MCP Manager – CLI for Model Context Protocol Servers

TL;DR

TL;DR: MCP Manager is a Python CLI that centralizes Model Context Protocol server management — search, install, and configure servers for Claude Desktop, Cursor, and Claude Code from one tool.

Source and Accuracy Notes

• Project page: github.com/nstebbins/mcp-manager
• Source repository: github.com/nstebbins/mcp-manager
• PyPI package: pypi.org/project/mcp-manager
• License: GPL-3.0 (verified via repository)
• Latest release: v0.2.8 (2025-04-23)
• HN launch thread: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43774176

What Is MCP Manager?

MCP Manager solves a real workflow problem with the Model Context Protocol. As MCP servers accumulate across projects and clients, keeping track of which server is installed where, and managing configuration files manually, becomes tedious.

MCP Manager exposes a CLI that wraps the configuration for Claude Desktop, Cursor, and Claude Code under a unified interface. Instead of hand-editing JSON config files, you run commands:

mcp-manager search playwright
mcp-manager install github --client=cursor
mcp-manager list
mcp-manager uninstall filesystem --client=claude-desktop

The tool handles server discovery, dependency checking, and writing the correct per-client config format.

Setup

Prerequisites

• Python 3.9 or higher
• pip

Install

pip install mcp-manager

For development:

git clone https://github.com/nstebbins/mcp-manager.git
cd mcp-manager
poetry install

Available Commands

| Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | mcp-manager search <keyword> | Search for available MCP servers by keyword | | mcp-manager info <server-name> | Show detailed information about a specific server | | mcp-manager install <server-name> [--client=claude-desktop\|cursor\|claude-code] | Install a server for a specific client | | mcp-manager uninstall <server-name> [--client=claude-desktop\|cursor\|claude-code] | Remove a server from a client | | mcp-manager list | List all installed MCP servers | | mcp-manager config path [--client=...] | Show the config file path for a client | | mcp-manager config set-path <new-path> [--client=...] | Set a custom config path |

Supported Servers

MCP Manager ships with built-in support for these servers:

| Server | Description | Dependencies | |--------|-------------|--------------| | Playwright | Browser automation server for web interactions | Node.js, npm | | Filesystem | File system operations server | Node.js, npm | | Fetch | HTTP request server | Docker | | Git | Git operations server | Docker | | GitHub | GitHub API operations server | Docker | | Memory | Server for managing Claude memory | Docker |

Supported MCP Clients

• Claude Desktop (default)
• Cursor
• Claude Code

Practical Evaluation Checklist

After installing MCP Manager, here is a practical sequence to validate it works:

1. Run mcp-manager search github — confirm it finds the GitHub MCP server
2. Run mcp-manager info github — confirm it shows server details and dependencies
3. Run mcp-manager list — confirm it lists currently installed servers
4. Run mcp-manager config path — confirm it prints the Claude Desktop config path
5. Try mcp-manager install filesystem --client=cursor (on a test config) — confirm the config JSON updates correctly

FAQ

Q: Does MCP Manager require Docker for all servers? A: No. Playwright and Filesystem servers only need Node.js and npm. Fetch, Git, GitHub, and Memory servers require Docker.

Q: Can I use MCP Manager on Windows? A: MCP Manager is a Python CLI and should work on Windows via Python 3.9+. The repository does not list Windows-specific caveats.

Q: How does MCP Manager handle per-client config formats? A: MCP Manager abstracts the config path for each client. It reads the client’s existing config file and updates it in place with the correct JSON structure for the installed server.

Q: Is MCP Manager affiliated with Anthropic or the MCP specification? A: No. MCP Manager is an independent open-source tool by nstebbins, not an official Anthropic product.

Q: What happens if a server dependency is missing? A: MCP Manager performs automatic dependency checking before installation. It will report which dependency is missing and which package manager to use.

Conclusion

MCP Manager fills a specific gap in the MCP ecosystem: the lack of a unified CLI for managing servers across clients. If you run MCP servers across Claude Desktop, Cursor, or Claude Code, the search-install-list workflow is cleaner than hand-editing JSON configs. At 25 stars and active development (v0.2.8), it is a young but functional tool worth watching.

For a more complete picture, also look at the official MCP registry and Anthropic’s MCP documentation for the canonical server specification.