AI agents

Porticol's MCP server runs on your machine through porticol-cli mcp. It serves the workspace the desktop app keeps: your collections, environments and history. Secrets are resolved inside Porticol and masked in every tool result; sends to a protected environment wait for a person in the app.

This page is the full setup path: app, command line and agent client.

1. Install the app and the command line

On macOS or Linux:

curl -fsSL https://porticol.app/install.sh | sh

On Windows, in PowerShell:

irm https://porticol.app/install.ps1 | iex

The script installs Porticol and porticol-cli. On a Mac without Homebrew it often puts the CLI in ~/.local/bin, which is not on your PATH by default. When the script prints a line to add it, run that line, then open a new terminal.

Check both pieces:

porticol-cli version

Open Porticol from Applications (macOS), the applications menu (Linux) or the Start menu (Windows). See Getting started for Homebrew, archives and --no-cli.

The first launch asks for a free account (or your team server). Signing in uploads nothing; your collections stay on this computer. After that the app works offline and checks the account at least every 30 days.

Import from Postman on the sign-in screen if you are moving collections across.

porticol-cli mcp reads the desktop workspace and keychain secrets. You do not run porticol-cli login for local MCP unless you also use the CLI against a server workspace in CI; see MCP server and Command line.

3. Connect your agent client

Each client starts the same server: porticol-cli mcp, read-only unless you add --write.

Claude Code

claude mcp add porticol -- porticol-cli mcp

Cursor — ~/.cursor/mcp.json (or %USERPROFILE%\.cursor\mcp.json on Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "porticol": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "porticol-cli",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Codex — ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.porticol]
command = "porticol-cli"
args = ["mcp"]

VS Code — .vscode/mcp.json in the folder you open:

{
  "servers": {
    "porticol": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "porticol-cli",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Restart the client or reload MCP after you edit a config file. To let an agent create or change requests, use porticol-cli mcp --write in the command above.

4. Check that it works

In the agent, ask it to list environments or search your workspace, for example: "Search my Porticol workspace for checkout". It should call search or environments and return names without secret values in the clear.

If the client says porticol-cli was not found, fix your PATH and try again. If tools fail with an empty workspace, open Porticol, confirm you are signed in and that collections exist, then retry.

5. CI and remote workspaces

Agents on your machine use the local workspace. In CI, porticol-cli run uses files or --server with PORTICOL_TOKEN; that path does not replace local MCP beside the desktop. See Automation and Moving from Postman.

Reference

MCP server: tools, scopes, protected environments and streamable HTTP on a server
Agent skill: short instructions coding agents load from the site
Command line: run, login and exit codes