MCP servers

Connect local or remote Model Context Protocol servers and make their tools, prompts, and resources available to your agents.

Inspect connected servers

Type /extensions/mcp to open the read-only MCP browser.

1. Select a server and press Enter to inspect its tools and prompts.
2. Select a tool to inspect its input schema.
3. Select a prompt and press i to invoke it.
4. Press r to refresh connection state, or e to show the exact settings file and server entry to edit.

The browser distinguishes connected, declared, lost, and unavailable servers, so it is the quickest place to confirm that a configuration is live.

Configure servers

Add an mcpServers map to ~/.clarvis/settings.json for personal servers or .clarvis/settings.json for project-specific servers. Each map key becomes the server name:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "workspace-tools": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "bun",
      "args": ["run", "tooling/local-mcp.ts"],
      "env": {
        "SERVICE_TOKEN": "${SERVICE_TOKEN}"
      },
      "resources": true
    },
    "remote-docs": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.example.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ${MCP_TOKEN}"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace the example command and URL with servers you control. Keep credentials in environment variables: ${NAME} references are resolved when Clarvis connects, so secrets do not need to be stored in settings.json.

Choose the transport

• stdio requires command. It may also use args, env, shared, and resources; it must not use url or headers.
• http and sse require a well-formed http:// or https:// URL. They may use headers and resources; they must not use command, args, env, or shared.
• Omitting type selects stdio.

Set shared: true only when one long-lived stdio process can safely serve overlapping runs. A shared connection does not support MCP elicitation, so do not use it for a server that authenticates by asking the operator a question.

Resource support is on by default. When a server advertises resources, Clarvis adds <server>.list_resources and <server>.read_resource; set resources: false to suppress them.

Reference a server from an agent

Tools use the name <server>.<tool>. For example, a search tool from remote-docs is remote-docs.search.

Servers contributed by a plugin receive the plugin namespace:

quality-kit:checks.lint

Here quality-kit is the plugin, checks is the server, and lint is the tool. Use that full name in agent tool lists and hook match patterns.

Workspace trust applies

An unapproved repository may declare MCP servers, but Clarvis withholds them instead of launching or connecting to them. Type /workspace-trust to review the repository's executable configuration. Approval is for the workspace, not for an individual server.

See also

• Hooks
• Plugins
• Extensions reference