MCP servers

Add local and remote MCP tools.

You can add external tools to Anthracode using the Model Context Protocol, or MCP. Anthracode supports both local and remote servers.

Once added, MCP tools are automatically available to the LLM alongside built-in tools.

Caveats

When you use an MCP server, it adds to the context. This can quickly add up if you have a lot of tools. So we recommend being careful with which MCP servers you use.

Certain MCP servers, like the GitHub MCP server, tend to add a lot of tokens and can easily exceed the context limit.

Enable

You can define MCP servers in your Anthracode config under mcp. Add each MCP with a unique name. You can refer to that MCP by name when prompting the LLM.

{

  "mcp": {
    "name-of-mcp-server": {
      // ...
      "enabled": true,
    },
    "name-of-other-mcp-server": {
      // ...
    },
  },
}

You can also disable a server by setting enabled to false. This is useful if you want to temporarily disable a server without removing it from your config.

Overriding remote defaults

Organizations can provide default MCP servers via their .well-known/anthracode endpoint. These servers may be disabled by default, allowing users to opt-in to the ones they need.

To enable a specific server from your organization’s remote config, add it to your local config with enabled: true:

{

  "mcp": {
    "jira": {
      "type": "remote",
      "url": "https://jira.example.com/mcp",
      "enabled": true
    }
  }
}

Your local config values override the remote defaults. See config precedence for more details.

Local

Add local MCP servers using type to "local" within the MCP object.

{

  "mcp": {
    "my-local-mcp-server": {
      "type": "local",
      // Or ["bun", "x", "my-mcp-command"]
      "command": ["npx", "-y", "my-mcp-command"],
      "enabled": true,
      "environment": {
        "MY_ENV_VAR": "my_env_var_value",
      },
    },
  },
}

The command is how the local MCP server is started. You can also pass in a list of environment variables as well.

For example, here’s how you can add the test @modelcontextprotocol/server-everything MCP server.

{

  "mcp": {
    "mcp_everything": {
      "type": "local",
      "command": ["npx", "-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-everything"],
    },
  },
}

And to use it I can add use the mcp_everything tool to my prompts.

use the mcp_everything tool to add the number 3 and 4

Options

Here are all the options for configuring a local MCP server.

Option	Type	Required	Description
`type`	String	Y	Type of MCP server connection, must be `"local"`.
`command`	Array	Y	Command and arguments to run the MCP server.
`environment`	Object		Environment variables to set when running the server.
`enabled`	Boolean		Enable or disable the MCP server on startup.
`timeout`	Number		Timeout in ms for MCP server requests. Defaults to 30000 (30 seconds).

Remote

Add remote MCP servers by setting type to "remote".

{

  "mcp": {
    "my-remote-mcp": {
      "type": "remote",
      "url": "https://my-mcp-server.com",
      "enabled": true,
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer MY_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

The url is the URL of the remote MCP server and with the headers option you can pass in a list of headers.

Options

Option	Type	Required	Description
`type`	String	Y	Type of MCP server connection, must be `"remote"`.
`url`	String	Y	URL of the remote MCP server.
`enabled`	Boolean		Enable or disable the MCP server on startup.
`headers`	Object		Headers to send with the request.
`oauth`	Object		OAuth authentication configuration. See OAuth section below.
`timeout`	Number		Timeout in ms for MCP server requests. Defaults to 30000 (30 seconds).

OAuth

Anthracode automatically handles OAuth authentication for remote MCP servers. When a server requires authentication, Anthracode will:

Detect the 401 response and initiate the OAuth flow
Use Dynamic Client Registration (RFC 7591) if supported by the server
Store tokens securely for future requests

Automatic

For most OAuth-enabled MCP servers, no special configuration is needed. Just configure the remote server:

{

  "mcp": {
    "my-oauth-server": {
      "type": "remote",
      "url": "https://mcp.example.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

If the server requires authentication, Anthracode will prompt you to authenticate when you first try to use it. If not, you can manually trigger the flow with anthracode mcp auth <server-name>.

Pre-registered

If you have client credentials from the MCP server provider, you can configure them:

{

  "mcp": {
    "my-oauth-server": {
      "type": "remote",
      "url": "https://mcp.example.com/mcp",
      "oauth": {
        "clientId": "{env:MY_MCP_CLIENT_ID}",
        "clientSecret": "{env:MY_MCP_CLIENT_SECRET}",
        "scope": "tools:read tools:execute"
      }
    }
  }
}

Authenticating

You can manually trigger authentication or manage credentials.

Authenticate with a specific MCP server:

anthracode mcp auth my-oauth-server

List all MCP servers and their auth status:

anthracode mcp list

Remove stored credentials:

anthracode mcp logout my-oauth-server

The mcp auth command will open your browser for authorization. After you authorize, Anthracode will store the tokens securely in ~/.local/share/anthracode/mcp-auth.json.

