MCP server

Let AI agents control your local PHP environment.

Q: Which MCP transport does bothy-mcp use?

stdio. The client starts /Applications/Bothy.app/Contents/MacOS/bothy-mcp as a local process; nothing listens on the network.

Q: Does the MCP server work if the Bothy app isn't open?

Yes. bothy-mcp is a separate program that your AI client starts; it uses the same core and config file as the app, and the services it controls run as launchd agents that keep running after you quit Bothy. It does need Bothy to have been activated once.

Q: Can I use it with a client that isn't listed?

If it supports stdio MCP servers, yes: point it at /Applications/Bothy.app/Contents/MacOS/bothy-mcp. If it only has a terminal, use bothy … --json.

Q: Can it run artisan, composer or phpunit?

Yes, through bothy_exec, which runs a command in the site's folder with that site's PHP version first on PATH.

Q: Is SQL access limited in any way?

No. bothy_query runs as MySQL root against local databases. Use your client's approval prompts and snapshots.

Bothy is a Mac app for local PHP and MySQL development, and bothy-mcp is its MCP server. Connect it to Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, Cursor or any MCP client and the agent can create sites, run SQL, change php.ini, read logs and run WP-CLI on your machine - using the same core as the app and the bothy CLI.

Buy for $69 Read the MCP docs

What is an MCP server?

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard for connecting AI clients to tools. A client such as Claude Desktop or Cursor starts an MCP server, asks it which tools it offers, and gets back a name, a description and a parameter schema for each one. When you ask for something, the model picks a tool, fills in the parameters, and - in most clients - shows you the call before it runs.

bothy-mcp is a local stdio server: the client launches it as a process on your Mac and talks to it over standard input and output. Nothing listens on a network port, and there's no account or API key. It uses the app's licence activation, so once Bothy is activated the server works too.

The bothy_* tools

Around 40 tools, all prefixed bothy_. These are the real names your client will show.

Sites

bothy_list_sites, bothy_add_site (folder, git URL or starter), bothy_remove_site, bothy_rename_site, bothy_set_site_label, bothy_site_folder, bothy_export_site, bothy_set_site_env, bothy_exec

Databases and raw SQL

bothy_list_databases, bothy_create_database, bothy_assign_database, bothy_drop_database, bothy_query, bothy_db_snapshot, bothy_db_snapshots, bothy_db_restore, bothy_add_database_server

PHP and php.ini

bothy_list_php, bothy_install_php, bothy_uninstall_php, bothy_set_site_php, bothy_set_site_ini, bothy_php_ini, bothy_set_site_xdebug

Services and add-ons

bothy_status, bothy_up, bothy_down, bothy_service, bothy_addon, bothy_purge_cache, bothy_doctor

Stats and logs

bothy_stats, bothy_site_stats (req/h, 4xx/5xx, p95, FPM workers, slow requests), bothy_site_logs (php, access or slow)

Mail and WP-CLI

bothy_mail_list, bothy_mail_get, bothy_mail_clear for Mailpit; bothy_wp runs WP-CLI against a WordPress site, installing wp-cli via Homebrew if it's missing

Worked examples

Real requests, the tools an agent calls to do them, and the CLI equivalent where there is one. Site and database names are examples.

1
“Create a WordPress site called shop on PHP 8.3.”
One call: bothy_add_site with name: shop, php: 8.3, starter: wordpress. The starter downloads WordPress, creates the database and writes wp-config.php. Add auto_install: true and it completes the install with an admin account (a password is generated if you don't give one). The site is live at https://shop.test and appears in the app's sidebar.
2
“Create a database for it and assign it to the site.”
For a site that didn't come from a starter: bothy_create_database (utf8mb4), then bothy_assign_database - or the latter alone with create: true.
```
bothy db create shop_db
bothy site db shop assign shop_db
```
3
“Show me the latest PHP errors on shop.”
bothy_site_logs with kind: php returns the last 100 lines by default. Ask for access to see requests from Caddy's JSON log, or slow for the php-fpm slowlog. This is the one that saves the most copying and pasting.
```
bothy logs shop --kind php
```
4
“Which plugins are active? Update them all.”
bothy_wp with args: plugin list --status=active, then plugin update --all. It runs with the site's own PHP version.
```
bothy site exec shop -- wp plugin list --status=active
```
5
“Snapshot the database before you run that migration.”
bothy_db_snapshot writes a gzipped, single-transaction mysqldump and returns its path. bothy_db_snapshots lists them, and bothy_db_restore drops, recreates and reloads the database from one (the newest if no path is given).
```
bothy db snapshot shop_db
bothy db snapshot --list
```
6
“The import is running out of memory - raise memory_limit to 1G.”
Per site: bothy_set_site_ini with memory_limit and 1G, which affects only that site's FPM pool. For every site on a PHP version: bothy_php_ini, which edits that version's php.ini and reloads php-fpm. A good agent will ask which you mean.
```
bothy site ini shop memory_limit 1G
bothy php ini 8.3 memory_limit 1G
```
7
“Which of my sites are still on PHP 7.4?”
bothy_list_sites returns every site with its URL, path, PHP version, SSL and php.ini overrides; the agent filters it. A natural follow-up is “move them to 8.2 and show me any new PHP errors”, which chains bothy_set_site_php and bothy_site_logs.

