Deployment

Deployment Options

clarity-api exposes its MCP server (console script clarity-mcp) four ways. Pick the row that matches where the server runs relative to your MCP client, then copy the matching mcp_config.json below. Replace the <your-…> placeholders with the values from the Configuration / Environment Variables section.

#	Option	Transport	Where it runs	mcp_config.json key
1	stdio	stdio	client launches a subprocess	command
2	Streamable-HTTP (local)	streamable-http	a local network port	command or url
3	Local container / uv	stdio or streamable-http	Docker / Podman / uv on this host	command or url
4	Remote URL	streamable-http	a remote host behind Caddy	url

1. stdio (local subprocess)

The client launches the server over stdio via uvx — best for local IDEs (Cursor, Claude Desktop, VS Code):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "clarity-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["--from", "clarity-api", "clarity-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "CLARITY_URL": "<your-clarity_url>",
        "CLARITY_TOKEN": "<your-clarity_token>"
      }
    }
  }
}

2. Streamable-HTTP (local process)

Run the server as a long-lived HTTP process:

uvx --from clarity-api clarity-mcp --transport streamable-http --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000
curl -s http://localhost:8000/health        # {"status":"OK"}

Then either let the client launch it:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "clarity-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["--from", "clarity-api", "clarity-mcp", "--transport", "streamable-http", "--port", "8000"],
      "env": {
        "TRANSPORT": "streamable-http",
        "HOST": "0.0.0.0",
        "PORT": "8000",
        "CLARITY_URL": "<your-clarity_url>",
        "CLARITY_TOKEN": "<your-clarity_token>"
      }
    }
  }
}

…or connect to the already-running process by URL:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "clarity-mcp": { "url": "http://localhost:8000/mcp" }
  }
}

3. Local container / uv

(a) Launch a container directly from mcp_config.json (stdio over the container — no ports to manage). Swap docker for podman for a daemonless runtime:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "clarity-mcp": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run", "-i", "--rm",
        "-e", "TRANSPORT=stdio",
        "-e", "CLARITY_URL=<your-clarity_url>",
        "-e", "CLARITY_TOKEN=<your-clarity_token>",
        "knucklessg1/clarity-api:latest"
      ]
    }
  }
}

(b) Run a local streamable-http container, then connect by URL:

docker run -d --name clarity-mcp -p 8000:8000 \
  -e TRANSPORT=streamable-http \
  -e PORT=8000 \
  -e CLARITY_URL="<your-clarity_url>" \
  -e CLARITY_TOKEN="<your-clarity_token>" \
  knucklessg1/clarity-api:latest
# or, from a clone of this repo:
docker compose -f docker/mcp.compose.yml up -d

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "clarity-mcp": { "url": "http://localhost:8000/mcp" }
  }
}

(c) From a local checkout with uv:

uv run clarity-mcp --transport streamable-http --port 8000

4. Remote URL (deployed behind Caddy)

When the server is deployed remotely (e.g. as a Docker service) and published through Caddy on the internal *.arpa zone, connect with the "url" key — no local process or image required:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "clarity-mcp": { "url": "http://clarity-mcp.arpa/mcp" }
  }
}

Caddy reverse-proxies http://clarity-mcp.arpa to the container's :8000 streamable-http listener; http://clarity-mcp.arpa/health returns {"status":"OK"} when the service is live.

Docker Compose (MCP only)

cp .env.example .env   # fill in CLARITY_URL / CLARITY_TOKEN
docker compose -f docker/mcp.compose.yml up -d

The MCP server listens on port 8000 (streamable-http) with a /health check.

Docker Compose (MCP + Agent)

docker compose -f docker/agent.compose.yml up -d

This brings up both the clarity-api-mcp service (port 8000) and the clarity-api-agent service (port 9017, AG-UI web interface).

Building the image

docker build -f docker/Dockerfile -t knucklessg1/clarity-api:latest .

A docker/debug.Dockerfile is provided for an in-place editable install with shell tooling and the Starship prompt.

Environment

Variable	Description
CLARITY_URL	Base URL of the Clarity instance
CLARITY_TOKEN	Bearer API token
CLARITY_SSL_VERIFY	Verify TLS certificates (True/False)
HOST / PORT / TRANSPORT	MCP server bind + transport
INSIGHTSTOOL	Toggle the insights tool domain

Transports

• stdio — default, for local agent integration.
• streamable-http — for networked deployments behind a reverse proxy.
• sse — server-sent events transport.