config Command

Show, validate, and manage MCP Standards Server configuration.

Synopsis

mcp-standards config [options]

Description

The config command helps you view, validate, and manage configuration files for the MCP Standards Server. It supports multiple configuration formats and provides tools for migration and validation.

Options

--show

Display current configuration.

mcp-standards config --show

--validate

Validate configuration file syntax and values.

mcp-standards config --validate

--init

Initialize a new configuration file with defaults.

mcp-standards config --init

--edit

Open configuration in default editor.

mcp-standards config --edit

--get <key>

Get a specific configuration value.

mcp-standards config --get repository.owner

--set <key> <value>

Set a specific configuration value.

mcp-standards config --set sync.cache_ttl_hours 48

--migrate

Migrate configuration from older format.

mcp-standards config --migrate

--schema

Show configuration schema.

mcp-standards config --schema

Examples

Show Configuration

mcp-standards config --show

Output:

# Current configuration from: /home/user/.config/mcp-standards/config.yaml

repository:
  owner: williamzujkowski
  repo: standards
  branch: main
  path: standards
  auth:
    type: none  # or 'token', 'app'

sync:
  cache_ttl_hours: 24
  parallel_downloads: 5
  retry_attempts: 3
  timeout_seconds: 30
  include_patterns:
    - "*.yaml"
    - "*.md"
  exclude_patterns:
    - "*.draft.*"
    - ".git*"

cache:
  directory: ~/.cache/mcp-standards
  max_size_mb: 500
  compression: true
  auto_cleanup:
    enabled: true
    threshold_percent: 80

search:
  enabled: true
  model: sentence-transformers/all-MiniLM-L6-v2
  index_on_sync: true
  cache_embeddings: true

server:
  host: localhost
  port: 3000
  log_level: info
  token_optimization:
    enabled: true
    default_budget: 8000
    model_type: gpt-4

validation:
  enabled: true
  strict_mode: false
  custom_rules: []

Validate Configuration

mcp-standards config --validate

Output:

Validating configuration file: /home/user/.config/mcp-standards/config.yaml

✓ File exists and is readable
✓ YAML syntax is valid
✓ Required fields present
✓ Repository configuration valid
✓ Sync settings within allowed ranges
✓ Cache directory writable
⚠ Authentication not configured (using anonymous access)

Configuration is valid with 1 warning

Suggestions:
- Consider configuring GitHub authentication for higher rate limits
- Run 'mcp-standards config --set repository.auth.type token' to configure

Initialize Configuration

# Create default configuration
mcp-standards config --init

Output:

Creating configuration file: /home/user/.config/mcp-standards/config.yaml

? Repository owner: williamzujkowski
? Repository name: standards
? Branch: main
? Path in repository: standards
? Cache directory: (~/.cache/mcp-standards) 
? Configure GitHub authentication? No
? Enable semantic search? Yes

Configuration file created successfully!

Next steps:
- Review configuration: mcp-standards config --show
- Test sync: mcp-standards sync --check
- Start server: mcp-standards serve

Get/Set Configuration Values

# Get a specific value
mcp-standards config --get sync.cache_ttl_hours
24

# Set a value
mcp-standards config --set sync.cache_ttl_hours 48
Configuration updated: sync.cache_ttl_hours = 48

# Get nested values
mcp-standards config --get repository.owner
williamzujkowski

# Set complex values
mcp-standards config --set sync.include_patterns '["*.yaml", "*.json", "*.md"]'
Configuration updated: sync.include_patterns = ["*.yaml", "*.json", "*.md"]

Edit Configuration

# Open in default editor
mcp-standards config --edit

# Opens $EDITOR or falls back to nano/vi

Show Configuration Schema

mcp-standards config --schema

Output:

{
  "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
  "title": "MCP Standards Server Configuration",
  "type": "object",
  "required": ["repository", "sync", "cache"],
  "properties": {
    "repository": {
      "type": "object",
      "required": ["owner", "repo", "branch", "path"],
      "properties": {
        "owner": {
          "type": "string",
          "description": "GitHub repository owner"
        },
        "repo": {
          "type": "string",
          "description": "GitHub repository name"
        },
        "branch": {
          "type": "string",
          "default": "main",
          "description": "Branch to sync from"
        },
        "path": {
          "type": "string",
          "description": "Path within repository"
        },
        "auth": {
          "type": "object",
          "properties": {
            "type": {
              "enum": ["none", "token", "app"],
              "default": "none"
            },
            "token": {
              "type": "string",
              "description": "GitHub personal access token"
            }
          }
        }
      }
    },
    "sync": {
      "type": "object",
      "properties": {
        "cache_ttl_hours": {
          "type": "integer",
          "minimum": 1,
          "default": 24
        },
        "parallel_downloads": {
          "type": "integer",
          "minimum": 1,
          "maximum": 20,
          "default": 5
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Configuration Sources