Setting it up in your client

Everything is in Integrations in the app. The short version:

Claude Desktop and Cowork - click Install Extension…; Bothy installs itself as a desktop extension (.mcpb). Details.
Claude Code - claude mcp add --scope user bothy /Applications/Bothy.app/Contents/MacOS/bothy-mcp. Details.
ChatGPT desktop and Codex CLI - both read ~/.codex/config.toml; click Add to Codex or Copy TOML. ChatGPT, Codex.
Cursor, Windsurf, Zed, VS Code and others - paste the JSON below into the client's MCP config. Details.

{ "mcpServers": { "bothy": { "command": "/Applications/Bothy.app/Contents/MacOS/bothy-mcp" } } }

If your agent has a terminal, you can skip MCP entirely: every bothy command supports --json. See the CLI reference.

Before you let it loose

bothy_query runs SQL as root with no filter, bothy_drop_database can't be undone, bothy_db_restore replaces the database, and bothy_exec runs any command line in a site's folder (with a five-minute limit). Keep your client's approval prompts on for those, and make snapshots a habit. bothy_doctor, bothy_status, the list tools, stats and logs only read. More on this under AI-assisted development.

How Bothy's MCP server compares with other local tools

Not long ago this was unusual. Now several local development tools ship an MCP server, and some do things Bothy doesn't:

Laravel Herd has an official MCP server documented for Claude Code, Cursor, Junie and Windsurf. It manages services and PHP versions, lists and secures sites, and can fetch the last Laravel Forge deployment and Herd's debug data (queries, jobs, logs, requests). Laravel Boost can install it automatically. If you deploy with Forge, that integration is something Bothy has no equivalent for.
MAMP PRO (7.4.3 and later) connects to Claude Desktop, with access granted per site. The AI can work with that site's files, run SQL and run WP-CLI. Per-site opt-in is a finer-grained permission model than Bothy's, where the server can reach every site.
ServBay ships an MCP server alongside an AI gateway and Ollama, and covers far more languages and databases than PHP and MySQL.
Lerd is free and open source, runs on Linux as well as macOS, and has an MCP server for Claude Code, Cursor and Copilot.

What's different about Bothy's:

Breadth. Around 40 tools covering the whole environment - raw SQL, snapshots and restore, per-site and per-version php.ini, Xdebug, three kinds of log, per-site request stats, caught mail and WP-CLI.
CLI parity. The same operations exist as bothy commands with --json, so shell agents and scripts get them without MCP.
A native app on the same core. What the agent does shows up in the app immediately, and vice versa.
Setup for many clients in one place, including a one-click extension for Claude Desktop and Cowork.
Price. $69 once for every 1.x release; the MCP server isn't a separate tier. See pricing.

For fuller comparisons see Bothy as a Herd alternative and Bothy as a MAMP alternative.

Questions

Which MCP transport does bothy-mcp use?

stdio. The client starts /Applications/Bothy.app/Contents/MacOS/bothy-mcp as a local process; nothing listens on the network.

Does the MCP server work if the Bothy app isn't open?

Yes. bothy-mcp is a separate program that your AI client starts; it uses the same core and config file as the app, and the services it controls run as launchd agents that keep running after you quit Bothy. It does need Bothy to have been activated once.

Can I use it with a client that isn't listed?

If it supports stdio MCP servers, yes: point it at /Applications/Bothy.app/Contents/MacOS/bothy-mcp. If it only has a terminal, use bothy … --json.

Can it run artisan, composer or phpunit?

Yes, through bothy_exec, which runs a command in the site's folder with that site's PHP version first on PATH.

Is SQL access limited in any way?

No. bothy_query runs as MySQL root against local databases. Use your client's approval prompts and snapshots.

Does using the MCP server cost extra?

No. It's part of Bothy: $69 once, with every 1.x update.

Sources

Checked September 2026. Details change - check the vendor's site before deciding.

Get Bothy for $69.

One payment for every 1.x release. Version 2 will be a separate purchase.

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