How I Manage MCP Configs Across 14 AI Coding Tools

If you're using more than one AI coding tool in 2026, you've probably hit this problem: each tool has its own MCP config format, its own config file location, and its own quirks. Adding a new MCP server means editing 3-5 JSON files by hand.

I built MCP Dock to fix this. It's a desktop app that manages MCP server configurations across all your AI clients from one interface.

The Config Format Problem

Here's what the MCP config landscape looks like right now:

Client	Format	Config Path
Cursor	JSON	~/.cursor/mcp.json
VS Code	JSONC	settings.json (MCP section)
Claude Code	JSON	~/.claude/mcp.json
Gemini CLI	JSON	~/.gemini/settings.json
Codex CLI	JSON	codex config file
OpenClaw	JSON5	~/.openclaw/mcp.json5
Windsurf	JSON	~/.windsurf/mcp.json
Zed	JSON	zed settings.json
TRAE	JSON	~/.trae/mcp.json
Kiro (AWS)	JSON	~/.kiro/mcp.json
JetBrains	JSON	IDE-specific path
Antigravity	JSON	~/.antigravity/mcp.json

That's 12+ different file locations. Some use JSON, some use JSONC (with comments), one uses JSON5. A trailing comma that's valid in JSONC will break strict JSON parsers.

When I was using just Cursor and Claude Code, manually editing two files was annoying but manageable. Now I'm using Cursor, Claude Code, Gemini CLI, and occasionally Codex CLI. Four files, four formats, four chances to break something with a misplaced comma.

What MCP Dock Does

MCP Dock is an Electron app (React + Vite + Tailwind) that:

Aggregates MCP servers from multiple registries — 9,200+ servers from Official Registry and Smithery, plus 3,100+ AI Skills from the skills.sh ecosystem
Handles config format differences — it knows each client's expected format and generates the right JSON/JSONC/JSON5 variant
Writes to all selected clients at once — pick a server, select which clients you want it in, one click
Backs up before every change — with a diff viewer and one-click rollback

Built-in MCP Inspector

One feature I find myself using constantly is the Inspector. Before MCP Dock, testing a new MCP server meant:

Edit config file
Restart IDE
Try to use the tool
If it doesn't work, check logs, edit config, restart again

The Inspector connects to an MCP server directly and shows you the available tools, prompts, and resources in real-time. No IDE restart needed.

History and Rollback

Every config change is automatically versioned. If a new MCP server breaks something, you can see exactly what changed (diff view) and roll back to any previous state.

How the Data Pipeline Works

MCP Dock's server data comes from three sources:

Official MCP Registry — the canonical list maintained by the MCP community
Smithery — the largest third-party MCP server registry
GitHub Skills Discovery — automated scanning for repositories following the skills.sh standard

Data syncs weekly via GitHub Actions, gets stored in Cloudflare R2, and is served through a Cloudflare Worker. The app fetches this index on startup and caches it locally.