mcpier

April 16, 2026 · View on GitHub

CLI for Pier — a self-hosted control plane for Model Context Protocol servers.

pier points at a Pier server running on your homelab and keeps every client machine in sync with it. One manifest on the server, one pier sync on every laptop. No API keys in ~/.claude.json. Install new MCPs with one command.

Install

npm i -g mcpier

Requires Node 20+. Installs the pier binary globally.

Prerequisites

A running Pier server. Deploy one in a single command — see the main repo for Docker, Docker Compose, and Kubernetes one-liners.

Quickstart

# Point CLI at your Pier server (once per machine)
pier login http://pier.homelab:8420 --token <your-device-token>

# Install an MCP — prompts for secrets, stores them on Pier, writes the client config
pier install brainstorm-mcp --location remote --sync claude-code

# Restart Claude Code → brainstorm_* tools live

Or scripted:

pier install brainstorm-mcp --location remote --non-interactive \
  --set openai_key=sk-... \
  --set gemini_key=... \
  --sync claude-code

Or from any git repo shipping a pier.yaml at its root:

pier install-git github.com/spranab/some-mcp --sync claude-code

Commands

Command	What it does
`pier login <server> --token <t>`	Save server URL + device token to `~/.config/pier/config.json`
`pier status`	Show server health, manifest summary, spawned MCPs, secret count
`pier install <name>`	Install from a subscribed catalog (interactive)
`pier install-git <url>`	Install from a git repo or raw `pier.yaml` URL
`pier sync`	Pull manifest + secrets and write client configs (default: `claude-code`)
`pier sync --clients claude-code,cursor,codex`	Sync multiple clients in one call
`pier secrets list`	List secret keys stored on the server (not values)
`pier secrets set <key> <value>`	Store a secret (AES-256-GCM encrypted at rest)
`pier backup -o <file>`	Download a JSON bundle (encrypted DB + manifest)
`pier restore <file>`	Restore from a bundle — same `PIER_MASTER_KEY` required

`install` options

Flag	Purpose
`--as <name>`	Install under a different manifest key
`--location <mode>`	Skip the where-to-run prompt: `local` (client spawns) or `remote` (Pier spawns, clients get a URL)
`--set <key=value>`	Pre-supply a secret (repeatable)
`--non-interactive`	Fail instead of asking for missing values
`--source <name>`	Narrow to a single subscribed catalog
`--sync <clients>`	Run `pier sync --clients <clients>` after install

Run pier <command> --help for full details.

Supported clients (via `pier sync`)

Claude Code (~/.claude.json)
Claude Desktop (platform-specific path)
Cursor (~/.cursor/mcp.json)
Codex (~/.codex/config.toml)

(Continue, Windsurf, and VS Code / GitHub Copilot support coming.)

Catalogs subscribed by default

registry.modelcontextprotocol.io — the official MCP Registry (namespace-verified)
mcpier-catalog — curated starter + community feeds

Anything not in a subscribed catalog installs one paste away via pier install-git.

Trust model

Pier's UI and CLI label sources by authority:

Source	Badge	Why
MCP Registry	✓ registry (green)	Reverse-DNS namespace verified via GitHub OAuth / DNS TXT — unforgeable per namespace
Subscribed `catalog.json` feeds	✓ curated (amber)	Maintainer-attested in PR; you trust the catalog
`install-git`	(no badge)	Explicit user confirmation; you trust the URL

License

MIT.