simple-mcp-manager — MCP Server Manager

Monitor and restart MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers for Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, Claude Desktop, Claude Code, and GitHub Copilot from one terminal. A lightweight TUI (terminal UI) that discovers your MCP configs, shows which servers are running or stopped, and lets you kill or restart them—no install into any AI tool required.

Works on Windows, macOS, Linux, and WSL.

Quick Start (no install)

Run with npx — no clone or global install needed:

# Terminal UI mode (default)
npx simple-mcp-manager

# Web UI mode - opens in your browser at http://localhost:3000
npx simple-mcp-manager --ui

# Web UI mode with custom port
npx simple-mcp-manager --ui --port 8080

Or install and run:

npm install -g simple-mcp-manager
mcp-manager              # Terminal UI mode (default)
mcp-manager --ui         # Web UI mode

Or clone and run locally:

git clone https://github.com/tamb/simple-mcp-manager.git
cd simple-mcp-manager
npm install
npm start                # Terminal UI mode
npm run start:ui         # Web UI mode

What is this?

A standalone CLI you run in a separate terminal. It is not an MCP server and does not need to be installed into Cursor, VS Code, or any other tool. It:

• Scans MCP config files for all supported AI tools
• Lists every configured MCP server with run/stop status
• Lets you restart, kill, or restart all stopped servers from the TUI
• Works across Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, Claude Desktop, Claude Code, and GitHub Copilot in one place

Supported tools & config locations

Tool	Config locations
Cursor	~/.cursor/mcp.json, %APPDATA%\Cursor\User\mcp.json, per-project in ~/.cursor/projects/*/mcp.json, workspace .cursor/mcp.json
VS Code	~/.vscode/mcp.json, %APPDATA%\Code\User\mcp.json (Win), ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/mcp.json (Mac), ~/.config/Code/User/mcp.json (Linux), workspace .vscode/mcp.json
Windsurf	~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json, %APPDATA%\Windsurf\User\mcp_config.json (Win), ~/Library/Application Support/Windsurf/User/mcp_config.json (Mac), ~/.config/Windsurf/User/mcp_config.json (Linux), workspace .windsurf/mcp.json
Claude Desktop	%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Win), ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (Mac), ~/.config/claude/claude_desktop_config.json (Linux)
Claude Code	~/.claude/mcp.json, ~/.claude.json, workspace .claude/mcp.json
GitHub Copilot	~/.mcp.json, workspace .mcp.json

Most tools use { "mcpServers": { ... } }; GitHub Copilot and VS Code use { "servers": { ... } }. The manager auto-detects both.

Keybindings (Terminal UI)

Key	Action
r	Restart the selected server
k	Kill the selected server
K	Kill all running servers
a	Restart all stopped servers
F5	Manual refresh
d	Show server details
Up/Down	Navigate server list
q	Quit

Web UI Mode

Run with the --ui flag to start a web-based interface accessible at http://localhost:3000 (or the next available port):

mcp-manager --ui

The Web UI provides the same functionality as the terminal UI but in your browser:

• Visual server table with sortable columns and color-coded status indicators
• Real-time updates every 5 seconds (15 seconds on WSL)
• One-click actions: Restart, Kill, Kill All, Restart All Stopped
• Server details modal with full configuration and environment variables (secrets masked)
• Log viewer for servers started by the manager
• Activity log showing all actions and results
• Keyboard shortcuts matching the terminal UI:
  • r - Restart selected server
  • k - Kill selected server
  • K - Kill all running servers
  • a - Restart all stopped servers
  • d - Show server details
  • l - Show server logs (from details modal)
  • F5 - Refresh server list
  • Esc / Enter - Close modals
  • ↑ / ↓ - Navigate server list

The Web UI is a self-contained single-page application with no external dependencies — it works entirely offline after the initial page load.

Port Configuration

The Web UI listens on port 3000 by default. If that port is in use, it automatically tries 3001, 3002, etc., up to 3010. You can specify a custom port using the --port flag:

mcp-manager --ui --port 8080

Cross-platform support

Feature	Windows	macOS	Linux	WSL
Process detection	PowerShell	ps aux	ps aux	PowerShell (Windows processes)
Kill process	taskkill /PID /F (per process)	kill SIGTERM/SIGKILL	kill SIGTERM/SIGKILL	taskkill.exe /PID /F
Spawn process	shell: true for .cmd	detached	detached	cmd.exe /C (Windows side)

On WSL, the manager detects Windows processes so it can see servers started by Cursor, VS Code, or Copilot on the Windows side; refresh runs every 15s there to avoid slow PowerShell queries.

How it works

1. Scans all known config file locations for each supported tool
2. Parses mcpServers (or servers) from each config
3. Matches running processes to each server’s command/package name
4. Shows everything in a live-updating table grouped by tool
5. Auto-refreshes every 5 seconds (15 seconds on WSL)
6. Detail view (d) shows full config path and environment variables (secrets masked)

Requirements

• Node.js >= 18

Links

• Repository: github.com/tamb/simple-mcp-manager
• npm: simple-mcp-manager
• Model Context Protocol (MCP): modelcontextprotocol.io