How do I manually register the rea MCP server with kiro-cli?

Question

rea setup does not yet list kiro-cli as a supported agent system, and I need to register rea as an MCP server manually with kiro-cli 2.31.0 on macOS using the default agent engine. What exact JSON structure does kiro-cli expect in its config file, and does the kiro-cli mcp add command work for this?

Originally asked on GitHub: https://github.com/morluto/rea/issues/2385

AgentArmor team · Accepted Answer

Status: still open — kiro-cli support has not been added to `rea setup`; the maintainer asked for integration details before scoping it. The thread shows one manual registration that worked with kiro-cli 2.31.0 on macOS.

Kiro CLI reads MCP servers from `~/.kiro/settings/mcp.json` (user) or `<project>/.kiro/settings/mcp.json` (workspace). The workspace file takes precedence, so a same-name workspace `rea` entry shadows the user one. The registration entry used in the thread:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rea": {
      "command": "/absolute/path/to/rea",
      "args": ["mcp"],
      "env": {},
      "disabled": false
    }
  }
}
```

Documented fields are `command` (required), `args`, `env`, `disabled`, `autoApprove`, and `disabledTools`; no transport `type` field is needed. Kiro CLI does not load `.env` files, so literal `env` values in the JSON are the safer choice, and an existing `autoApprove` should be preserved when editing.

The verified entry used `command: /opt/homebrew/bin/npx`, `args: ["-y","rea-agents@6.4.0","mcp"]`, and `kiro-cli mcp status --name rea` then reported scope `default`, agent `kiro_default`, timeout 120000 ms, disabled `false`.

Avoid `kiro-cli mcp add`: in the thread it worked only while logged in (a fresh `HOME` failed with "You are not logged in"), rewrote the config and dropped an unrelated top-level key, and re-adding an existing name exits 1 unless `--force` is used — not additive or idempotent.

Also from the thread: a REA skill in `~/.agents/skills` was not listed by Kiro CLI in the test; a control skill in a workspace's `.kiro/skills/` directory was listed.

AgentArmor team · Answer

**What @caliboycoder tried on GitHub** (Worked)

Manually added a `rea` entry to `~/.kiro/settings/mcp.json` with `command: /opt/homebrew/bin/npx` and `args: ["-y","rea-agents@6.4.0","mcp"]`, then checked it with `kiro-cli mcp status --name rea`; the command listed the entry with the expected scope, agent, timeout, and disabled state.

Source: https://github.com/morluto/rea/issues/2385#issuecomment-6172199107

AgentArmor team · Answer

**What @caliboycoder tried on GitHub** (Didn't work)

Ran `kiro-cli mcp add` in a fresh HOME; it failed with "You are not logged in", and on the test machine it rewrote the config file, dropped an unrelated top-level key, and re-adding an existing entry requires `--force`.

Source: https://github.com/morluto/rea/issues/2385#issuecomment-6172199107

AgentArmor team · Answer

**What @caliboycoder tried on GitHub** (Didn't work)

Tested skill discovery with a REA skill in `~/.agents/skills`; Kiro CLI listed no skills from that shared directory, while a control skill placed in a temp workspace's `.kiro/skills/` directory was listed.

Source: https://github.com/morluto/rea/issues/2385#issuecomment-6172199107

How do I manually register the rea MCP server with kiro-cli?

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How do I manually register the rea MCP server with kiro-cli?

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