mcpock

A small Mac menu bar app that checks every MCP server your AI agents use, and tells you which ones are broken, slow, waiting for a sign-in, or set up differently from one agent to the next.

MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers are the small programs that give agents like Claude Code, Cursor or Codex their extra tools. mcpock finds them in your agents' config files, starts each one the way the agent would, and checks that it answers.

Why

When you use more than one agent, the same MCP server ends up in five config files, each written a little differently. One day a tool quietly stops working in one agent and not the others, and you only notice when a task fails halfway. The agent rarely says why.

mcpock gives you one place to look. It never changes your configs: it reads them, checks every server, and shows you what needs attention and why, so you (or your agent) can fix it.

What's new in 1.13

• Next step: every reason has a line under it saying what to do, on the card, in status.md and in mcpock_problems.
• A fix turns green by itself: save a changed config and mcpock checks that server again within seconds, with no click. Nothing is written.
• Smaller: the footer says two numbers, three ways to copy instead of six, a shorter Settings > General, and Usage counts as one switch, off for new installs.

Full notes: 1.13.0. Earlier: 1.12.2, 1.12.1, 1.12.0.

What it does

• Finds your servers automatically. It knows the config files of the common agents and also scans the usual config folders for anything written in a standard MCP format. The same server in several agents shows as one row.

• Checks each one. It starts a local server (or calls a remote one), does the MCP handshake, asks for its tool list, then closes it. Every 15 minutes by default (1 minute to 4 hours, or only when you click Refresh). It also watches the config files it knows, without writing to them: a saved change is read within seconds and only the servers it touched are checked (not in Manual). A config file in a new place is found at launch or when you click Refresh. A server that is already fine keeps its tool list between rounds; Refresh and Check again ask for it anew.

• Shows health as a shape, not only a colour:

  | Shape | Means | |-------|-------| | Filled dot (green) | Fine: it started and listed its tools | | Ring (amber) | Slow (no answer in 20 s, tried twice; 10 s for a remote server) or needs sign-in (HTTP 401/403) | | Ring (grey) | Still checking | | Diamond (red) | Broken: could not start, quit on start, or refused the handshake | | Dash (grey) | Paused by you, or runs inside its own app and can't be checked from outside, or Needs Wake open: it belongs to a Mac app that is closed (not broken; it is checked again as soon as the app opens) |

• Spots servers set up differently. When one agent launches a different command or address than the others (often an old path), the row says so, and Compare shows each agent's version side by side. The same runtime in another folder (npx here, an agent's own ~/.agent/node/bin/npx there) is not a difference. If the agents are meant to differ, choose Mark as intended on the card (or Mark as Intended in the right-click menu).

• Problems first. The list starts with Needs you, then your pinned servers, then everything else. One toggle in the footer shows only problems.

• Agents tab. The panel opens here: one row per agent with a small health bar that grows in after each check. Open an agent to see its servers (the first 5, +N more for the rest; servers that need you always show) and its config file. With the problems toggle on, agents with nothing wrong stay listed below, faded.

• Usage counts, if you want them. One switch in Settings > General, off for a new install. Then, next to each server under an agent: how many times that agent called it in the last 30 days. Read from the agent's own history on your Mac: Claude Code, Grok, Cursor and Hermes today. A dash means that agent keeps no record mcpock can read yet.

• Detail card. Click a row: the full error (with Ask an agent and Copy errors), which agents use the server and where their config lives, its tools (name and short description; +N more lists them all), and Check again, Pin and Hide. While a server is re-checked, its row shows a small spinning mark.

• Lost in a session. When a server drops inside a Claude Code session that is still open (a short network blip), its row says "Lost in 1 open Claude Code session: run /mcp there", even while mcpock's own check reaches it. Read from Claude Code's own session and server logs on your Mac.

• Quiet menu bar icon. Plain when all is fine, a small ring when something is slow or needs a look, a small diamond when something is broken. No numbers, no blinking, no notifications.

• Keyboard friendly. Control-Option-M opens and closes the panel from any app (pick your own keys, or turn it off, in Settings > General). Arrow keys move (on the Agents tab, Right and Left open and close an agent), Return opens the card, Escape closes, Cmd-F searches servers, agents and tool names, Cmd-R checks the selected row again (or every server), Cmd-C copies the selected row's error (or its details).

