kiro-mcp

# Kiro MCP — Integration Report for Alph

Scope: essentials only for **Alph Phase-1** support of **all platforms** and **both local & remote** MCP servers under Kiro.

## 1) What Kiro supports (at a glance)

* **Config format & keys (JSON)** — top-level "mcpServers" map with per-server objects:

  * command (string, required), args (array, required), env (object, optional), disabled (bool), autoApprove (array of tool names). ([Kiro][1])

* **Config locations & precedence**

  * **User/global**: ~/.kiro/settings/mcp.json

  * **Workspace/project**: .kiro/settings/mcp.json

  * **Merge rule**: both are merged with **workspace taking precedence**. ([Kiro][1])

* **Transports**

  * **Native**: local **STDIO** (spawned via command/args). ([Kiro][1])

  * **Remote endpoints**: supported **indirectly** via the mcp-remote wrapper (SSE). ([Kiro][2])

  * (General MCP note: protocol defines **STDIO** and **HTTP/SSE** transports.) ([Model Context Protocol][3])

* **Enablement & UX**

  * Toggle MCP in **Settings**, manage connections in **MCP Servers** tab, and view **Kiro – MCP Logs** in the Output pane. ([Kiro][4])

* **Security**

  * Treat tokens as secrets, prefer env vars, restrict file permissions, be conservative with autoApprove. ([Kiro][5])

---

## 2) File paths Alph must write

Alph’s file writer should support both scopes and create parent directories.

| Scope | macOS/Linux | Windows (PowerShell) |

| ----------------------- | --------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------- |

| **User (global)** | ~/.kiro/settings/mcp.json | %USERPROFILE%\\.kiro\\settings\\mcp.json |

| **Workspace (project)** | <PROJECT\_DIR>/.kiro/settings/mcp.json | <PROJECT\_DIR>\\.kiro\\settings\\mcp.json |

* These paths and the **workspace-overrides-user** rule are defined by Kiro docs. ([Kiro][1])

**Permissions (recommended by Kiro):**

\# Unix

chmod 600 ~/.kiro/settings/mcp.json

chmod 600 .kiro/settings/mcp.json

([Kiro][5])

---

## 3) Kiro config object “shape” (canonical)

{

  "mcpServers": {

&nbsp;   "<server-name>": {

&nbsp;     "command": "<executable-or-launcher>",

&nbsp;     "args": \["<arg1>", "<arg2>"],

&nbsp;     "env": {

&nbsp;       "ENV\_VAR1": "value1",

&nbsp;       "ENV\_VAR2": "value2"

&nbsp;     },

&nbsp;     "disabled": false,

&nbsp;     "autoApprove": \["tool\_name1", "tool\_name2"]

&nbsp;   }

&nbsp; }

}

* Keys/semantics match Kiro’s **Configuration** page. ([Kiro][1])

---

## 4) Local servers (STDIO) — ready-to-paste examples

### 4.1 Python-based server via **uv/uvx**

**macOS/Linux (user scope):**

{

  "mcpServers": {

    "aws-docs": {

      "command": "uvx",

      "args": \["awslabs.aws-documentation-mcp-server@latest"],

      "env": { "FASTMCP\_LOG\_LEVEL": "ERROR" },

      "disabled": false,

      "autoApprove": \[]

    }

  }

}

**Windows (user scope):**

{

  "mcpServers": {

    "aws-docs": {

      "command": "uv",

      "args": \[

        "tool","run","--from","awslabs.aws-documentation-mcp-server@latest",

        "awslabs.aws-documentation-mcp-server.exe"

      ],

      "env": { "FASTMCP\_LOG\_LEVEL": "ERROR" }

    }

  }

}

* These are taken from Kiro’s **Servers** guide. ([Kiro][2])

### 4.2 Node server via **npx**

{

  "mcpServers": {

    "web-search": {

      "command": "npx",

      "args": \["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-bravesearch"],

      "env": { "BRAVE\_API\_KEY": "your-api-key" }

    }

  }

}