Configuration is loaded from multiple sources in order of precedence:

1. Default Configuration (built-in)
2. System Configuration: /etc/mcp-standards/config.yaml
3. User Configuration: ~/.config/mcp-standards/config.yaml
4. Project Configuration: ./.mcp-standards.yaml
5. Environment Variables: MCP_STANDARDS_*
6. Command Line Options: --config, --set

Environment Variables

All configuration options can be set via environment variables:

# Repository settings
export MCP_STANDARDS_REPOSITORY_OWNER=williamzujkowski
export MCP_STANDARDS_REPOSITORY_REPO=standards
export MCP_STANDARDS_REPOSITORY_BRANCH=main

# Sync settings
export MCP_STANDARDS_SYNC_CACHE_TTL_HOURS=48
export MCP_STANDARDS_SYNC_PARALLEL_DOWNLOADS=10

# Cache settings
export MCP_STANDARDS_CACHE_DIRECTORY=/var/cache/mcp-standards
export MCP_STANDARDS_CACHE_MAX_SIZE_MB=1000

# Authentication
export MCP_STANDARDS_REPOSITORY_AUTH_TOKEN=ghp_xxxxxxxxxxxx

Authentication Configuration

Personal Access Token

# Set GitHub token
mcp-standards config --set repository.auth.type token
mcp-standards config --set repository.auth.token "ghp_xxxxxxxxxxxx"

# Or use environment variable
export MCP_STANDARDS_REPOSITORY_AUTH_TOKEN=ghp_xxxxxxxxxxxx

GitHub App

repository:
  auth:
    type: app
    app_id: 123456
    private_key_path: ~/.config/mcp-standards/github-app.pem
    installation_id: 789012

Migration from Older Versions

# Migrate from v1 configuration
mcp-standards config --migrate

Output:

Detecting configuration format...
Found v1 configuration at: ~/.mcp-standards.json

Migrating configuration:
✓ Repository settings
✓ Cache settings
✓ New sync options added with defaults
✓ Search configuration added

Backup created: ~/.mcp-standards.json.backup
New configuration saved: ~/.config/mcp-standards/config.yaml

Migration completed successfully!
Please review the new configuration: mcp-standards config --show

Advanced Configuration

Multiple Profiles

# Use different configurations for different projects
mcp-standards -c ./web-project.yaml sync
mcp-standards -c ./api-project.yaml sync

# Or use environment variable
export MCP_STANDARDS_CONFIG=./custom-config.yaml
mcp-standards sync

Configuration Templates

# Generate template for CI/CD
mcp-standards config --template ci > .github/mcp-standards.yaml

# Generate template for development
mcp-standards config --template dev > .mcp-standards.dev.yaml

Validation Rules

# Custom validation rules
validation:
  enabled: true
  custom_rules:
    - name: require-auth
      description: Ensure authentication is configured
      rule: repository.auth.type != "none"
      severity: warning

    - name: min-cache-ttl
      description: Ensure reasonable cache TTL
      rule: sync.cache_ttl_hours >= 12
      severity: error

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

# Debug configuration loading
MCP_LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG mcp-standards config --show

# Check which config file is being used
mcp-standards config --which
/home/user/.config/mcp-standards/config.yaml

# Validate without loading
mcp-standards config --validate --file ./test-config.yaml

Configuration Conflicts

When multiple configuration sources are present:

# Show effective configuration with sources
mcp-standards config --show --sources

Output:

# Effective configuration (merged from multiple sources)
repository:
  owner: williamzujkowski  # from: user config
  repo: standards         # from: user config
  branch: develop        # from: environment variable

sync:
  cache_ttl_hours: 48    # from: command line --set
  parallel_downloads: 5   # from: default config

Related Commands

• sync - Use the configuration to sync standards
• serve - Start server with configuration
• validate - Validate code using configuration