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CLI Commands Reference

Complete reference for all MCP Standards Server CLI commands.

Global Options

All commands support these global options:

  • --help - Show help message
  • --version - Show version 1.0.0
  • --verbose, -v - Enable verbose output
  • --quiet, -q - Suppress output
  • --config CONFIG - Use specific configuration file

Commands Overview

Core Commands

  • serve - Start the MCP server
  • validate - Validate code against standards
  • query - Query standards database
  • sync - Synchronize standards from repository

Configuration Commands

Command Details

serve

Start the MCP Standards Server.

mcp-standards serve [OPTIONS]

Options: - --host HOST - Server host (default: 0.0.0.0) - --port PORT - Server port (default: 8080) - --reload - Enable auto-reload on code changes - --workers N - Number of worker processes

Examples: 

# Start server on default port
mcp-standards serve

# Start on specific port
mcp-standards serve --port 8081

# Development mode with auto-reload
mcp-standards serve --reload

validate

Validate code against development standards.

mcp-standards validate [PATH] [OPTIONS]

Arguments: - PATH - Path to validate (default: current directory)

Options: - --standard STANDARD - Use specific standard - --language LANG - Target language - --framework FRAMEWORK - Target framework - --fix - Auto-fix issues where possible - --format FORMAT - Output format (json, junit, sarif, text) - --severity LEVEL - Minimum severity (error, warning, info) - --output FILE - Output file

Examples: 

# Validate current directory
mcp-standards validate

# Validate specific path with auto-fix
mcp-standards validate ./src --fix

# Validate Python code with specific standard
mcp-standards validate --language python --standard pep8

# Output SARIF format for CI integration
mcp-standards validate --format sarif --output results.sarif

query

Query the standards database.

mcp-standards query [SUBCOMMAND] [OPTIONS]

Subcommands: - applicable - Find applicable standards - search - Search standards content - list - List all standards - show - Show specific standard

Options: - --project-type TYPE - Project type filter - --language LANG - Language filter - --framework FRAMEWORK - Framework filter - --tags TAGS - Tag filters - --format FORMAT - Output format

Examples: 

# Find applicable standards for web app
mcp-standards query applicable --project-type web_application

# Search for accessibility standards
mcp-standards query search "accessibility"

# Show specific standard
mcp-standards query show react-patterns

# List all Python standards
mcp-standards query list --language python

sync

Synchronize standards from remote repository.

mcp-standards sync [OPTIONS]

Options: - --force - Force full resync - --url URL - Custom repository URL - --branch BRANCH - Specific branch - --no-cache - Skip cache update

Examples: 

# Standard sync
mcp-standards sync

# Force full resync
mcp-standards sync --force

# Sync from custom repository
mcp-standards sync --url https://github.com/custom/standards

config

Manage configuration settings.

mcp-standards config [SUBCOMMAND] [OPTIONS]

Subcommands: - init - Initialize default configuration - show - Show current configuration - set - Set configuration value - get - Get configuration value - validate - Validate configuration - test - Test configuration

Examples: 

# Initialize configuration
mcp-standards config init

# Show current config
mcp-standards config show

# Set configuration value
mcp-standards config set server.port 8081

# Validate configuration
mcp-standards config validate

status

Show system status and health.

mcp-standards status [OPTIONS]

Options: - --detailed - Show detailed status - --json - JSON output format

Examples: 

# Basic status
mcp-standards status

# Detailed status
mcp-standards status --detailed

# JSON output for scripts
mcp-standards status --json

cache

Manage cache operations.

mcp-standards cache [SUBCOMMAND] [OPTIONS]

Subcommands: - clear - Clear cache - status - Show cache status - warm - Warm cache - stats - Show cache statistics

Examples: 

# Clear all cache
mcp-standards cache clear

# Show cache status
mcp-standards cache status

# Warm cache with common standards
mcp-standards cache warm

Exit Codes

  • 0 - Success
  • 1 - General error
  • 2 - Invalid arguments
  • 3 - Configuration error
  • 4 - Network error
  • 5 - Validation failures found

Environment Variables

  • MCP_CONFIG_FILE - Configuration file path
  • MCP_CACHE_DIR - Cache directory
  • MCP_LOG_LEVEL - Logging level
  • MCP_NO_COLOR - Disable colored output

Shell Completion

Enable shell completion:

# Bash
eval "$(mcp-standards completion bash)"

# Zsh
eval "$(mcp-standards completion zsh)"

# Fish
mcp-standards completion fish | source

Tips and Tricks

Batch Validation

# Validate multiple directories
find . -name "*.py" -exec dirname {} \; | sort -u | xargs -I {} mcp-standards validate {}

CI Integration

# GitHub Actions example
mcp-standards validate --format sarif --output results.sarif
gh api repos/:owner/:repo/code-scanning/sarifs --method POST --input results.sarif

Custom Standards Development

# Test custom standard during development
mcp-standards validate --standard ./custom-standard.yaml .