdown files from a local folder or git repository and serves them as MCP Prompts.

Useful for loading prompts from various sources and formats into your MCP-enabled applications, and sharing prompts across organizations.

Usage

IMPORTANT: make sure your MCP client supports the MCP Prompts capability. See the feature support matrix.

Full CLI Usage

Universal prompt loader MCP server

Usage: shinkuro [OPTIONS]

Options:
      --folder <FOLDER>                    [env: FOLDER=]
      --git-url <GIT_URL>                  [env: GIT_URL=]
      --cache-dir <CACHE_DIR>              [env: CACHE_DIR=] [default: ~/.shinkuro/remote]
      --auto-pull                          [env: AUTO_PULL=]
      --variable-format <VARIABLE_FORMAT>  [env: VARIABLE_FORMAT=] [default: brace]
      --auto-discover-args                 [env: AUTO_DISCOVER_ARGS=]
      --skip-frontmatter                   [env: SKIP_FRONTMATTER=]
  -h, --help                               Print help
  -V, --version                            Print version

Local Files

Add to your MCP client configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "shinkuro": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "shinkuro"],
      "env": {
        "FOLDER": "/path/to/prompts"
      }
    }
  }
}

Remote Git Repository

Add to your MCP client configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "shinkuro": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "shinkuro"],
      "env": {
        "GIT_URL": "https://github.com/owner/repo.git",
        "FOLDER": "prompts" // optional, subfolder within git repo
      }
    }
  }
}

This will clone the repository into a local cache dir. Make sure you have correct permission.

Private repositories are supported, e.g. "GIT_URL": "[email protected]:DiscreteTom/shinkuro.git" (with SSH keys), "GIT_URL": "https://<username>:<PAT>@github.com/owner/repo.git" (with personal access token)

Use with Spec-Kit

First, move spec-kit prompts into ./.shinkuro/prompts folder.

Then add to your MCP client configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "shinkuro": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "shinkuro"],
      "env": {
        "FOLDER": "./.shinkuro/prompts",
        "VARIABLE_FORMAT": "dollar",
        "AUTO_DISCOVER_ARGS": "true",
        "SKIP_FRONTMATTER": "true"
      }
    }
  }
}

This will expose spec-kit instructions as MCP prompts.

Prompt Loading

Each markdown file in the specified folder (including nested folders) is loaded as a prompt.

Example folder structure:

my-prompts/
├── think.md
└── dev/
     ├── code-review.md
     └── commit.md

The example above will be loaded to 3 prompts: think, code-review and commit.

Example Prompt Files

Simplest

Commit to git using conventional commit.

Prompt with Metadata

---
name: "code-review" # optional, defaults to filename
title: "Code Review Assistant" # optional, defaults to filename
description: "" # optional, defaults to file path
---

# Code Review

Please review this code for best practices and potential issues.

Prompt with Arguments

---
name: "greeting"
description: "Generate a personalized greeting message"
arguments:
  - name: "user"
    description: "Name of the user"
    # no default = required parameter
  - name: "project"
    description: "Project name"
    default: "MyApp"
---

Say: Hello {user}! Welcome to {project}. Hope you enjoy your stay!

Variables like {user} and {project} will be replaced with actual values when the prompt is retrieved.

Use {{var}} (double brackets) to escape and display literal brackets when using brace formatter.

Different Variable Formats:

• brace (default): {user}, {project}
• dollar: $user, $project

Install Standalone Binary

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/DiscreteTom/shinkuro-rs/releases/latest/download/shinkuro-installer.sh | sh

irm https://github.com/DiscreteTom/shinkuro-rs/releases/latest/download/shinkuro-installer.ps1 | iex

npm install -g shinkuro

Example Prompt Repositories

• DiscreteTom/prompts.

CHANGELOG