Build on Chief — MCP server, REST API, and CLI

First install the chief-mcp binary — see MCP server → Install. The quickest way to configure a client is the chief CLI (install it too), which fills in the installed binary path and your credentials:

chief mcp config claude   # Claude Code / Claude Desktop
chief mcp config cursor   # Cursor
chief mcp config codex    # Codex

It prints where each client expects the snippet:

Claude Code — .mcp.json (project) or ~/.claude.json (user), or run claude mcp add chief -- chief-mcp stdio
Cursor — .cursor/mcp.json (project) or ~/.cursor/mcp.json (global)
Codex — ~/.codex/config.toml (emitted as TOML)

No chief CLI? Every snippet below also works pasted in by hand — you only need the chief-mcp binary. To configure a client by hand, use the snippets below. Replace <api-key> and <project-id> with your values.

Stdio transport

Use stdio when the agent runs the server locally as a subprocess.

Claude Code
Claude Desktop
Cursor
Codex
VS Code

claude mcp add chief \
  -e CHIEF_API_KEY=<api-key> \
  -e CHIEF_PROJECT_ID=<project-id> \
  -- chief-mcp stdio

Open Settings → Developer → Edit Config and add:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "chief": {
      "command": "chief-mcp",
      "args": ["stdio"],
      "env": {
        "CHIEF_API_KEY": "<api-key>",
        "CHIEF_PROJECT_ID": "<project-id>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Open the command palette → Cursor Settings → MCP → Add new global MCP server, then add:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "chief": {
      "command": "chief-mcp",
      "args": ["stdio"],
      "env": {
        "CHIEF_API_KEY": "<api-key>",
        "CHIEF_PROJECT_ID": "<project-id>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Add to ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.chief]
command = "chief-mcp"
args = ["stdio"]
env = { CHIEF_API_KEY = "<api-key>", CHIEF_PROJECT_ID = "<project-id>" }

Create .vscode/mcp.json in your workspace (or add it to your user settings):

{
  "servers": {
    "chief": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "chief-mcp",
      "args": ["stdio"],
      "env": {
        "CHIEF_API_KEY": "<api-key>",
        "CHIEF_PROJECT_ID": "<project-id>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Windsurf and other clients that read an mcpServers block use the same snippet as Cursor.

HTTP transport

Use HTTP for remote or web-based integrations. Start the server, then point the client at its endpoint with credentials in the request headers.

chief-mcp http --addr :8080 --path /mcp

The server listens on http://localhost:8080 and exposes the MCP endpoint at /mcp using Streamable HTTP.

Claude Code
Cursor

claude mcp add chief --transport http http://localhost:8080/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer <api-key>" \
  --header "X-Project-Id: <project-id>"

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "chief": {
      "url": "http://localhost:8080/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer <api-key>",
        "X-Project-Id": "<project-id>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Verify the connection

After configuring a client, restart its session — MCP servers are long-lived stdio processes that don’t hot-reload.

Claude Code's /mcp panel showing the chief server connected with 44 tools — In Claude Code, /mcp shows the Chief server connected with all 44 tools.

Then ask the agent to list its tools, or test the server directly with the MCP Inspector (requires Node.js):

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector chief-mcp stdio

Click Connect, then List tools to confirm the server responds.

​Stdio transport

​HTTP transport

​Verify the connection

Stdio transport

HTTP transport

Verify the connection