Automcp

automcp

AutoMCP detects your package manifest file and automatically adds relevant MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers to the coding agents it detects

Features

• 🔍 Auto-detects your coding agent (Cursor, VS Code, Claude Desktop)
• 📦 Scans your project dependencies from package.json
• 🔗 Resolves each package to its GitHub repository
• 🌐 Generates GitMCP server URLs automatically
• ✅ Never overwrites existing MCP server configurations
• 🚫 Prevents duplicates via smart URL normalization
• 🏃 Fast concurrent resolution with connection pooling
• 🧪 Dry-run mode to preview changes safely
• 🎯 Zero runtime dependencies — uses only Node.js built-ins

Install

You can run automcp with npx (no install required) or add it to your project.

npx automcp
# or
npm add -D automcp

Usage: CLI

npx automcp [options]

Options

• --dry-run: Show planned changes without writing
• --agent : Override detected agent (e.g., cursor, vscode)
• --config : Override MCP config file path
• --include-dev: Include devDependencies (default: false)
• --silent: Minimal output
• --json: JSON summary output
• -h, --help: Show help
• -v, --version: Show version

Examples

# Preview changes only
npx automcp --dry-run

# Explicitly target Cursor and a custom config path
npx automcp --agent cursor --config ~/.cursor/mcp.json

# Include devDependencies
npx automcp --include-dev

# JSON output for CI/automation
npx automcp --json

Understanding --agent and --config Flags

The --agent and --config flags are flexible and work independently or together. You don't need to provide both!

Usage Patterns

| Command | Agent Detection | Config Path | When to Use | |---------|----------------|-------------|-------------| | npx automcp | Auto-detected from .cursor/ or .vscode/ | Auto-detected | ✅ Recommended: Let AutoMCP detect everything | | npx automcp --agent cursor | Use "cursor" | Auto-resolves to .cursor/mcp.json | When you have multiple agents and want to target one | | npx automcp --config /path/to/mcp.json | Inferred from path | Use specified path | When config is in a custom location | | npx automcp --agent cursor --config /custom/path.json | Use "cursor" | Use specified path | Full manual control |

How Each Flag Works

Using --agent alone:

• Resolves the config path automatically based on the agent name
• cursor → .cursor/mcp.json in your project
• vscode → .vscode/mcp.json in your project
• Creates the file if it doesn't exist

Using --config alone:

• Infers the agent name from the path
• Path contains "cursor" → agent = "cursor"
• Path contains "vscode" → agent = "vscode"
• Path contains "claude" → agent = "claude-desktop"
• Otherwise → agent = "unknown"

Using both together:

• Explicitly sets both values with no auto-detection
• Useful for custom setups or non-standard paths

Examples

# Let AutoMCP detect both (most common)
npx automcp

# Target Cursor specifically, auto-resolve config path
npx automcp --agent cursor

# Use a custom config path, agent inferred as "cursor"
npx automcp --config ~/.cursor/mcp.json

# Use a custom config path, agent inferred as "unknown"
npx automcp --config /tmp/my-mcp-config.json

# Explicitly set both for full control
npx automcp --agent cursor --config /custom/location/mcp.json

How It Works

1. Detects your coding agent (Cursor, VS Code) and locates its local project MCP config file
2. Reads your package.json dependencies
3. Resolves each dependency to its GitHub repository via npm view
4. Builds GitMCP URLs in the format https://gitmcp.io/owner/repo
5. Updates your MCP config without overwriting existing entries or creating duplicates

> Note: AutoMCP only updates local project configurations (e.g., .cursor/mcp.json or .vscode/mcp.json in your project directory). It does not modify global agent configurations in your home directory.

