Environment & Installation

You manage MCP servers and their configurations from a centralized Environment & Installation Manager. It helps you securely store environment variables, switch between project profiles, install MCP packages locally, watch for configuration changes, and auto-adjust settings to use locally installed packages.

How to use

You interact with the Environment & Installation Manager through a local MCP client or integrations like Claude for Desktop or Cursor. Start the MCP server to enable environment variable management, profile handling, and local package installation automation. Use profiles to separate settings for different projects, then assign environment variables to each profile with encryption for sensitive values. You can enable configuration watching to automatically adapt to changes and, when appropriate, turn on auto-localization to prefer locally installed packages.

In practice, you will:

• Create profiles for your development, staging, and production environments
• Set environment variables per profile, marking sensitive values when needed
• Install MCP packages locally so projects stay self-contained
• Enable watching so configurations respond to changes in your environment
• Start the MCP server in a mode that fits your workflow (stdio transport for local integrations or SSE for web-based integrations)

How to install

Prerequisites: ensure you have Node.js installed on your system to use npm, yarn, or pnpm for installation.

# Global installation with npm
npm install -g @devlimelabs/mcp-env-manager

# Or using yarn
yarn global add @devlimelabs/mcp-env-manager

# Or using pnpm
pnpm add -g @devlimelabs/mcp-env-manager

Configuration

Create and customize environment storage configuration in a local .env file based on the provided template.

# Copy the example configuration
cp .env.example .env

# Edit the configuration
nano .env

Security and local setup

Important environment variables control encryption and storage location.

MCP_ENV_ENCRYPTION_KEY=YOUR_SECURE_KEY_HERE
MCP_ENV_STORAGE_DIR=~/.mcp-env-manager

Starting the MCP server

Run the MCP server in a mode that suits your workflow. Use stdio transport for local desktop integrations or SSE for web-based integrations.

# Start with stdio transport (basic local workflow)
mcp-env-manager

# Start with SSE transport (web integration)
mcp-env-manager --sse --port 3000

Claude for Desktop and Cursor integration (example configurations)

Add the MCP server to Desktop or Cursor configurations to connect to the Environment Manager and use its tooling.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "env_manager": {
      "command": "mcp-env-manager",
      "displayName": "Environment & Installation Manager"
    }
  }
}

Tool usage examples

You can manage profiles, environment variables, and MCP installations using a set of commands exposed by the manager. Examples include creating profiles, setting environment variables, listing profiles, activating a profile, installing MCP packages, and configuring watchers.

Development

If you are developing this MCP environment manager, install dependencies, run in development mode, and execute tests.

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Start in development mode
npm run dev

# Run tests
npm test

# Build the package
npm run build

Docker deployment and containerized usage

You can deploy and run the manager using Docker or Docker Compose for isolated environments.

# Start the service with Docker Compose
docker-compose up -d

# View logs
docker-compose logs -f

# Stop the service
docker-compose down

Security considerations

Keep encryption keys secure and do not commit sensitive values to version control. Values are encrypted at rest using the configured encryption key.

Available tools

create-profile

Create a new environment profile to group settings for a project or environment.

list-profiles

List all existing environment profiles.

set-env-var

Set an environment variable for a specific profile, with an option to mark it as sensitive.

list-env-vars

List environment variables for a given profile.

activate-profile

Activate a specific profile so its settings and variables become active.

install-mcp

Install an MCP package locally to the current environment.

list-installed-mcps

Show MCP packages installed in the local environment.

update-mcp

Update a locally installed MCP package to the latest compatible version.

configure-watcher

Enable configuration watching to detect and respond to changes.

enable-auto-localize

Automatically prefer locally installed MCP packages when available.