mcpbolt ⚡

Wire any MCP server into every AI coding tool — from one paste.

You copy an MCP config from anywhere. mcpbolt detects the format, asks which tools to install into, and writes the correct config file for each. No manual JSON editing across 10 different apps.

npx mcpbolt

Why

Every AI coding tool stores MCP configs differently:

• Claude Desktop uses mcpServers in a JSON file deep in ~/Library
• VS Code uses servers with an explicit type field
• Zed uses context_servers inside its settings
• Codex uses TOML
• Continue uses YAML

Whenever you find a new MCP server, you have to manually translate and copy the config into each tool. mcpbolt does that translation automatically.

Install

CLI

Run without installing (recommended):

npx mcpbolt

Or install globally:

npm install -g mcpbolt

Requirements: Node.js 18+

Mac menu bar app (MCPBoltBar)

A native macOS menu bar app for browsing, importing, and removing MCP servers without touching the terminal.

brew install --cask vishmathpati/mcpbolt/mcpboltbar

Or grab the zip directly from Releases.

Requirements: macOS Monterey (12) or newer.

Usage

Just run it and paste:

$ npx mcpbolt

  mcpbolt ⚡ — wire MCP servers into any AI coding tool

  Paste config below. Press Enter twice (or Ctrl+D) when done:

  > { "mcpServers": { "supabase": { "url": "https://mcp.supabase.com/mcp" } } }
  >

  Detected
    Format: JSON (Claude Desktop / VS Code / Cursor / Zed)
    Servers: 1 — supabase

✔ Server name › supabase
✔ Select targets › Claude Desktop, Claude Code (global), Cursor (global), VS Code (project)
✔ Preview changes before writing? › Yes

  Preview
    Claude Desktop (user)   → ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
    Claude Code (user)      → ~/.claude.json
    Cursor (user)           → ~/.cursor/mcp.json
    VS Code (project)       → .vscode/mcp.json

✔ Write files now? › Yes

  ✓ Wired "supabase" into 4 targets.

  → Quit and reopen Claude Desktop to load the new server.
  → Open Cursor → Settings → MCP and click Refresh to activate.
  → Run "Developer: Reload Window" in VS Code (Cmd+Shift+P).

Accepted input formats

Paste any of these — mcpbolt auto-detects the format:

Claude Desktop / Cursor / Windsurf JSON

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "filesystem": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem", "/tmp"]
    }
  }
}

VS Code JSON (servers + type)

{
  "servers": {
    "playwright": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@playwright/mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Remote HTTP / SSE server

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "supabase": {
      "url": "https://mcp.supabase.com/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" }
    }
  }
}

npx one-liner

npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem /Users/me/projects

Docker command

docker run -i --rm mcp/brave-search

Bare URL

https://mcp.example.com/sse

Continue YAML

mcpServers:
  - name: filesystem
    command: npx
    args: ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem"]

Codex TOML

[mcp_servers.filesystem]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem"]

Supported tools

mcpbolt auto-detects which tools are installed on your machine and pre-checks them in the selector.

How it works

Paste (any format)
      ↓
  Auto-detect format
      ↓
  Parse → Internal IR
  { name, transport, command/args/env or url/headers }
      ↓
  You pick targets
      ↓
  Render native config per tool
  (mcpServers / servers / context_servers / TOML / YAML)
      ↓
  Merge into existing file (never overwrites sibling keys)
  Backup written to .bak first
      ↓
  Dry-run preview → confirm → write

Every existing config is preserved. mcpbolt reads the file, inserts or updates the one server entry, and writes back. A .bak backup is created alongside every file that gets modified.

Safety

• Merge, never overwrite — only the target server key is touched; everything else in your config is preserved
• Backup before write — .bak file created next to every modified config
• Dry-run by default — preview all changes before anything is written
• Auto-detect installed tools — only shows tools it finds on your machine

Contributing

Adding support for a new tool is one file.

1. Create src/targets/newtool.ts implementing the Target interface:

import type { Target, Scope } from './_base.ts'
import { irToClaudeShape } from './_base.ts'
import { mergeJson } from '../core/merger.ts'

export const myTool: Target = {
  id: 'my-tool',
  company: 'Acme',
  name: 'My Tool',
  scopes: ['user', 'project'],

  detect() {
    return /* check if tool is installed */
  },

  configPath(scope: Scope) {
    return scope === 'user' ? '~/.mytool/mcp.json' : '.mytool/mcp.json'
  },

  toNative(ir) {
    return irToClaudeShape(ir) // or write your own shape
  },

  write(scope, ir, dryRun) {
    return mergeJson(this.configPath(scope), 'mcpServers', ir.name, this.toNative(ir), dryRun)
  },

  restartHint: 'Restart My Tool to load the new server.',
}

2. Register it in src/targets/index.ts:

import { myTool } from './newtool.ts'

export const ALL_TARGETS: Target[] = [
  // ... existing targets
  myTool,
]

That's it. The CLI picks it up automatically.

Shape helpers available in _base.ts:

Merger helpers available in core/merger.ts:

Development

# Clone
git clone https://github.com/vishmathpati/mcpwire.git
cd mcpwire

# Install deps
bun install

# Run locally
bun dev

# Run tests
bun test.ts

# Build
bun run build

License

MIT — vishmathpati