Canary — Claude Code MCP server: Mindstone's test connector
A throwaway test connector from Mindstone that exercises a release pipeline. One ping tool, no auth, nothing else.
claude mcp add mcp-server-canary -- npx -y @mindstone/mcp-server-canaryWhat Canary does
Canary lives in the mindstone/mcp-servers repository and exists to walk Mindstone's release machinery end to end: publishing, GitHub Actions, registry sync, the host-app catalog. The connector itself is deliberately empty — a single tool called ping.
That tool takes a message string of 1 to 200 characters and hands it back as pong v3: <message>. There is no auth layer and no external dependency, so the install finishes without prompts and asks for no environment variables. It runs over stdio, which means most MCP hosts spawn it for you once @mindstone/mcp-server-canary is registered.
Versions are stamped 0.0.x on purpose and the project sits below 1.0. The author's own guidance is blunt: don't build anything real on top of it. Finding it in your MCP server list is a sign to remove it, not to configure it.
What it helps with
- check that an MCP host can spawn a stdio server
- confirm the agent sees a connector's tools
- exercise a release pipeline against a harmless stub
- test an MCP install that needs no keys or env vars
Example prompts for the agent
- Call the
pingtool with the message "connection check" - Ping Canary: pass the string
hellotoping - List the tools the Canary MCP server exposes
How to install Canary
Platform CLI
claude mcp add mcp-server-canary -- npx -y @mindstone/mcp-server-canaryPlatform CLI
codex mcp add canary -- npx -y @mindstone/mcp-server-canaryConfig file
{
"mcpServers": {
"canary": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@mindstone/mcp-server-canary"
]
}
}
}Config file
{
"servers": {
"canary": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@mindstone/mcp-server-canary"
]
}
}
}Platform CLI
gemini mcp add canary npx -y @mindstone/mcp-server-canaryStep by step, with commands for each platform: How to add an MCP server to Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, VS Code, Gemini CLI and more
Questions about Canary
How do I install Canary in Claude Code?
Run claude mcp add mcp-server-canary -- npx -y @mindstone/mcp-server-canary. It starts over stdio and needs no environment variables.
What does Canary do?
It answers calls to the ping tool by returning your message as pong v3: <message>. That is the whole feature set.
Should I use Canary in a real project?
No. It is a canary for Mindstone's release tooling, versions are 0.0.x, and the author asks you not to depend on it for any real workflow.
