Runtime Modes

MCP Optimizer supports two runtime modes for deploying and managing MCP servers:

Modes

Docker Mode (default)

In Docker mode, MCP servers are deployed and managed as Docker containers.

K8s Mode

In Kubernetes mode, MCP servers are deployed and managed as Kubernetes workloads (pods, deployments, etc.).

Configuration

The runtime mode can be configured in three ways:

1. Command Line Option

# Set to k8s mode
mtm --runtime-mode k8s

# Set to docker mode (default)
mtm --runtime-mode docker

2. Environment Variable

# Set to k8s mode
export RUNTIME_MODE=k8s
mtm

# Set to docker mode
export RUNTIME_MODE=docker
mtm

3. Default Behavior

If neither the command line option nor environment variable is set, the system defaults to docker mode.

Priority

When both command line and environment variable are set, the command line option takes precedence.

Accessing Runtime Mode in Code

The runtime mode is available throughout the application via the configuration object:

from mcp_optimizer.config import get_config

config = get_config()
runtime_mode = config.runtime_mode

if runtime_mode == "k8s":
    # K8s-specific logic
    pass
elif runtime_mode == "docker":
    # Docker-specific logic
    pass

Examples

Running with K8s mode

# Using CLI option
mtm --runtime-mode k8s

# Using environment variable
RUNTIME_MODE=k8s mtm

# In Docker with environment variable
docker run -e RUNTIME_MODE=k8s mcp-optimizer

Running with Docker mode (default)

# Default behavior
mtm

# Explicit CLI option
mtm --runtime-mode docker

# Using environment variable
RUNTIME_MODE=docker mtm

Validation

The runtime mode is validated at startup and must be either docker or k8s. The validation is case-insensitive, so values like DOCKER, Docker, K8S, or k8s are all valid and will be normalized to lowercase. Any value other than a case variation of docker or k8s will cause a configuration error and the application will fail to start.