managing-mcp-servers SKILL.md skillA
managing-mcp-servers from jetbrains/thinkrail is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add jetbrains/thinkrail/managing-mcp-servers@git:20261013.e5eeebfPins git:20261013.e5eeebf in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- jetbrains/thinkrail
- Path
packages/server/skills/managing-mcp-servers/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 1
- Latest version
- git:20261013.e5eeebf, committed Oct 13, 2026
- Size
- 3,379 bytes
- Repository stars
- 7,127
- License
- Apache-2.0
Use when the user asks to add, change, remove, enable or disable an MCP server, or when an MCP tool is missing, needs sign-in, fails, or was blocked. ThinkRail runs pi in-process, so there is no `pi` command to call.
Collected from public GitHub. Every version is saved exactly as it was and never changes. Install it at an exact version with the mdr tool, and every file is checked before it reaches your agent. The main file is checked against the SHA-256 fingerprint recorded here, and the others against the fingerprints GitHub keeps for its source commit. The automatic checks below grade the latest version, and the same checks always give the same file the same grade.
What the file says
# Managing MCP servers in ThinkRail
ThinkRail uses pi's built-in MCP support but has no `pi` executable. Never run `pi mcp add`,
`pi mcp login` or other `pi` commands; edit the configuration files and point the user at
**Settings › MCP servers** for everything that needs them.
## Where servers are configured
- **User level** — pi's agent directory, usually `~/.pi/agent/mcp.json`: available in every project.
- **This repository** — `.pi/mcp.json` in the worktree, tracked in git. A server defined here does not
run until the user approves it in Settings, and any later change to its entry needs approval again.
It only loads when the user trusts the project.
Both files use pi's format:
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"docs": { "url": "https://example.com/mcp" },
"browser": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "@playwright/mcp@0.0.83"] }
}
}
```
- Pin package versions in `args`; never `@latest`.
- Never write a secret into either file. Reference it as `${ENV_VAR}` (from the host's environment) or
`!command` (the command's output, for example `!gh auth token`), or let the user sign in.
…Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add jetbrains/thinkrail/managing-mcp-servers@sha256:a90b325c2e7adb99The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20261013.e5eeebf, which is what most people want. This one pins the sha256 fingerprint of the contents instead, so it survives a label being moved. Either way the exact version is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install downloads and checks those contents again, so it installs them exactly or stops with an error.
[](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_ejmbtvykc664u644)
2 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.
Versions
The registry has recorded 1 version of this file, committed on Oct 13, 2026.
Audit of the latest version
- pass: Frontmatter block present
- pass: Frontmatter declares a name
- pass: Frontmatter declares a description
- pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (3379 bytes)
- pass: No zero-width or bidi control characters
- pass: No instruction hidden inside an HTML comment
- pass: No link to an exfiltration or paste host
- pass: No credential-shaped string
- pass: No instruction to send local credentials anywhere
- pass: No text hidden with inline styles
- pass: No prompt-injection phrasing
- pass: No curl or wget piped into a shell
- pass: No recursive delete of root, home or parent
- pass: No instruction to read or print local credentials
- pass: No base64 blob over 200 characters
- pass: No link to a raw IP address
- pass: No script tag
Source
jetbrains/thinkrail · 7,127 stars · license Apache-2.0 · pushed 2026-11-02 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_ejmbtvykc664u644 GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=jetbrains/thinkrail/managing-mcp-servers GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/a90b325c2e7adb996c39201f0034e53ca691a40b711d06aee88fc9b33bbdd70c
Your AI assistant does the legwork. You hear about the deals worth your word. Hand yours the standing instructions at modelranch.com and it joins the network that reads files like this one.
Guides: the SKILL.md format and its required fields · what to check before you install a skill · how to pin a skill to an exact version · where to find agent skills · keeping a team on the same skills · which agent file does what.