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MCP Client Setup

gum runs as an MCP stdio server. It does not open an HTTP listener.

Health Check

gum setup --dry-run
gum mcp --stdio --help
gum doctor --format=json

Use an absolute path if another program named gum is installed.

command -v gum
gum --version

Guided Setup

For common coding agents, let gum write the skill files and MCP config:

gum setup --target all --features skills,mcp --dry-run
gum setup --target all --features skills,mcp --yes

Use one target when you only want one client:

gum setup --target codex --scope user --yes
gum setup --target claude --scope project --yes
gum setup --target cursor --scope project --yes
gum setup --target gemini --scope user --yes

gum setup prints the files it writes and the next auth checks. Existing MCP config is merged. Existing skill files are skipped unless you pass --force.

Claude Desktop

Edit claude_desktop_config.json.

macOS path:

~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gum": {
      "command": "/absolute/path/to/gum",
      "args": ["mcp", "--stdio"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop after editing the file.

Claude Code

Use a project .mcp.json or the user-level Claude Code MCP config.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gum": {
      "command": "/absolute/path/to/gum",
      "args": ["mcp", "--stdio"]
    }
  }
}

Cursor

Edit ~/.cursor/mcp.json.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gum": {
      "command": "/absolute/path/to/gum",
      "args": ["mcp", "--stdio"]
    }
  }
}

Exposed Surface

At startup gum exposes a compact meta-tool surface plus selected convenience tools. The meta-tools cover search, describe, read, write, destructive confirmation, sandboxed code, gain/cache inspection, and polling. Use gum mcp --stdio --help or gum describe <op_id> for the exact surface in the binary you installed.

The server also exposes skills_list and skills_get. Agents can use those tools to load the same guidance shipped by gum skills list and gum skills show mcp.

The server also supports MCP resources, prompts, completions, roots-aware project lookup, cancellation, progress, and structured errors where the pinned MCP SDK supports them. It does not advertise unimplemented server capabilities.

Failure Checks

If the client does not show gum tools:

  1. Run gum mcp --stdio --help.
  2. Run gum doctor --format=json.
  3. Replace command: "gum" with an absolute path.
  4. Restart the client.
  5. Read the client's stderr log. gum must not print normal logs to stdout in MCP mode before the JSON-RPC handshake.

If auth fails inside the MCP client, fix it in the terminal first:

gum auth status
gum login --service gmail,calendar
gum doctor