central-mcp 0.2.1

Orchestrator-agnostic MCP hub for managing and dispatching to multiple coding agents.

central-mcp

Orchestrator-agnostic MCP hub for dispatching to multiple coding agents.

Never stop. Run agents across every project in parallel — 10×, 100× your throughput.

One MCP server turns any MCP-capable client (Claude Code, Codex CLI, Gemini CLI, opencode, …) into a control plane for your portfolio of coding-agent projects. Ask in natural language, and the orchestrator routes the request to the right project's agent — non-blocking, with results reported back asynchronously.

Why

You probably use more than one coding agent. Each has its own terminal, its own session, its own logs. Switching between them is friction, and there is no shared view of what answered what.

central-mcp gives you one hub:

• Dispatch prompts to any project's agent and get responses via MCP
• Parallel work — dispatch to multiple projects and keep talking while they run
• Manage the registry with add_project / remove_project
• Orchestrate from any MCP-capable client — never locked to one

Every dispatch is a fresh subprocess in the project's cwd (e.g. claude -p "..." --continue). No long-lived processes, no screen scraping, no tmux dependency on the critical path.

Design principles

1. Orchestrator-agnostic. MCP tools are the canonical surface. Any MCP client can be the orchestrator.
2. Non-blocking dispatch. dispatch returns a dispatch_id in <100ms. Results arrive asynchronously. The conversation never freezes.
3. Dispatch-router preamble. The orchestrator is instructed to be a pure router — parse the project name, call dispatch, move on. This minimizes LLM reasoning latency to ~1-2 seconds per turn.
4. File-based state. registry.yaml is the single source of truth.

Status

Available on PyPI.

Quickstart

# Install uv if you don't have it yet (https://docs.astral.sh/uv/)
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

Or use pip: pip install central-mcp

(tmux only if you want the optional observation layer.)

# 1. Install
uv tool install central-mcp

# 2. Scaffold an empty registry at ~/.central-mcp/registry.yaml
central-mcp init

# 3. Register central-mcp with your MCP client(s) — once per client
central-mcp install claude    # adds to Claude Code MCP config
central-mcp install codex     # patches ~/.codex/config.toml
central-mcp install gemini    # patches ~/.gemini/settings.json
central-mcp install opencode  # patches ~/.config/opencode/opencode.json

# 4. Launch the orchestrator
central-mcp run

Inside the orchestrator session, speak naturally:

• "Add ~/Projects/my-app to the hub, agent=claude."
• "What projects do I have?"
• "Send this to my-app: add error handling to the auth module."
• "Also send to gluecut-dawg: summarize the project structure."

The orchestrator calls dispatch for each request and continues the conversation immediately — you don't wait. Results arrive through three channels:

• Piggyback (automatic): every MCP tool response includes a completed_dispatches array with any results that finished since the last call.
• Background poll (best-effort): a subagent polls check_dispatch every 3 seconds and reports automatically when done.
• User-driven check (100% reliable): ask "any updates?" anytime.

Multiple dispatches run in parallel.

MCP tools

central-mcp exposes 10 tools under the server name central:

Tool	Blocking?	Purpose
list_projects	sync	Enumerate the registry.
project_status	sync	Metadata for one project.
dispatch	<100ms	Send a prompt to a project's agent. Supports per-dispatch agent override and fallback chain. Returns dispatch_id immediately.
check_dispatch	sync	Poll a dispatch — running / complete / error with full output.
list_dispatches	sync	All active + recently completed dispatches.
cancel_dispatch	sync	Abort a running dispatch.
dispatch_history	sync	Persistent history of past dispatches (survives restarts).
add_project	sync	Register a new project. Validates agent name. Auto-trusts codex dirs.
update_project	sync	Change an existing project's agent, description, tags, bypass, or fallback.
remove_project	sync	Unregister a project.

How dispatch works

dispatch("my-app", "add error handling to auth")
  → subprocess.Popen(["claude", "-p", "...", "--continue"], cwd="~/Projects/my-app")
  → returns {dispatch_id: "a1b2c3d4"} in <100ms
  → background thread captures stdout when process exits
  → check_dispatch("a1b2c3d4") → {status: "complete", output: "...", duration_sec: 45}

Supported agents

Agent	Non-interactive invocation	Bypass flag
claude	claude -p "<prompt>" --continue	--dangerously-skip-permissions
codex	codex exec "<prompt>"	--dangerously-bypass-approvals-and-sandbox
gemini	gemini -p "<prompt>"	--yolo
droid	droid exec "<prompt>"	--skip-permissions-unsafe
opencode	opencode run "<prompt>" --continue	--dangerously-skip-permissions

Agent names are validated at registration time — typos like cursor-agent are caught immediately, not at dispatch time.

