Using MCP in the CLI

The Kilo Code CLI supports MCP servers, but uses a different configuration path than the VS Code extension.

Configuration Location

Environment	MCP Settings Path
CLI	~/.kilocode/cli/global/settings/mcp_settings.json
VS Code	VS Code's global storage directory

MCP servers configured in VS Code are not automatically available in the CLI. You must configure them separately.

Configuration Format

Edit ~/.kilocode/cli/global/settings/mcp_settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "server-name": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/server.js"],
      "env": {
        "API_KEY": "your_api_key"
      },
      "alwaysAllow": ["tool1", "tool2"],
      "disabled": false
    }
  }
}

Transport Types

STDIO (Local Servers)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "local-server": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/server.js"],
      "env": {}
    }
  }
}

Streamable HTTP (Remote Servers)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "remote-server": {
      "type": "streamable-http",
      "url": "https://your-server.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer token"
      }
    }
  }
}

Project-Level Configuration

You can define MCP servers per-project by creating .kilocode/mcp.json in your project root. Project-level servers take precedence over global settings.

Configuration Options

Option	Description
command	Executable to run (STDIO)
args	Command arguments (STDIO)
env	Environment variables
type	Transport type: stdio (default), streamable-http, sse
url	Server URL (HTTP transports)
headers	HTTP headers (HTTP transports)
alwaysAllow	Array of tool names to auto-approve
disabled	Set true to disable without removing
timeout	Request timeout in seconds (default: 60)

Auto-Approval

MCP auto-approval is controlled via CLI config (kilocode config):

{
  "autoApproval": {
    "mcp": {
      "enabled": true
    }
  }
}

Or via environment variable:

export KILO_AUTO_APPROVAL_MCP_ENABLED=true

Per-tool auto-approval uses the alwaysAllow array in the server configuration.