Connect to an MCP server in Rovo Dev CLI
Rovo Dev CLI supports Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers to extend its capabilities with external data sources and tools.
What is MCP?
MCP is a standardized framework that lets AI large language models connect to external data, tools, and services like databases, APIs, file systems, and other external resources.
By using MCP to connect Rovo Dev to other data sources, you can enhance the quality of AI-generated code by providing the model with rich, relevant context from outside your Atlassian site.
Make sure you have all the necessary consents and rights to enable Atlassian to use these connected data sources. You are responsible for complying with all applicable terms and policies governing the use of these connected data sources.
More about how Rovo Dev CLI uses MCP
More about MCP and potential security risks
Manage MCP servers
Interactive mode
Use /mcp in interactive mode to manage MCP servers.
This opens an interactive interface where you can view your MCP servers, see their status and available tools, and enable or disable specific servers.
MCP configuration file
Rovo Dev CLI stores MCP server configurations in ~/.rovodev/mcp.json. Run acli rovodev mcp to edit in your default editor.
Structure
{
"mcpServers": {
"server-name": {
"command": "command-to-run",
"args": ["arg1", "arg2"],
"env": {
"ENV_VAR": "value"
},
"transport": "stdio"
},
"http-server": {
"url": "https://example.com/mcp",
"headers": {
"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
},
"transport": "http"
"enable_instructions": true
},
"sse-server": {
"url": "https://example.com/mcp/sse",
"transport": "sse"
}
}
}Transports
MCP supports three transport methods:
stdio: Communication via standard input/output (most common)
http: Communication via HTTP requests
sse: Communication via Server-Sent Events
Disable specific MCP servers
Disable specific MCP servers in your main configuration file (~/.rovodev/config.yml):
mcp:
# Path to MCP configuration file
mcpConfigPath: "~/.rovodev/mcp.json"
# List of globally disabled MCP server signatures
disabledMcpServers:
- "server-name-to-disable"MCP server instructions
The MCP protocol allows a server to return optional server-level instructions as part of its initialization response. These instructions are authored by the server to help agents understand how to use that server's tools correctly (for example, reading a required configuration resource before invoking tools, calling a setup tool once per session, or following a domain-specific workflow).
By default, Rovo Dev CLI surfaces a user-configured server's instructions into the agent's system prompt.
To prevent a specific server's instructions from being passed to the agent, set "enable_instructions": false on that server's entry in mcp.json:
{
"mcpServers": {
"my-trusted-server": {
"url": "https://example.com/mcp",
"transport": "http",
"enable_instructions": false
}
}
}Notes:
enable_instructionsis configured per server, so you can trust one server's instructions while leaving others disabled.When the field is absent or set to
true, the server's instructions are surfaced to Rovo.You can disable this for MCP servers that are untrustworthy or misbehaving.
Was this helpful?