Programmatic use

Install, list, and remove MCP servers from your own CLI or tool with the add-mcp SDK.

The add-mcp npm package doubles as a TypeScript SDK. If you’re building a CLI or developer tool that should set up an MCP server for its users (“add our MCP server to Cursor with one command”), the SDK gives you the same battle-tested config writing the CLI uses — every agent, every format, capability gating included.

Install

npm install add-mcp

pnpm add add-mcp

yarn add add-mcp

bun add add-mcp

Add a server to an agent

import { upsertServer } from "add-mcp";

// Remote server → project-level Cursor config (.cursor/mcp.json)
const result = upsertServer(
  "cursor",
  "context7",
  { type: "http", url: "https://mcp.context7.com/mcp" },
  { local: true },
);

if (!result.success) {
  console.error(result.error);
}
console.log(`written to ${result.path}`);

Stdio servers work the same way:

import { upsertServer } from "add-mcp";

// npm package → global Claude Code config
upsertServer("claude-code", "postgres", {
  command: "npx",
  args: ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-postgres"],
});

upsertServer and removeServer return { success, path, error? } rather than throwing, so a failed write in one agent never crashes your tool.

Detect the user’s agents

import { detectProjectAgents, detectGlobalAgents } from "add-mcp";

const project = detectProjectAgents("/path/to/project"); // sync
const global = await detectGlobalAgents(); // async

Combine detection with upsertServer to offer a one-command install across everything the user actually has:

import { detectProjectAgents, upsertServer } from "add-mcp";

for (const agent of detectProjectAgents(process.cwd())) {
  upsertServer(
    agent,
    "my-server",
    { type: "http", url: "https://mcp.example.com/mcp" },
    { local: true, cwd: process.cwd() },
  );
}

List and remove

import { listInstalledServers, removeServer } from "add-mcp";

const projectServers = await listInstalledServers({ cwd: "/path/to/project" });
const globalServers = await listInstalledServers({ global: true });

removeServer("claude-code", "example", {
  local: true,
  cwd: "/path/to/project",
});

Next steps

• API reference — every exported function and type.