Bob Shell supports the Model Context Protocol (MCP), allowing you to extend Bob's capabilities by connecting to external services and tools. This guide explains how to configure and use MCP servers with Bob Shell.

What is MCP?

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server acts as a bridge between Bob and external services like databases, APIs, or custom scripts. With MCP, you can extend Bob's capabilities beyond its built-in features.

MCP servers provide Bob with:

Tool discovery: Access to available tools with their descriptions and parameters
Tool invocation: The ability to call specific tools with arguments and receive structured responses
Resource access: The capability to read data from specific resources

Why use MCP?

Extend functionality: Add custom capabilities to Bob that aren't available out-of-the-box
Integrate with services: Connect Bob to your databases, APIs, and other systems
Automate workflows: Create specialized tools for your specific needs
Share capabilities: Distribute useful tools across your team

Configuring MCP servers

You can manage MCP server configurations at two levels:

Global configuration: Settings in <USER_HOME>/.bob/mcp_settings.json apply to all workspaces
Project-level configuration: Settings in .bob/mcp.json apply only to the current project

When a server name exists in both global and project configurations, the project-level configuration takes precedence.

Edit MCP settings files

Use Bob IDE, or another text editor, to modify your MCP settings files.

Refer to the following example:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "server1": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["/path/to/server.py"],
      "env": {
        "API_KEY": "your_api_key"
      },
      "alwaysAllow": ["tool1", "tool2"],
      "disabled": false
    }
  }
}

Configuration properties

Each server configuration requires one of these properties:

command: Path to the executable for Stdio transport
url: SSE endpoint URL for remote servers
httpURL: HTTP endpoint URL for streamable http

Optional properties include:

args: Command-line arguments for Stdio transport
headers: Custom HTTP headers for SSE transport
env: Environment variables for the server process
cwd: Working directory for Stdio transport
timeout: Request timeout in milliseconds (default: 600,000ms; 10min)
alwaysAllow: Tool names to approve automatically
disabled: Set to true to disable the server

Transport types

MCP supports two ways to communicate with servers:

STDIO transport

STDIO transport runs servers locally on your machine:

Uses standard input/output streams for communication
Provides lower latency and better security
Runs as a child process on your machine

Example configuration:

{
 "mcpServers": {
   "local-server": {
     "command": "node",
     "args": ["server.js"],
     "cwd": "/path/to/project/Bob",
     "env": {
       "API_KEY": "your_api_key"
     },
     "alwaysAllow": ["tool1", "tool2"]
   }
 }
}

SSE transport

SSE transport connects to remote servers over HTTP/HTTPS:

Uses Server-Sent Events protocol
Works with servers hosted on different machines
Requires network access

Example configuration:

{
 "mcpServers": {
   "remote-server": {
     "url": "https://your-server-url.com/mcp",
     "headers": {
       "Authorization": "Bearer your-token"
     },
     "alwaysAllow": ["tool3"]
   }
 }
}

Platform-specific examples

Windows configuration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "puppeteer": {
      "command": "cmd",
      "args": [
        "/c",
        "npx",
        "-y",
        "@modelcontextprotocol/server-puppeteer"
      ]
    }
  }
}

macOS and Linux configuration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "puppeteer": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@modelcontextprotocol/server-puppeteer"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Runtime version manager configuration

When using version managers like asdf or mise:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-batchit": {
      "command": "mise",
      "args": [
        "x",
        "--",
        "node",
        "/Users/myself/workspace/mcp-batchit/build/index.js"
      ],
      "alwaysAllow": [
        "search",
        "batch_execute"
      ]
    }
  }
}

MCP

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