cherry-mcp

# Cherry MCP 🍒 ## Origin Story Built during a late-night session trying to use MCP servers with OpenClaw. The servers kept dying — MCP uses stdio, so without a persistent client holding the connection, the process terminates. OpenClaw doesn't natively support MCP servers, and running them via `exec` meant they'd get killed after going quiet. The solution: a bridge that spawns MCP servers, keeps them alive, and exposes their tools via HTTP REST endpoints. Named after my emoji. 🍒 *— EULOxGOS, Feb 2026* ## Why MCP servers use stdio — they die without a persistent client. Cherry MCP: - Spawns MCP servers as child processes - Keeps them alive (auto-restart on crash) - Exposes HTTP endpoints for each server ## Quick Start ```bash # Add a server node cli.js add-server github npx @anthropic/mcp-github # Set env vars for the server node cli.js set-env github GITHUB_TOKEN ghp_xxx # Start pm2 start bridge.js --name cherry-mcp ``` ## CLI ```bash # Servers node cli.js add-server <name> <command> [args...] node cli.js remove-server <name> node cli.js list-servers # Environment variables node cli.js set-env <server> <KEY> <value> node cli.js remove-env <server> <KEY> # Security node cli.js set-rate-limit <rpm> # requests per minute node cli.js set-allowed-ips <ip>... # IP allowlist node cli.js enable-audit-log # log requests # Other node cli.js show-config node cli.js restart ``` ## HTTP API ```bash # List servers curl http://localhost:3456/ # List tools curl http://localhost:3456/<server>/tools # Call a tool curl -X POST http://localhost:3456/<server>/call \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"tool": "search", "arguments": {"query": "test"}}' # Restart server curl -X POST http://localhost:3456/<server>/restart ``` ## Security - Binds to `127.0.0.1` only (not exposed to network) - Optional rate limiting - Optional IP allowlist - Optional audit logging - 1MB max payload ### ⚠️ Important Notes **Commands are user-configured only.** The bridge executes commands specified in `config.json` — it does not accept arbitrary commands via HTTP. You control what runs. **Don't commit secrets.** If you store API keys via `set-env`, they're saved in plain text in `config.json`. Add it to `.gitignore` or use environment variables instead: ```bash # Alternative: set env vars before starting export GITHUB_TOKEN=ghp_xxx pm2 start bridge.js --name cherry-mcp ``` Then reference in config without the value: ```json { "servers": { "github": { "command": "npx", "args": ["@anthropic/mcp-github"], "env": {} } } } ``` The server inherits your shell environment. ## Running ```bash # pm2 (recommended) pm2 start bridge.js --name cherry-mcp pm2 save # Auto-start on boot pm2 startup ```