MCP

drwn mcp is the MCP-scoped namespace for inspecting and writing MCP server state. The two subcommands are read (list) and write (write); the write side is an alias for drwn write --mcp-only and shares the same materialization engine.

drwn mcp list

List MCP servers from the merged registry, with active state under the current effective config.

drwn mcp list
drwn mcp list --json

The merged registry is the built-in registry/mcp-servers.json unioned with the user MCP library at ~/.agents/drwn/mcp-servers/ and any MCP definitions declared by locked cards in the current project. User entries override built-in entries; card-declared definitions participate before project activation toggles are interpreted. Output columns are name, transport, active, targets.

drwn mcp list is project-aware: when run inside a configured project, the active set reflects the project overlay (<project>/.agents/drwn/config.json) and any extension-derived MCP state (e.g. extensions.parallel.mcp).

This command is read-only.

drwn mcp write

Write the effective MCP configuration into enabled downstream targets.

drwn mcp write --dry-run
drwn mcp write
drwn mcp write --target=claude
drwn mcp write --target=cursor
drwn mcp write --json

drwn mcp write is equivalent to drwn write --mcp-only. --dry-run previews changes without mutating files. --target limits the write to one of claude, codex, or cursor.

Where MCP definitions live

Source	Path	Owner
Built-in registry	registry/mcp-servers.json	packaged harness
User MCP library	~/.agents/drwn/mcp-servers/<id>.json	machine-local additions
Card-declared definitions	locked card manifests and card store content	card authors
Registry/target config	registry/config.json	packaged harness
Machine defaults	~/.agents/drwn/machine.json under defaults.mcpServers	machine-local
Project overlay	<project>/.agents/drwn/config.json	per-project

Inclusion rules

buildActiveServers decides which servers materialize for the active targets:

• If defaults.mcpServers is set, it acts as an allowlist — only listed servers are active.
• Otherwise: transport: "platform-provided" entries are always excluded (they live in the registry for documentation but are never written to downstream tool configs).
• Servers with optional: true are off by default; toggle them in the optional boolean map at defaults.optional.<name> (or the registry's optional map for machine writes).
• In a project, drwn add mcp <name> writes servers.<name>.enabled = true; this also enables optional MCPs declared only by locked cards.
• The Parallel MCP overlay is gated by config.parallel.mcp.enabled.
• Inside a project, extensions.parallel.mcp = true enables the project-local Parallel MCP overlay; the project overlay can also enable or disable any individual server.

Generated config

drwn write (and drwn mcp write) produce target-specific output:

• Claude: _drwn-managed mcpServers block inside ~/.claude/settings.json
• Codex: mcp_servers section rewrite inside ~/.codex/config.toml
• Cursor: ~/.cursor/mcp.json (or the project's .cursor/mcp.json) written directly as managed-content — drwn owns the whole file

Related

• Write — full materialization, including skills
• Status — see which MCP servers are active and why
• Doctor — detect MCP drift between recorded and live state