Stdio servers

Add a stdio server from the CLI:

topchester mcp add filesystem -- npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem .
topchester mcp add github --env GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN=ghp_xxx -- npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/server-github

--env KEY=VALUE can be repeated. The -- separator marks the start of the server command and its args. The command writes to --config when provided, otherwise to the global user config at ~/.config/topchester/config.jsonc.

Configure MCP servers under mcp in normal Topchester config:

{
  "mcp": {
    "everything": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["./test/fixtures/mcp/stdio-server.js"],
      "env": {
        "EXAMPLE": "1",
      },
      "enabledTools": ["echo"],
      "timeoutMs": 5000,
    },
  },
}

Only type: "stdio" is accepted.

• command is a single executable name or path.
• args is the argv list passed without a shell.
• env adds string environment variables for the server process.
• enabled defaults to true.
• args and env default to empty values.
• timeoutMs applies to connect, list, and call requests.

MCP tools are exposed with stable Topchester tool names in the form mcp_<server>_<tool>, after sanitizing punctuation and casing. For example, server everything tool echo becomes mcp_everything_echo.

Prefer enabledTools so broad servers do not expose every available tool to the model.