# Canary

A throwaway test connector from Mindstone that exercises a release pipeline. One ping tool, no auth, nothing else.

- MCP server · `type=mcp` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Windsurf (Devin Desktop), Cline, Zed, Gemini CLI · ★ 13
- Author: mindstone
- License: not stated · policy=link-only · description only; the file stays with the author
- Source: https://github.com/mindstone/mcp-servers/tree/HEAD/connectors/canary
- Updated: 2026-10-22
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/mcp/canary

## What it 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.

## Requirements
- Needs: Node.js (commands run via npx)

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

**Platform CLI**
```bash
claude mcp add mcp-server-canary -- npx -y @mindstone/mcp-server-canary
```

### Codex

**Platform CLI**
```bash
codex mcp add canary -- npx -y @mindstone/mcp-server-canary
```

### Cursor

**Config file**
File `.cursor/mcp.json`:
```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "canary": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "@mindstone/mcp-server-canary"
            ]
        }
    }
}
```

### GitHub Copilot

**Config file**
File `.vscode/mcp.json`:
```json
{
    "servers": {
        "canary": {
            "type": "stdio",
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "@mindstone/mcp-server-canary"
            ]
        }
    }
}
```

### Gemini CLI

**Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini mcp add canary npx -y @mindstone/mcp-server-canary
```

## When to use it
- 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
- Call the `ping` tool with the message "connection check"
- Ping Canary: pass the string `hello` to `ping`
- List the tools the Canary MCP server exposes

## Similar
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From the same set: [mindstone/mcp-servers](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/by/mindstone/mcp-servers.md) — 24 cards

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