Requirements

mcpd does not require every runtime on every machine. Install the mcpd binary, then install the runtime(s) needed by the MCP servers you plan to run.

Runtime requirements

Use the package prefix in .mcpd.toml to tell which runtime a server needs:

Package Prefix	Install	Required When	URL
uvx::	uv	At least one configured server package starts with uvx::	https://docs.astral.sh/uv/getting-started/installation/
npx::	Node.js and npx	At least one configured server package starts with npx::, or you want to use mcpd inspector	https://docs.npmjs.com/downloading-and-installing-node-js-and-npm
docker::	Docker	At least one configured server package starts with docker::, or you want to run mcpd itself in Docker	https://www.docker.com/products/docker-desktop/

Quick start and tutorial

The quick start and tutorial use the time server through uvx, so uv is required for those examples.

Optional tools used in examples

Tool	Why You Might Want It	URL
curl	Calling the mcpd HTTP API from the shell	https://curl.se/
jq	Pretty-printing JSON responses in shell examples	https://jqlang.org/

Development-only requirements

Tool	Purpose	URL
Go >= 1.26.0	Building mcpd, running tests, and contributing to the Go codebase	https://go.dev/doc/install
uv	Building the GitBook docs site via make docs	https://docs.astral.sh/uv/getting-started/installation/

Internet Connectivity

mcpd typically needs internet access to resolve packages from remote registries and to download server dependencies on first run.