Connecting your coding agent

Your agent is good at writing backend code and bad at knowing whether the code it wrote worked. That is a reach problem, not a model problem.

Why agents struggle with hosted backends

An agent is only as good as the feedback loop it can close. It does not need help writing code. It needs to see what its code did, and correct itself.

Against a hosted backend it is writing blind. The database is remote. The schema lives behind a dashboard. It cannot run the migration and see the result, and it cannot call the API it just generated. It emits code, you deploy, you find out.

Setting it up

The MCP server ships inside the CLI. There is nothing extra to install.

Claude Code, one line, from your project folder:

$ claude mcp add crescodb -- cresco mcp --cwd .

Anything else, print the config in the shape that client wants:

$ cresco mcp --print $ cresco mcp --print --client codex
ClientFileNote
Claude Code.mcp.jsonCommitted with the repo, so the team gets it
Codex~/.codex/config.tomlTOML, not JSON
Cursor.cursor/mcp.jsonRestart Cursor after adding
VS Code agent mode.vscode/mcp.jsonRoot key is servers, not mcpServers
Claude Desktopclaude_desktop_config.jsonFully quit and reopen the app

The 14 tools

Read: project_info, schema_read, rows_list. Verify: access_audit, api_request. Auth: auth_enable, auth_create_user. Change: schema_add_model, schema_add_field, schema_set_access, schema_drop_model, db_sync, sql_query, data_export.

It speaks standard MCP over stdio at protocol 2024-11-05, so any compliant client works, not only the five above.

What to ask it

That last one is the interesting case. The agent creates the second user, calls your real API with their real token, and shows you the empty array. It is not claiming the isolation works. It is demonstrating it.

Common questions

Does this work with Codex?

Yes. Codex reads TOML from ~/.codex/config.toml rather than JSON. Run cresco mcp --print --client codex to get the right block.

Do I need a paid plan?

No. The MCP server ships in the CLI and works on the free tier.

Is my data sent anywhere?

No. The MCP server runs locally as a subprocess of your own agent and talks to your own project on your own machine.

Keep reading
The CrescoDB VS Code extensionAccess findings as squiggles in schema.cresco on save, with quick fixes on the lightbulb and… How do I know my backend is safe to deploy?Check which database tables are publicly readable before you deploy, offline, from the schem…

Try it

$ npm i -g crescodb

Local development is free forever. No account, no card. Read the docs or see pricing.