Effortlessly Manage MCP Configurations with Cross-Platform MCP Manager CLI

Managing MCP (Model Context Protocol) configurations across different environments like Cursor and Claude Desktop can be a real headache. Copying files, keeping track of updates, merging configs, or sharing them between machines often turns into a manual, error-prone process.

That’s why we built Portable MCP Manager - an open-source, cross-platform CLI tool that makes managing, sharing, and syncing MCP configurations simple and reliable.

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✨ Why Portable MCP Manager?

Portable MCP Manager solves a common problem for developers and power users who rely on MCP-based tools. Instead of juggling files and paths across environments, you now have a single, streamlined way to:

• 🔄 Replace or merge configs from multiple sources

• 🔗 Fetch configs directly from URLs or GitHub Gists (even private ones)

• 📱 Manage configs for Cursor and Claude Desktop

• 🖥️ Run seamlessly on Windows and macOS

• 📤 Upload configs back to GitHub Gists with ease

• 🎯 Use an interactive mode if you prefer guided setup

• 🔀 Handle multi-file gists without hassle

• 🛠️ Take advantage of GitHub CLI if installed

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⚡ Getting Started

Install it globally via npm:

npm install -g portable-mcp

Or just run it on-demand with npx:

npx portable-mcp --help

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🚦 Quick Start

1. Interactive Mode (Beginner-Friendly)

portable-mcp

2. Replace a Configuration from Gist

portable-mcp replace --type cursor --gist 50007c6cd60db13cf8477b3b5caa96f0

3. Merge Configurations

portable-mcp merge --type claude --gist abc123def456

4. Upload Config to Gist

portable-mcp store --type cursor --private

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🔍 Example Workflows

Complete Sync Cycle

# Check default config path
portable-mcp path --type cursor  

# Replace with a config from Gist
portable-mcp replace --type cursor --gist abc123def456  

# Upload updated config back
portable-mcp store --type cursor --private

Multi-file Gist Example

portable-mcp replace --type claude --gist abc123def456/claude.json

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🔗 GitHub Integration

• If you have GitHub CLI installed, the tool uses it automatically.

• Otherwise, set a GITHUB_TOKEN for direct API uploads.

export GITHUB_TOKEN=ghp_your_personal_access_token_here

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📁 Supported Config Paths

• Cursor

  • Windows: C:\Users\<username>\.cursor\mcp.json

  • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Cursor/User/mcp.json

• Claude Desktop

  • Windows: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

  • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

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Source code: https://github.com/niradler/portable-mcp