Getting Started

architect-mcp is a local-first MCP server for coding-agent work gates. It asks better intake questions, creates implementation contracts, reviews plans before edits, checks drift after edits, and requires verification evidence before final output.

Install From npm

The npm registry name architect-mcp is owned by a different package, so this project publishes as @tonycdr-prog/architect-mcp while keeping the architect-mcp command name.

npm install -g @tonycdr-prog/architect-mcp
architect-mcp

Run From Source

npm install
npm run build
node dist/index.js

Run The TUI

The optional terminal client is architect-mcp-tui. From a source checkout:

npm run tui:build
node bin/architect-mcp-tui.cjs

For scriptable automation:

architect-mcp-tui run --prompt "Build an offline recipe planner" --adapter codex --jsonl

Default Surface

The default MCP surface exposes only the eight core work-gate tools:

• grill_me
• create_pre_edit_contract
• review_build_plan
• review_proposed_file_plan
• review_repo_structure
• review_implementation_against_contract
• review_agent_final_response
• review_agent_session

Advanced Surface

Use the advanced surface when you need stack packs, standards intelligence, guarded MCP install plans, governance evals, operating-model evals, productization boundary evals, repo-quality gates, or local workspace utilities.

ARCHITECT_MCP_TOOL_SURFACE=advanced architect-mcp

The historical V3-V10 labels remain in filenames, tool names, scripts, and tests for compatibility. Public docs describe those areas as advanced maturity criteria rather than public product versions.

Verify The Checkout

Before releasing or making broad tool-surface changes, run:

npm run release:check

That includes npm run rust:check for the TUI workspace.

For normal development, run the narrower checks that match the change:

npm run typecheck
npm test
npm run build