Disabling OAuth

If you want to disable automatic OAuth for a server (e.g., for servers that use API keys instead), set oauth to false:

{

  "mcp": {
    "my-api-key-server": {
      "type": "remote",
      "url": "https://mcp.example.com/mcp",
      "oauth": false,
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer {env:MY_API_KEY}"
      }
    }
  }
}

OAuth Options

Option	Type	Description
`oauth`	Object \| false	OAuth config object, or `false` to disable OAuth auto-detection.
`clientId`	String	OAuth client ID. If not provided, dynamic client registration will be attempted.
`clientSecret`	String	OAuth client secret, if required by the authorization server.
`scope`	String	OAuth scopes to request during authorization.
`callbackPort`	Number	Port for the local OAuth callback server (default: 19876). Shorthand for `redirectUri`. Ignored if `redirectUri` is set.
`redirectUri`	String	Full OAuth redirect URI (default: `http://127.0.0.1:19876/mcp/oauth/callback`).

Debugging

If a remote MCP server is failing to authenticate, you can diagnose issues with:

# View auth status for all OAuth-capable servers
anthracode mcp auth list

# Debug connection and OAuth flow for a specific server
anthracode mcp debug my-oauth-server

The mcp debug command shows the current auth status, tests HTTP connectivity, and attempts the OAuth discovery flow.

Manage

Your MCPs are available as tools in Anthracode, alongside built-in tools. So you can manage them through the Anthracode config like any other tool.

Global

This means that you can enable or disable them globally.

{

  "mcp": {
    "my-mcp-foo": {
      "type": "local",
      "command": ["bun", "x", "my-mcp-command-foo"]
    },
    "my-mcp-bar": {
      "type": "local",
      "command": ["bun", "x", "my-mcp-command-bar"]
    }
  },
  "tools": {
    "my-mcp-foo": false
  }
}

We can also use a glob pattern to disable all matching MCPs.

{

  "mcp": {
    "my-mcp-foo": {
      "type": "local",
      "command": ["bun", "x", "my-mcp-command-foo"]
    },
    "my-mcp-bar": {
      "type": "local",
      "command": ["bun", "x", "my-mcp-command-bar"]
    }
  },
  "tools": {
    "my-mcp*": false
  }
}

Here we are using the glob pattern my-mcp* to disable all MCPs.

Per agent

If you have a large number of MCP servers you may want to only enable them per agent and disable them globally. To do this:

Disable it as a tool globally.
In your agent config, enable the MCP server as a tool.

{

  "mcp": {
    "my-mcp": {
      "type": "local",
      "command": ["bun", "x", "my-mcp-command"],
      "enabled": true
    }
  },
  "tools": {
    "my-mcp*": false
  },
  "agent": {
    "my-agent": {
      "tools": {
        "my-mcp*": true
      }
    }
  }
}

Glob patterns

The glob pattern uses simple regex globbing patterns:

* matches zero or more of any character (e.g., "my-mcp*" matches my-mcp_search, my-mcp_list, etc.)
? matches exactly one character
All other characters match literally

Examples

Below are examples of some common MCP servers. You can submit a PR if you want to document other servers.

Sentry

Add the Sentry MCP server to interact with your Sentry projects and issues.

{

  "mcp": {
    "sentry": {
      "type": "remote",
      "url": "https://mcp.sentry.dev/mcp",
      "oauth": {}
    }
  }
}

After adding the configuration, authenticate with Sentry:

anthracode mcp auth sentry

This will open a browser window to complete the OAuth flow and connect Anthracode to your Sentry account.

Once authenticated, you can use Sentry tools in your prompts to query issues, projects, and error data.

Show me the latest unresolved issues in my project. use sentry

Context7

Add the Context7 MCP server to search through docs.

{

  "mcp": {
    "context7": {
      "type": "remote",
      "url": "https://mcp.context7.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

If you have signed up for a free account, you can use your API key and get higher rate-limits.

{

  "mcp": {
    "context7": {
      "type": "remote",
      "url": "https://mcp.context7.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "CONTEXT7_API_KEY": "{env:CONTEXT7_API_KEY}"
      }
    }
  }
}

Here we are assuming that you have the CONTEXT7_API_KEY environment variable set.

Add use context7 to your prompts to use Context7 MCP server.

Configure a Cloudflare Worker script to cache JSON API responses for five minutes. use context7

Alternatively, you can add something like this to your AGENTS.md.

When you need to search docs, use `context7` tools.

Grep by Vercel

Add the Grep by Vercel MCP server to search through code snippets on GitHub.

{

  "mcp": {
    "gh_grep": {
      "type": "remote",
      "url": "https://mcp.grep.app"
    }
  }
}

Since we named our MCP server gh_grep, you can add use the gh_grep tool to your prompts to get the agent to use it.

What's the right way to set a custom domain in an SST Astro component? use the gh_grep tool

Alternatively, you can add something like this to your AGENTS.md.

If you are unsure how to do something, use `gh_grep` to search code examples from GitHub.