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This page covers the OpenClaw MCP client-side registry: the subcommands that read and write mcp.servers definitions, their Codex approval behavior, and ready-made server recipes.

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OpenClaw as an MCP client registry

This is the openclaw mcp list, show, status, doctor, probe, add, set, configure, tools, login, logout, reload, and unset path. These commands do not expose OpenClaw over MCP. They manage OpenClaw-managed MCP server definitions under mcp.servers in OpenClaw config. They do not read mcporter servers from config/mcporter.json. Those saved definitions are for runtimes that OpenClaw launches or configures later, such as embedded OpenClaw and other runtime adapters. OpenClaw stores the definitions centrally so those runtimes do not need to keep their own duplicate MCP server lists.
  • these commands only read or write OpenClaw config
  • status, list, show, doctor without --probe, set, configure, tools, logout, reload, and unset do not connect to the target MCP server
  • login performs the MCP OAuth network flow for the configured HTTP server and saves the resulting local credentials
  • status --verbose prints resolved transport, auth, timeout, filter, and parallel-tool-call hints without connecting
  • doctor checks saved definitions for local setup problems such as missing stdio commands, invalid working directories, missing TLS files, disabled servers, literal sensitive header/env values, and incomplete OAuth authorization
  • doctor --probe adds the same live connection proof as probe after static checks pass
  • probe connects to the selected server or all configured servers, lists tools, and reports capabilities/diagnostics
  • add builds a definition from flags and probes before saving unless --no-probe is set or OAuth authorization is needed first
  • runtime adapters decide which transport shapes they actually support at execution time
  • enabled: false keeps a server saved but excludes it from embedded runtime discovery
  • requestTimeoutMs and connectionTimeoutMs set per-server request and connection timeouts in milliseconds
  • supportsParallelToolCalls: true marks servers that adapters can call concurrently
  • HTTP servers can use static headers, OAuth login, TLS verification control, and mTLS certificate/key paths
  • embedded OpenClaw exposes configured MCP tools in normal coding and messaging tool profiles; minimal still hides them, and tools.deny: ["bundle-mcp"] disables them explicitly
  • per-server toolFilter.include and toolFilter.exclude filter discovered MCP tools before they become OpenClaw tools
  • servers that advertise resources or prompts also expose utility tools for listing/reading resources and listing/fetching prompts; those generated utility names (resources_list, resources_read, prompts_list, prompts_get) use the same include/exclude filter
  • fetched prompts present their description and role-labeled messages to the agent, including native image blocks for vision-capable models; Code Mode keeps the original prompt JSON shape
  • dynamic MCP tool-list changes invalidate the cached catalog for that session; the next discovery/use refreshes from the server
  • repeated MCP tool request/protocol failures pause that server briefly so one broken server does not consume the whole turn
  • session-scoped MCP runtimes stay alive between turns until session reset/deletion or compaction ID rollover, explicit Stop, a relevant server config change, or Gateway shutdown; owned stdio children terminate during cleanup
  • detached one-shot runs without a surviving runtime session retire their MCP runtimes at run end; a retained transcript does not extend that lifetime
  • mcp.sessionIdleTtlMs is an opt-in idle timeout in milliseconds: unset or 0 keeps runtimes alive, and positive finite values enable idle eviction (fractions round down)
  • a Gateway admits at most 256 OpenClaw-managed runtimes with server connections across sessions and requester partitions; sessions without available servers and sign-in-only catalogs do not consume this limit. Reaching the limit rejects new admissions until you stop or reset unused sessions. See MCP configuration for details
Runtime adapters may normalize this shared registry into the shape their downstream client expects. For example, embedded OpenClaw consumes OpenClaw transport values directly, while Claude Code and Gemini receive CLI-native type values such as http, sse, or stdio.

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Saved MCP server definitions