Switching agents mid-project

You can change a project's registered agent any time — useful when a given codebase turns out to pair better with a different CLI:

update_project(name="my-app", agent="codex")

update_project also accepts description, tags, bypass, and fallback — omitted fields stay untouched. Switching to codex auto-adds the project dir to ~/.codex/config.toml trust list.

One-shot agent override

Sometimes you want to route one task to a different agent without mutating the registry — e.g. a design-heavy task goes to a design-strong agent while the project stays on its usual one:

dispatch(name="my-app", prompt="...", agent="codex")

The registry entry is untouched. Next dispatch without agent= goes back to the project's saved agent.

Fallback chain on failure

If the primary agent exits non-zero (rate limit, token cap, crash), central-mcp can transparently retry with a backup:

# per-dispatch (not persisted):
dispatch(name="my-app", prompt="...", fallback=["codex", "gemini"])

# save a default for this project:
update_project(name="my-app", fallback=["codex", "gemini"])

The result reports which agent actually produced output (agent_used), whether a fallback was triggered (fallback_used), and the full list of attempts. Timeouts are not retried — the user should see them directly rather than burn the whole chain on a stuck agent.

Pass fallback=[] to explicitly disable the saved chain for a one-shot dispatch.

Per-project bypass mode

Most coding agents ask "is this OK?" before editing files, running commands, or installing packages. That's fine when a human is sitting at the terminal — but dispatches run in the background with no one watching, so those approval prompts have no one to answer them and the dispatch can hang forever waiting for a reply that never comes.

Bypass mode tells the agent to auto-approve its own actions and just get the work done. central-mcp is an orchestration hub whose job is to keep dispatches moving without stalls, so bypass is on by default for both the orchestrator (central-mcp run / central-mcp up) and first-time dispatches. Pass --no-bypass on the CLI, or bypass=false to dispatch(), whenever you want the agent to surface approval prompts instead of auto-approving.

On the first dispatch to a project the chosen bypass value is saved to registry.yaml and reused for every future dispatch. Flip it anytime by calling dispatch(..., bypass=true) or dispatch(..., bypass=false) explicitly — the new value overwrites the saved preference.

⚠️ Bypass is powerful — and at your own risk

With bypass on, the agent may edit files, run shell commands, install packages, call network services, and push code without confirming with you first. That is what makes non-stop orchestration possible, but it also means a misguided prompt, prompt injection from a malicious source, or an agent hallucination can cause real damage — dropped tables, force-pushed branches, deleted files, leaked credentials, unintended API spend, etc.

Turn bypass off (--no-bypass, bypass=false) if any of these apply:

• The project holds sensitive code, secrets, or production data you cannot lose.
• You are not ready to commit/push safety-net snapshots before dispatching.
• You have not read the prompt carefully or are delegating work from untrusted sources.
• You want to review every command the agent is about to run.

When bypass is off, dispatches may hang at permission prompts (no TTY to answer) — restrict dispatches to read-only tasks, or open a regular terminal in the project's cwd and run the agent interactively there.

Disclaimer: central-mcp is a routing layer and does not supervise what the agents do. You are responsible for the scope, targets, and consequences of every dispatch you run in bypass mode. The authors and contributors of central-mcp are not liable for any damage, data loss, security breach, cost, or other harm that results from enabling bypass. Use snapshots (git commits, backups, branch protection), least-privilege credentials, and offline/sandboxed environments where possible.

What happens without bypass:

• Safe tasks (answering questions, reading files, explaining code) → still work fine.
• Any task that triggers a permission prompt (editing files, shell commands, installing deps) → dispatch hangs until the timeout.
• If that happens, the orchestrator will suggest re-dispatching with bypass=true, or you can open a regular terminal in the project's cwd and run the agent interactively there to approve by hand.

If a project deals with sensitive code and you're not comfortable granting blanket bypass, keep bypass=false and stick to read-only dispatches, or use interactive panes for anything that writes.

