Kiro MCP Manager

A lightweight macOS menu bar app for managing your Kiro CLI MCP server configuration and settings.

No more editing JSON by hand or trying to remember which servers are enabled. Just click the K in your menu bar.

Why?

Kiro CLI uses MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers to extend its capabilities and stores settings in JSON files you'd normally edit by hand.

This app puts that config in your menu bar so you can:

• Switch between MCP and Settings tabs with a single click
• See all your MCP servers at a glance
• Check which are enabled or disabled
• See whether each server is local or remote
• Toggle servers on and off with a single click
• Disable specific tools without disabling the whole server
• Add new MCP servers manually or from quick-add presets
• Delete MCP servers you no longer need, with a confirmation prompt
• Manage Kiro CLI settings with toggles and text fields
• Open config files in your default editor when you need to make deeper changes

Important: Kiro CLI doesn't hot-reload

Kiro CLI loads MCP servers when a session starts. If you toggle a server while a session is running, the change won't take effect until the next session.

The quickest way to pick up changes:

# Exit your current session, then resume it
kiro-cli chat --resume

Installation

Homebrew (recommended)

brew tap ryancormack/kiro-mcp-manager
brew install --cask kiro-mcp-manager

Manual download

Download the latest .zip from Releases, extract it, and drag KiroMcpManager.app to your Applications folder.

Build from source

1. Clone this repo
2. Open KiroMcpManager/KiroMcpManager.xcodeproj in Xcode
3. Build and run (Cmd+R)
4. Look for the K in your menu bar

First launch

The app runs in a sandbox for security. On first launch it will ask you to select your mcp.json file:

1. Click the K in the menu bar
2. Click Select mcp.json…
3. Navigate to ~/.kiro/settings/ and select the folder

This grants the app read/write access to that directory. The permission is remembered across launches.

Tip: Press Cmd+Shift+. in the file picker to show hidden files like .kiro.

Usage

Click the K in your menu bar to open the app. Use the MCP and Settings tabs to switch between views.

MCP Tab

• Each server shows its name, type (Local or Remote), and an on/off toggle
• Flip a toggle to set "disabled": true or "disabled": false in the config
• Click the chevron next to a server to expand and manage individual tools
• Click Delete Server in the expanded view to remove a server (you will be asked to confirm)
• Click Add Server… to add a new server manually or from a quick-add preset
• Click Edit Config… to open mcp.json in your default editor

Settings Tab

• Settings are grouped by category (Privacy, Chat, Features, Knowledge, API, MCP)
• Click a category to expand and see its settings
• Toggle switches for boolean settings, text fields for strings and numbers
• Hover over a setting label to see a tooltip description
• Click Edit Settings… to open cli.json in your default editor
• Click Docs to open the Kiro CLI settings documentation

The config refreshes every time you open the menu.

Disabling specific tools

Sometimes you want to keep an MCP server enabled but block certain tools. For example, when Kiro CLI asks to use a tool you'd rather it didn't:

1. Click the chevron next to the server name to expand it
2. Type the tool name in the text field (exactly as shown in the CLI prompt)
3. Click Add

The tool is now in the disabledTools array and won't be offered to the agent.

To re-enable a tool, expand the server and click Enable next to the tool name.

Tip: Run /mcp in a Kiro CLI session to see all available tools for each server.

How it works

• Reads and writes ~/.kiro/settings/mcp.json (the global Kiro MCP config)
• Reads and writes ~/.kiro/settings/cli.json (the Kiro CLI settings)
• A server is Local if it has a command field, Remote if it has a url field
• Toggling a server sets the disabled field to true or false — all other config is preserved
• Deleting a server removes its entry from mcpServers — this cannot be undone from the app
• Uses macOS security-scoped bookmarks so the sandboxed app only has access to the folder you granted

Requirements

• macOS 14.0+
• Xcode 26.0+ (for building from source)

License

MIT