mcpbar

MCP Bar is an all-in-one CLI manager for MCP servers, acting as a marketplace, installer, and configurator for the MCP ecosystem. It provides a centralized way to discover, install, enable, disable, and manage MCP servers from a registry of 1500+ ready-to-use servers, with an emphasis on a standardized manifest format (mcp.json) for interoperability. Users can search the registry, install servers from URLs, local manifests, or package aliases, and then control their lifecycle from a single CLI.

With MCP Bar you can install a server by pointing to a manifest, view your installed MCP servers, remove or reconfigure them, and start servers in standalone mode. It also supports editing client configurations for various MCP clients (like Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, Witsy, etc.), enabling a streamlined workflow for testing and running multiple MCP servers across environments. The tool exposes commands for listing, searching, installing, removing, and starting servers, making it straightforward to manage a growing collection of MCP deployments.

Prerequisites

• Node.js (LTS) and npm installed on your system
• Internet access to fetch packages from npm or URLs

Install MCP Bar globally

npm install -g mcpbar

Verify installation

mcpbar --version

Usage basics

• Search for MCP servers in the registry

  mcpbar search <query>
  mcpbar s <query>  # short alias
  

• Install a server from a manifest (local file, URL, or package alias)

  mcpbar install ./manifests/github.json
  mcpbar i 21st-dev/magic-mcp
  mcpbar install https://example.com/manifest.json
  mcpbar install file:///path/to/manifest.json
  

• List installed servers

  mcpbar list
  mcpbar ls
  

• Start a server in standalone mode

  mcpbar start <name>
  mcpbar s <name>
  

If you prefer not to install globally, you can also run MCP Bar via npx without a global install:

npx -y mcpbar <command> <args>

Tips and common issues:

• Ensure you are connected to the internet when installing from registry or external manifests.
• manifests may specify runtime or client configurations; use mcpbar edit to fine-tune those settings.
• When starting a server, check logs for environment variable needs (e.g., API keys, endpoints) and provide them via the client configuration or environment.
• The registry feature is optional but helpful for discovery; you can disable it if you prefer a private workflow.
• If you run into permission issues on Unix systems, consider using sudo for global installation, or install locally and reference the binary path.
• For security, avoid exposing sensitive inputs in public manifests; MCP Bar supports explicit handling of sensitive inputs during installation and configuration.