Commands:
  • openclaw mcp list [--json]
  • openclaw mcp show [name] [--json]
  • openclaw mcp status [--verbose] [--json]
  • openclaw mcp doctor [name] [--probe] [--json]
  • openclaw mcp probe [name] [--json]
  • openclaw mcp add <name> [flags]
  • openclaw mcp set <name> <json>
  • openclaw mcp configure <name> [flags]
  • openclaw mcp tools <name> [--include csv] [--exclude csv] [--clear]
  • openclaw mcp login <name> [--code code]
  • openclaw mcp logout <name>
  • openclaw mcp reload
  • openclaw mcp unset <name>
Notes:
  • list sorts server names.
  • show without a name prints the full configured MCP server object.
  • status classifies configured transports without connecting. --verbose includes resolved launch, timeout, OAuth, filter, and parallel-call details, including when stored OAuth tokens require additional authorization. Credential-bearing stdio arguments are redacted in text and JSON output.
  • doctor performs static checks without connecting. Add --probe when the command should also verify that enabled servers connect.
  • probe connects and reports tool counts, resources/prompts support, list-change support, and diagnostics.
  • add accepts stdio flags such as --command, --arg, --env, and --cwd, or HTTP flags such as --url, --transport, --header, --auth oauth, TLS, timeout, and tool-selection flags. Use --approval auto|prompt|approve to set the Codex tool approval mode.
  • set expects one JSON object value on the command line.
  • configure updates enablement, tool filters, timeouts, OAuth, TLS, Codex approval mode, and parallel-tool-call hints without replacing the whole server definition. Add --probe to verify the updated server before saving.
  • tools updates per-server tool filters. Include/exclude entries are MCP tool names and simple * globs.
  • login runs the OAuth flow for HTTP servers configured with auth: "oauth". For a loopback redirect, OpenClaw listens for the browser callback and completes login automatically. The printed --code command remains the fallback for remote, headless, or unreachable callbacks.
  • logout clears stored OAuth credentials for the named server without removing the saved server definition.
  • reload disposes cached in-process MCP runtimes for the current CLI process only. Gateway or agent processes in another process still need their own reload or restart path.
  • Use transport: "streamable-http" for Streamable HTTP MCP servers. openclaw mcp set also normalizes CLI-native type: "http" to the same canonical config shape for compatibility.
  • unset fails if the named server does not exist.
Examples:

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Codex tool approvals

MCP tool approvals follow the effective Codex session permission posture unless you explicitly override the server’s approval mode. The default full-permission posture does not prompt, including for tools without MCP safety annotations. Stricter postures retain approval checks: workspace can use automatic review, while guarded and read-only can prompt the operator for unannotated tools. Interactive turns can approve those calls in the Control UI. For a server you trust, set the mode while adding it:
For an existing saved server, update only its approval mode:
The flag writes codex.defaultToolsApprovalMode. An explicit openclaw mcp configure <server> --approval approve|prompt|auto overrides the posture-derived default for that server: approve bypasses per-call approval, prompt asks for every call, and auto uses the tool’s safety annotations. Use approve only for trusted servers. mcp probe and mcp doctor --probe warn when a server uses auto and none of its tools has safety annotations; that warning describes calls under prompting postures. When offered, Allow Always approves the tool, not just the current arguments. For Gateway-hosted Codex runs on servers configured in mcp.servers, OpenClaw saves a durable, per-agent server/tool grant in the host approvals document when durable persistence is offered and the approval matches one live Gateway-owned tool call unambiguously. Missing or ambiguous matches and requests that permit only session persistence retain Codex’s native/session behavior. Codex apps, native plugin servers, and computer-use servers are excluded. Stored grants apply under auto or an unspecified server mode. Explicit prompt keeps asking, even with a grant; explicit approve already bypasses approval. A new grant is picked up at the next thread configuration and hook registration, such as a new session or restart. The current session continues on Codex’s remembered decision. Use openclaw approvals get --gateway to inspect grants and openclaw approvals set --gateway --file <file> to revoke them by editing agents.<agentId>.mcpTools. Revocation also takes effect on the next preparation/registration. Codex can additionally persist its own approval when the server is saved in native config; revoke that separately if present. See MCP tool grants for the document shape and export/edit workflow. For approval delivery through Slack buttons, see Native approvals in Slack. When an operator denies an MCP tool approval, Codex reports only its generic “user rejected MCP tool call” to the model; the remedy is shown on the operator card, not to the model. The optional codex block is OpenClaw projection metadata for Codex app-server threads only; it does not change ACP sessions, generic Codex harness config, or other runtime adapters. Use non-empty codex.agents to project a server only into specific OpenClaw agent ids. Empty, blank, or invalid agent lists are rejected by config validation and omitted by the runtime projection path instead of becoming global. OpenClaw strips the codex metadata before handing the native mcp_servers config to Codex.

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Common server recipes

These examples save server definitions only. Run openclaw mcp doctor --probe afterward to prove that the server starts and exposes tools.
Scope filesystem servers to the smallest directory tree that the agent should read or edit.