Quick Start

# Run in your project directory
cd my-project
npx automcp

# Preview changes first
npx automcp --dry-run

# Include devDependencies
npx automcp --include-dev

Real-World Example

Given a project with these dependencies:

{
  "dependencies": {
    "express": "^4.18.0",
    "lodash": "^4.17.21",
    "axios": "^1.6.0"
  }
}

Running npx automcp will:

1. Detect your agent (e.g., Cursor at .cursor/mcp.json in your project)
2. Resolve GitHub repos:

• express → expressjs/express
• lodash → lodash/lodash
• axios → axios/axios

1. Add to your MCP config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "express Docs": {
      "url": "https://gitmcp.io/expressjs/express"
    },
    "lodash Docs": {
      "url": "https://gitmcp.io/lodash/lodash"
    },
    "axios Docs": {
      "url": "https://gitmcp.io/axios/axios"
    }
  }
}

Supported Agents

AutoMCP looks for agent configurations in the following locations:

• Cursor — .cursor/mcp.json (in your project directory)
• VS Code — .vscode/mcp.json (in your project directory)

Use --agent and --config flags to override auto-detection or to specify a custom config location.

> Important: AutoMCP only updates local project configurations. If no local agent configuration is found (e.g., no .cursor/ or .vscode/ directory in your project), the tool will exit without making changes. This prevents accidental updates to global configurations.

Troubleshooting

Agent not detected

npx automcp --agent cursor --config ~/.cursor/mcp.json

Permission errors Ensure you have write access to the MCP config directory.

Non-GitHub packages skipped Only packages with GitHub repositories are supported. Packages without a repository field or with non-GitHub URLs will be skipped.

URL resolution timeouts The CLI runs npm view with a 10-second timeout per package. Slow network or large dependency lists may take time.

Output Example

Standard output:

🔍 Agent: cursor
📝 Config: /Users/username/.cursor/mcp.json

✅ Added 3 MCP servers:

   • express Docs
     https://gitmcp.io/expressjs/express

   • lodash Docs
     https://gitmcp.io/lodash/lodash

   • axios Docs
     https://gitmcp.io/axios/axios

✨ MCP config updated successfully!

With dry-run:

🔍 Agent: cursor
📝 Config: /Users/username/.cursor/mcp.json
🧪 Dry-run mode: no files will be modified

✅ Added 5 MCP servers:

   • express Docs
     https://gitmcp.io/expressjs/express

   • lodash Docs
     https://gitmcp.io/lodash/lodash

💡 Run without --dry-run to apply these changes.

With duplicates:

🔍 Agent: cursor
📝 Config: /Users/username/.cursor/mcp.json

⏭️  Skipped 2 duplicates:

   • express Docs
     https://gitmcp.io/expressjs/express

   • lodash Docs
     https://gitmcp.io/lodash/lodash

JSON output (for CI/automation):

npx automcp --json

{
  "ok": true,
  "result": {
    "added": 3,
    "skipped": 0,
    "errors": 0,
    "addedServers": [
      {
        "name": "express Docs",
        "url": "https://gitmcp.io/expressjs/express"
      }
    ],
    "skippedServers": [],
    "configPath": "/Users/username/.cursor/mcp.json",
    "agentName": "cursor",
    "dryRun": false
  }
}

Node.js Compatibility

• Requires: Node.js >= 22.0.0
• Uses ES2022+ features and Node.js built-in APIs
• No external runtime dependencies

CI/CD Integration

Use --json and --silent flags for automation:

# GitHub Actions example
- name: Update MCP config
  run: |
    npx automcp --json --silent > result.json
    cat result.json

Exit codes:

• 0: Success (including when nothing to add)
• 1: Fatal error (config parse failure, permission denied, missing package.json)

Contributing

Please consult [CONTRIBUTING](./CONTRIBUTING.md) for guidelines on contributing to this project.

Author

automcp © Liran Tal, Released under the [Apache-2.0](./LICENSE) License.

Source & license

This open-source MCP server is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: lirantal
• Source: lirantal/automcp
• License: Apache-2.0
• Homepage: https://lirantal.com

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.