herdr-mcp

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that exposes 20 hand-crafted tools from the Herdr terminal API for AI agents — focused exclusively on multi-agent orchestration with git worktrees.

Each tool lives in its own file in tools/, with explicit input schemas, descriptions, and a direct JSON-RPC call to the Herdr Unix socket. No schema auto-generation, no magic.

Features

• 20 curated tools — only what's needed for worktree orchestration: worktree.*, agent.*, pane.*, workspace.*, tab.*, ping, session.snapshot. No noise from graphics, plugins, layout management, or reporting APIs.

• One file per tool — each tool in tools/<method>.js exports { name, description, inputSchema, handler }. Easy to read, test, and modify.

• WARNING prefix on destructive tools (worktree.remove) to make the risk visible in the agent's tool list.

• Auto-timeouts — calls are capped by a client-side timeout (30s by default), and blocking tools that accept timeout_ms are given enough headroom to complete instead of being cut short.

• Dynamic socket discovery — the Herdr socket path is resolved automatically via herdr status server --json.

• Zero-config — no environment variables or configuration required.

Related MCP server: cmuxlayer

How it works

1. Startup: the server loads the 20 tool definitions from tools/index.js.

2. Call: when a tool is invoked, the server sends the corresponding JSON-RPC request over the Herdr Unix socket and returns the result.

Tool naming follows herdr_<method> (dots become underscores), e.g. herdr_pane_split, herdr_agent_prompt, herdr_worktree_create.

Requirements

• Node.js 18+

• Herdr installed and running (the MCP talks to the Herdr server socket and discovers the socket path via herdr status server --json). The herdr binary must be on PATH.

• opencode (to register the MCP server)

Installation in opencode

The included installer registers the MCP server in opencode's config and copies all commands from commands/ (/orchestrate, /plan-worktrees) into opencode's command directory — without breaking any existing config (comments, formatting and unrelated MCP servers are preserved).

1. Clone or copy the project to the target machine:

   git clone git@github.com:Twinber/herdr-mcp.git
   cd herdr-mcp
   npm install

2. Run the installer:

   ./install.sh          # install globally (~/.config/opencode)
   ./install.sh --project # install into the current project's .opencode/

   Options:

   • --dry-run — show what would change without writing anything;

   • --no-test — skip the automatic npm install + smoke test;

   • --all — expose all 89 herdr API tools (default: restricted to 20 orchestration tools).

   The installer is idempotent: re-running it leaves an already-registered mcp.herdr untouched, and it refuses to touch an unparseable config (aborting with nothing changed).

3. Restart opencode. The herdr_* tools will be available to agents (shown as herdr_herdr_*), and the /orchestrate and /plan-worktrees commands will be available globally.

Tool modes

By default the server exposes only the 20 tools needed for worktree orchestration (worktree.*, agent.*, pane.* (split/send_input/ wait_for_output/list/get), workspace.*, tab.*, ping, session.snapshot). Destructive or noisy tools (workspace.close, tab.close, pane.close, server.stop, graphics, plugins, layout, reporting, ...) are excluded.

To expose all 89 tools (e.g. for full herdr API access), pass --all to the installer or to server.js directly:

./install.sh --all
# or in opencode.jsonc:
# "command": ["node", "/path/to/server.js", "--all"]

Development

npm test        # run the smoke test (initializes the MCP, lists tools, calls herdr_pane_list)
npm start       # run the server directly (stdio transport)

The smoke test spawns the server over stdio, performs the MCP handshake, verifies tools/list, and makes a real tools/call against your running Herdr instance.

Multi-agent orchestration with /orchestrate

/orchestrate is an opencode command that turns an opencode agent into a reactive orchestrator. It drives the herdr MCP tools to launch one opencode subagent per git worktree, monitor/unblock them, cross-review, merge, push and open PRs — reacting to what it observes instead of predicting states.

Usage (from any opencode session with the herdr MCP connected):

/orchestrate /path/to/tasks/config.json
/orchestrate <inline JSON>

The config format and pipeline are documented in commands/orchestrate.md. Example configs live in tasks/ (config.example.json, test-1.json, test-blocked.json).

Planning with /plan-worktrees

/plan-worktrees is the companion planning command. It interviews you about a feature or fix you want, decomposes it into parallelizable tasks (non overlapping files, no inter-task dependencies), and writes the factory JSON that /orchestrate consumes directly.

/plan-worktrees  # then answer the interviewer's questions
/plan-worktrees  Add a station search box and a country filter to the map page

It asks questions via the question tool until the repo details and the task decomposition are unambiguous, writes the config to <repo>/tasks/<date>-<slug>.json, summarizes the plan, and hands off with /orchestrate <file>.

Project layout

herdr-mcp/
├── server.js              # MCP entry (stdio transport, tools/list + tools/call)
├── install.sh             # installer entrypoint
├── scripts/
│   └── install.mjs        # merges mcp.herdr into opencode config, copies commands
├── tools/
│   ├── index.js            # collects all 20 tool definitions
│   ├── ping.js
│   ├── session.snapshot.js
│   ├── workspace.list.js / workspace.get.js
│   ├── tab.list.js / tab.get.js
│   ├── pane.list.js / pane.get.js / pane.split.js / pane.send_input.js / pane.wait_for_output.js
│   ├── agent.start.js / agent.prompt.js / agent.get.js / agent.wait.js / agent.read.js / agent.send_keys.js
│   └── worktree.create.js / worktree.remove.js / worktree.list.js
├── src/
│   └── client.js           # JSON-RPC client for the Herdr Unix socket
├── commands/              # /orchestrate + /plan-worktrees commands
├── tasks/                # task configs for /orchestrate
├── test/
│   └── smoke.js           # end-to-end smoke test
└── package.json

License

MIT