Dispatch history

Every completed dispatch is logged to ~/.central-mcp/history/<project>.jsonl — survives server restarts. Query with:

dispatch_history()                # last 10 across all projects
dispatch_history(name="my-app")   # last 10 for one project
dispatch_history(n=50)            # last 50

Performance tip: use a faster model for the orchestrator

The orchestrator's job is just routing — it doesn't need top-tier reasoning:

Orchestrator client	Tip
Claude Code	/model sonnet — ~1-2s/turn vs ~5-8s on Opus
Codex CLI	Use a lighter model (e.g. -spark variant) via /model or config.toml
Gemini CLI	Use Flash instead of Pro if available via model config
opencode	Select a faster model via -m provider/model or in opencode.json

The sub-agent model is independent — each dispatch spawns its own process with whatever model the project's agent defaults to.

CLI reference

central-mcp                        # no-arg → launch orchestrator (same as `run`)
central-mcp run [--agent X] [--pick] [--no-bypass]  # launch orchestrator (bypass on by default)
central-mcp serve                  # run MCP server on stdio (used by MCP clients)
central-mcp install CLIENT         # register with claude | codex | gemini | opencode
central-mcp alias [NAME]           # short-name symlink (default: cmcp)
central-mcp unalias [NAME]
central-mcp init [PATH]            # scaffold registry.yaml (default: ~/.central-mcp)
central-mcp add NAME PATH [--agent claude|codex|gemini|droid|opencode]
central-mcp remove NAME
central-mcp list                   # one-line registry dump
central-mcp brief                  # orchestrator-ready markdown snapshot
central-mcp up [--no-orchestrator] [--no-bypass] [--panes-per-window N]
                                   # optional tmux observation layer
central-mcp tmux [same flags as up]
                                   # create session if missing, then attach via tmux
central-mcp down                   # kill observation session
central-mcp watch NAME [--from-start]
                                   # stream one project's dispatch events

Optional observation layer

central-mcp up creates a tmux session central with:

• Pane 0 — orchestrator (Claude Code / Codex / Gemini / opencode), launched in ~/.central-mcp so it picks up the hub's CLAUDE.md / AGENTS.md.
• Panes 1…N — one per registered project, each streaming that project's dispatch activity live via central-mcp watch <project>. Every dispatch's prompt, output, exit code, and duration scrolls past in real time.

Windows are named cmcp-<N> with the first window picking up a -hub suffix (cmcp-1-hub) when it holds the orchestrator — so you can tell at a glance which window to jump to. Cycle panes with Ctrl+b n / Ctrl+b <digit>. When the registry has more projects than fit in one window, extra windows (cmcp-2, cmcp-3, …) are added automatically — each holds up to --panes-per-window (default 4).

central-mcp tmux                   # one-shot: create the session if missing, then attach
central-mcp tmux --no-bypass       # same, but launch orchestrator without permission-bypass
central-mcp tmux --no-orchestrator # watch panes only (no orchestrator)
central-mcp tmux --panes-per-window 6
central-mcp up                     # create the session but don't attach (scripted flows)
central-mcp down                   # tear the session back down

The hub window (cmcp-1-hub) uses tmux's main-vertical layout: the orchestrator pane sits on the left taking two cells' worth of space, and project panes stack on the right. So the hub holds panes_per_window − 1 panes (default 3 — orchestrator + 2 projects), and overflow windows get the full panes_per_window projects each. Every pane carries its role name on its top border, and the orchestrator border is highlighted in bold yellow so you can spot it at a glance.

Kill with central-mcp down — the MCP dispatch path never depends on this layer, so tearing it down doesn't affect in-flight dispatches. The watch command is a read-only tail of ~/.central-mcp/logs/<project>/dispatch.jsonl; you can also run it standalone in any terminal.

Registry resolution

Three-level cascade:

1. $CENTRAL_MCP_REGISTRY (explicit override)
2. ./registry.yaml in cwd (per-project override)
3. $HOME/.central-mcp/registry.yaml (global default)

The registry is per-user state — never commit it.

Changing the orchestrator

central-mcp run --pick         # re-run picker, save new choice
central-mcp run --agent codex  # one-off override
$EDITOR ~/.central-mcp/config.toml

Environment variables

• CENTRAL_MCP_HOME — user-state dir (default: ~/.central-mcp)
• CENTRAL_MCP_REGISTRY — registry path override

Development

uv tool install --editable .
uv run --group dev pytest             # 141 unit tests (fast, no real CLIs)
uv run --group dev pytest -m live     # 20 live tests — shell out to real agent binaries
                                      # (claude/codex/gemini/droid); each case skips
                                      # cleanly if that binary isn't on PATH

License

MIT.