• Desktop widgets. Status (small), Problems (up to four servers that need you) and Agents (up to five agents, the ones that need you first), both medium: right-click the desktop, Edit Widgets…, search mcpock. They update after each check.

• Glass theme. Apple's Liquid Glass for the panel, the card and Settings, following light/dark and your Clear/Tinted setting. On macOS 27 the panel is its own see-through window, so the glass shows your real desktop.

• Settings: appearance (System, Dark, Light, Glass), how often to check, Open at Login, pin / show / hide each server, the list of agents found, export of all errors (Markdown or JSON), and Connect for your agents.

• Lets your agents ask it. A small read-only MCP server ships inside the app, so you can say "check my mcpock" to an agent instead of pasting errors.

Install

1. Download mcpock.dmg from the Releases page.
2. Open it and drag mcpock to Applications. The app is signed and notarized by Apple, so it opens without warnings.
3. Launch it. mcpock lives only in the menu bar (look for the server-rack icon); there is no Dock icon and no window.

Needs macOS 26 or later on Apple Silicon.

First launch, good to know:

• mcpock starts checking as soon as it launches, before you open the panel. On a Mac with many agents the first check takes a while (slow servers get 20 seconds); the footer counts it ("Checking 12 of 30").
• If one of your servers lives in Documents, Desktop or Downloads, macOS asks whether mcpock may open that folder. Click Allow: mcpock has to start the server from there to check it. If you clicked Don't Allow, turn it on in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Files and Folders (or Full Disk Access).
• Turn on Open at Login in Settings > General if you want it always there.

Quick start

1. Click the menu bar icon. The panel opens on the Agents tab: one row per agent, the ones that need you first; open one to see its servers. The Servers tab lists every server, problems first.
2. Click a row that needs you. The card says why, in plain words.
3. Click Copy errors (or Ask an agent) and paste it to your agent, or fix the config yourself.
4. Save the fix. mcpock sees the changed config within seconds and checks that server again, so the row turns green by itself. Check again on the card (or Cmd-R) does it at once; with checks set to Manual, it waits for you.
5. Right-click any server for Pause, Pin, Hide, Copy Errors and Ask an Agent (a prompt that asks an agent to look into the problem and advise you before it changes anything). Pause a server that opens a login page or an app each time it starts. Right-click the summary at the bottom of the panel for Copy All Problems.

Connect your agents

mcpock includes mcpock-mcp, a small MCP server your agents can call. It only reads the status file mcpock writes after each check (~/Library/Application Support/mcpock/status.json); it never starts a server and never changes anything.

The easy way: Settings > Connect > Copy for Claude, then paste into Claude Code. The prompt walks Claude through finding your agent configs, backing each one up, adding mcpock where it's missing (in each file's own format) and testing it.

By hand: Settings > Connect lists your agents and shows which ones already have mcpock (Connected, Not connected, Not on this Mac), with a copy button per agent for the right line. mcpock only reads these files; you or your agent paste the line. For Claude Code:

claude mcp add --scope user mcpock -- /Applications/mcpock.app/Contents/Helpers/mcpock-mcp

For agents that use mcpServers JSON (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, Cline and most others):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcpock": {
      "command": "/Applications/mcpock.app/Contents/Helpers/mcpock-mcp",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

Then ask your agent to "check my mcpock". The tools it gets:

| Tool | Answers | |------|---------| | mcpock_status | Counts: how many servers are fine, broken, slow, need a sign-in or are set up differently, and when mcpock last checked | | mcpock_problems | Every server that needs attention, with the reason, the agents and the config files involved | | mcpock_server | Everything about one server, by name |

All three are read-only. Secrets are masked (see below). If mcpock isn't running, hasn't checked yet, or its results are old, the answer says so.

Try it from Terminal:

printf '%s\n' \
  '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"initialize","params":{"protocolVersion":"2025-06-18","capabilities":{},"clientInfo":{"name":"check","version":"1"}}}' \
  '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":2,"method":"tools/list"}' \
  | /Applications/mcpock.app/Contents/Helpers/mcpock-mcp

Supported agents

mcpock reads these files directly. Anything else that writes one of the standard formats (JSON mcpServers, servers or mcp; TOML [mcp_servers.*]; YAML extensions: or mcp_servers:) in ~/.config, ~/Library/Application Support or a hidden folder in your home fol