Daemon

Commands for running the MCP gateway as a background service.

The daemon is the core of MCP Server Manager. It runs a gateway server that:

1. Manages all your configured MCP servers
2. Provides a single proxy endpoint at localhost:{port}/mcp
3. Routes requests from connected clients to your servers

How the Daemon and Gateway Work Together

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│          Your MCP Servers                    │
│  (filesystem, github, database, etc.)        │
└──────────────┬───────────────────────────────┘
               │
         ┌─────▼─────────┐
         │  mcpsm Daemon │
         │  (Gateway)    │
         └─────┬─────────┘
               │
      ┌────────┼────────┐
      │        │        │
   ┌──▼──┐  ┌─▼──┐  ┌──▼───┐
   │Claude│ │Cursor│ │ Windsurf│
   └──────┘  └──────┘  └────────┘

When you connect clients, they communicate with the daemon's gateway server. The daemon manages all your servers and proxies requests between clients and servers.

---

daemon start

Start the gateway daemon.

mcpsm daemon start [servers...] [options]

Options

Option	Description
--profile <name>	Start servers from a specific profile
--foreground	Run in foreground (not as daemon)

Examples

# Start all enabled servers
mcpsm daemon start

# Start specific servers
mcpsm daemon start filesystem github

# Start with a profile
mcpsm daemon start --profile work

# Run in foreground (useful for debugging)
mcpsm daemon start --foreground

What Happens

1. Selected servers are spawned
2. Gateway server starts on configured port (default: 8850)
3. Gateway listens on localhost:{port}/mcp
4. Process runs in background
5. PID is saved for later management
6. Connected clients can now access all running servers through the gateway

---

daemon stop

Stop the running daemon.

mcpsm daemon stop

This gracefully shuts down:

• All running MCP server processes
• The gateway HTTP server

---

daemon refresh

Refresh the running daemon configuration without restarting it.

mcpsm daemon refresh

Use this after editing servers or tool filters to push changes to the running gateway.

---

daemon status

Show daemon status.

mcpsm daemon status

Output

Gateway Status: RUNNING

  PID: 12345
  Port: 8850
  Uptime: 2h 15m

  Running Servers:
    ● filesystem    11 tools
    ● github        8 tools

Or if not running:

Gateway Status: STOPPED

---

daemon logs

View or manage daemon logs.

mcpsm daemon logs [options]

Options

Option	Description
-f, --follow	Follow log output (like tail -f)
-n, --lines <n>	Show last n lines (default: 50)
--clear	Clear log file

Examples

# View last 50 lines
mcpsm daemon logs

# View last 100 lines
mcpsm daemon logs -n 100

# Follow logs in real-time
mcpsm daemon logs -f

# Clear logs
mcpsm daemon logs --clear

Log Location

Logs are stored in ~/.mcp-manager/daemon.log

---

daemon startup

Manage auto-start on system boot.

mcpsm daemon startup <enable|disable|status>

Enable Auto-Start

mcpsm daemon startup enable

This creates:

• macOS: LaunchAgent plist in ~/Library/LaunchAgents/
• Linux: Systemd user service in ~/.config/systemd/user/
• Windows: Startup shortcut

Disable Auto-Start

mcpsm daemon startup disable

Check Status

mcpsm daemon startup status

---

Example: Production Setup

# Configure daemon
mcpsm settings set port 8080

# Create a production profile
mcpsm profile create production
mcpsm profile add production filesystem
mcpsm profile add production api-server

# Start with profile
mcpsm daemon start --profile production

# Enable auto-start
mcpsm daemon startup enable

# Verify
mcpsm daemon status
mcpsm daemon startup status

---

Troubleshooting

Daemon Won't Start

# Check logs
mcpsm daemon logs -n 100

# Try foreground mode
mcpsm daemon start --foreground

Port Already in Use

# Change port
mcpsm port 9000

# Restart daemon
mcpsm daemon stop
mcpsm daemon start

When you change the port, all connected clients are automatically updated with the new port.

Check Process Manually

# macOS/Linux
ps aux | grep mcpsm

# Check port (default 8850)
lsof -i :8850

---

Daemon and Client Connections

When you connect clients using mcpsm clients connect, each client gets a gateway server entry that points to the daemon's gateway:

{
  "mcpsm": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["mcp-server-manager", "daemon", "start"],
    "env": {
      "MCP_GATEWAY_URL": "http://localhost:{port}/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Keep the daemon running so clients can reach all your servers through the gateway.