Installation¶

Requirements¶

Python 3.12 or newer
pip or uv package manager

Install from PyPI¶

pippip (all extras)uv

pip install mcpkernel

pip install "mcpkernel[all]"

uv pip install mcpkernel

Install from Source¶

git clone https://github.com/piyushptiwari1/mcpkernel.git
cd mcpkernel
pip install -e ".[dev]"

Verify Installation¶

mcpkernel version

Expected output:

mcpkernel 0.1.3

Initialize a Project¶

Run mcpkernel init to set up configuration files in your project:

cd your-project/
mcpkernel init --preset standard

Expected output:

✓ Initialized MCPKernel in .mcpkernel (preset: standard)
  Config: .mcpkernel/config.yaml
  Policies: .mcpkernel/policies
  Preset: standard — Block known-dangerous patterns, audit the rest.

Next steps:
  1. Add an upstream MCP server:
     mcpkernel add-server myserver http://localhost:3000/mcp
  2. Start the proxy:
     mcpkernel serve -c .mcpkernel/config.yaml

This creates:

.mcpkernel/
├── config.yaml          # Main configuration
└── policies/
    └── default.yaml     # Policy rules from your preset

What the Presets Do¶

Preset	Default Action	Description
`permissive`	`allow`	Audit everything, block nothing. Good for development.
`standard`	`audit`	Block known-dangerous patterns, audit the rest.
`strict`	`deny`	Deny-by-default. Only explicitly allowed tools pass.

# See all presets and their rules
mcpkernel presets

Expected output:

Available policy presets:
==================================================

  permissive
  Audit everything, block nothing. Good for development.
    [  audit] Audit all tool calls

  standard
  Block known-dangerous patterns, audit the rest.
    [   deny] Block shell execution
    [   deny] Block path traversal
    [  audit] Audit external API calls

  strict
  Deny-by-default. Only explicitly allowed tools pass.
    [   deny] Block all uncategorized tools
    [   deny] Block shell execution
    [   deny] Block path traversal
    [   deny] Block external network

Next Steps¶

Once installed, follow the Quick Start guide to run your first secured tool call.