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Boring MCP Configuration Guide

This document explains all environment variables and configuration options for the Boring MCP Server.

📑 Table of Contents

Environment Variables

BORING_MCP_MODE

Value Description
1 ✅ Enable MCP mode - Required
0 or unset ⚠️ Test/CLI mode, MCP tools may not work properly

Affected areas: - Shadow Mode interception - Tool initialization - Log output format

BORING_MCP_PROFILE

Controls how many tools are exposed to the AI.

Profile Tool Count Token Savings Description Use Case
ultra_lite 3 97% Minimal Token-constrained LLMs
minimal 8 92% Essential only Quick tasks
lite 20 80% Daily development Default
standard 50 50% Balanced Professional dev
full ~98 0% All tools Power User

Tools included in each profile:

Ultra Lite

  • boring (universal router)
  • boring_help (category discovery)
  • boring_discover (on-demand tool schema)

💡 Workflow: Use boring to route natural language requests, boring_discover to fetch full schema for a specific tool, then call the target tool.

Minimal

  • boring (router)
  • boring_help
  • boring_rag_search
  • boring_commit
  • boring_verify
  • boring_vibe_check
  • boring_shadow_status
  • boring_suggest_next

Lite

Includes all Minimal, plus: - boring_rag_index, boring_rag_context - boring_code_review, boring_perf_tips - boring_test_gen, boring_doc_gen - boring_security_scan - boring_prompt_plan, boring_prompt_fix - boring_impact_check, boring_context

Standard

Includes all Lite, plus: - Full RAG suite (boring_rag_expand, boring_rag_status) - Shadow Mode controls (boring_shadow_mode, boring_shadow_approve) - Git Hooks (boring_hooks_install, boring_hooks_status) - Intelligence (boring_predict_impact, boring_brain_health) - Workspace management - Multi-agent planning - Core Speckit tools

Full

All registered tools.

PROJECT_ROOT_DEFAULT

Value Description
. Use current working directory
/path/to/project Specify project path

BORING_LLM_PROVIDER

Select the underlying model provider.

Provider Value Description
Gemini gemini-cli Default. Requires gemini-cli.
Claude claude-code Requires claude CLI.
Ollama ollama Local model (Experimental).

[!CAUTION] Ollama Limitations: The current Ollama implementation does not support Function Calling (Tool Use). If you use ollama, boring cannot execute tools (edit files, run tests). It will behave as a text-only chat bot. For Vibe Coder automation workflows, please use Gemini or Claude.

One-Click Setup Wizard (Antigravity)

The easiest way to configure Boring MCP for all supported tools (Gemini CLI, Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code) is the built-in wizard.

Interactive Mode (Standard)

python -m boring wizard
Prompts you for confirmation at each step. Best for first-time setup or if you want granular control.

Automated Mode (Zero-Touch)

python -m boring wizard --yes
Automatically approves all safe configurations. - Gemini CLI: Registers via a robust Wrapper Script to fix Windows encoding/warning issues. - VS Code: Generates a safe JSON snippet for settings.json (Copilot). - Cursor/Claude: Auto-configures safely.

MCP Configuration Examples

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "boring": {
      "command": "boring-mcp",
      "args": [],
      "env": {
        "BORING_MCP_MODE": "1",
        "BORING_MCP_PROFILE": "standard",
        "PROJECT_ROOT_DEFAULT": "."
      }
    }
  }
}

Smithery Cloud Version

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "boring": {
      "url": "https://server.smithery.ai/@boring/boring-mcp/mcp"
    }
  }
}

📋 Smithery Deployment Info - Default Profile: lite (~20 tools) - Installation Type: [mcp-lite] lightweight - RAG Capability: Degraded to keyword search (no vector DB) - Adjustable: Set BORING_MCP_PROFILE: "dev" or "pro" in config - Full RAG: Requires local install pip install "boring-aicoding[all]"

Hybrid (Local + Cloud)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "boring-cloud": {
      "url": "https://server.smithery.ai/@boring/boring-mcp/mcp"
    },
    "boring-local": {
      "command": "boring-mcp",
      "args": [],
      "env": {
        "BORING_MCP_MODE": "1",
        "BORING_MCP_PROFILE": "full",
        "PROJECT_ROOT_DEFAULT": "."
      }
    }
  }
}

Version Differences

Installation Options

Installation RAG Support Docker Size
pip install boring-aicoding[mcp-lite] ❌ Degraded ~500MB
pip install boring-aicoding[mcp] ✅ Full ~4GB

Smithery vs Local

Feature Smithery (mcp-lite) Local (mcp)
Basic tools ✅ ✅
RAG semantic search ⚠️ keyword fallback ✅ Vector search
Local notifications ❌ ✅
Offline use ❌ ✅

FAQ

Q: Smithery has fewer tools, what should I do?

Smithery defaults to mcp-lite + lite profile. For more features: 1. Install full version locally: pip install "boring-aicoding[mcp]" 2. Set BORING_MCP_PROFILE=full

Q: What is the pro profile?

pro is not a valid value and falls back to lite. Valid values are: - ultra_lite, minimal, lite, standard, full

Q: How do I see all available tools?

Call: 

boring_help
Or set BORING_MCP_PROFILE=full to see everything.