Lesson 1

Overview

What problem MCPUP solves

MCPUP gives you one central place to define MCP servers and then decide which clients should receive them. It stops you from manually editing multiple client config files by hand. 

One tool
  ->
one central config
  ->
many client config files

Real current snapshot

  • Version in repo: 0.1.0
  • Commands: add remove list enable disable sync
  • Implemented adapter keys: 4
  • Test status checked locally: 52 passing

Most important mental rule:

MCPUP has two layers of truth: 

Layer 1: MCPUP central config
Layer 2: client-native config files

Commands change layer 1 first.
Only sync pushes into layer 2.

Lesson 2

Mental Model

Whole-system flow

mp add
  -> save server definition to ~/.mcpup/config.json

mp enable / mp disable
  -> set per-client enabled flags in ~/.mcpup/config.json

mp list
  -> read central config and print a table

mp sync
  -> read central config
  -> choose adapters
  -> write client config files

Server type explorer


							

						

					

				


				

					

						

							
Lesson 3

							
Config Structure

						

						
					


					

						

							
The central config shape

							
{
  "version": 1,
  "servers": { ... },
  "clients": { ... }
}

							

								`servers` stores the actual server definitions.
								`clients` stores enabled or disabled state per client.
							

						


						

							

								
Config explorer

								

									
									
									
								

							

							

								

								

							

						

					


					

						
Validation rule that matters

						
A server must have:

command OR url

not both
not neither

						

							This rule is enforced by the Pydantic `Server` model, so bad
							server definitions are rejected early.
						

					

				


				

					

						

							
Lesson 4

							
Command Lifecycle

						

						
					


					

						

							
Select a command

							

								
								
								
								
								
							

						

						

							

							

						

					


					

						

							
`add`

							

								Creates or rejects server definitions. It does not touch any
								client file.
							

						

						

							
`enable` and `disable`

							

								These only change the enabled flag per client in MCPUP's
								own config.
							

						

						

							
`sync`

							

								This is the only command that writes outside
								~/.mcpup/.
							

						

					

				


				

					

						

							
Lesson 5

							
Sync Pipeline

						

						
					


					

						

							
Generic adapter flow

							
sync()
  ->
detect()
  ->
read()
  ->
build()
  ->
write()

							

								Every client adapter follows the same contract from
								clients/base.py. That is the main abstraction
								that keeps MCPUP consistent across clients.
							

						


						

							

								
Walk the sync steps

								

									
									
								

							

							

								

								

								

								

							

						

					

				


				

					

						

							
Lesson 6

							
Client Adapters

						

						
					


					

						

							
Choose a client

							

								
								
								
								
							

						

						

							

							

						

					


					

						

							Honest current-state note:
						

						
Plan says 5 supported clients.

Current registry keys in code: 4

claude-code
claude-desktop
cursor
codex

						

							There is no separate `codex-desktop` adapter key in the
							current code. The single `codex` adapter handles the Codex
							config file.
						

					

				


				

					

						

							
Lesson 7

							
Current Reality

						

						
					


					

						

							
What is already solid

							
    
								
  • Data validation for server definitions
    • 
								
  • Atomic writes for MCPUP config and adapters
    • 
								
  • Consistent adapter contract
    • 
								
  • Config tests, CLI tests, adapter tests
    • 
								
  • Dry-run support in `sync`
    • 
							

						


						

							
Important caveats

							
    
								
  • 
									`enable --client something` can create arbitrary client
									names, but `sync` only knows registry-backed adapters
								
    • 
								
  • 
									If no clients exist in config, `enable` and `disable`
									with no `--client` just warn and stop
								
    • 
								
  • 
									CLI `sync` tests are lighter than adapter unit tests
								
    • 
							

						

					


					

						
Best mental summary

						
MCPUP v0.1 is:

centralized config management
+ per-client enable flags
+ adapter-based file writing

It is not yet:

auto-discovery
+ auto-sync
+ universal client abstraction

					

				


				

					

						

							
Lesson 8

							
Practice + Quiz

						

						
					


					

						

							
Think through these scenarios

							

								

									1. You run `mp add github ...`. Which file changes?
								

								
								
							

							

								

									2. You run `mp enable github --client cursor`. Does Cursor
									get updated immediately?
								

								
								
							

							

								

									3. What command is the boundary between planning state and
									real client-file writes?
								

								
								
							

						


						

							

								
Quick quiz

								
							

							

							

								Answer the quiz and check your score.
							

						

					

				


				

					

						

							
Sources

							
What This Course Was Derived From

						

					


					

						

							
    
								
  • pyproject.toml
    • 
								
  • src/mcpup/main.py
    • 
								
  • src/mcpup/config/models.py
    • 
								
  • src/mcpup/config/store.py
    • 
								
  • src/mcpup/cli/*.py
    • 
								
  • src/mcpup/clients/*.py
    • 
							

						

						

							
    
								
  • tests/config/*.py
    • 
								
  • tests/cli/*.py
    • 
								
  • tests/clients/*.py
    • 
								
  • Local command check: uv run mp --help
    • 
								
  • Local test run: uv run pytest -q
    •