How to add MCP servers to Windsurf (mcp_config.json)

Configure local and remote MCP servers for Windsurf’s Cascade agent in mcp_config.json: file location, serverUrl for remote servers and turning tools off.

1. Open mcp_config.json

In the Cascade panel, click the … (Actions) menu at the top right and choose Open MCP config file in the MCPs section. According to the current docs the file is at ~/.config/devin/mcp_config.json on macOS and Linux and %APPDATA%\devin\mcp_config.json on Windows (Windsurf is now part of Devin Desktop; older Windsurf releases used ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json). Opening it from the menu always gets the right file.

2. Add a local (stdio) server

Add an entry under mcpServers, the same shape Claude Desktop and Cursor use:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "github": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@modelcontextprotocol/server-github"
      ],
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN": "<YOUR_TOKEN>"
      }
    }
  }
}

3. Add a remote server

Remote HTTP servers use serverUrl (or url) instead of a command. Example with the free Socketlist server:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "socketlist": {
      "serverUrl": "https://socketlist.pages.dev/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Add a headers object if the server needs an API key.

4. Keep secrets out of the file

The config supports ${env:VAR_NAME} and ${file:/path/to/file} in command, args, env, serverUrl, url and headers.

5. Turn servers and tools on or off

The MCPs section of the Actions menu lists each server with a toggle. To hide single tools, add "disabledTools": ["tool_name"] to a server entry. Cascade can use at most 100 tools at a time.

Notes

This applies to the Cascade agent. The newer Devin Local agent keeps MCP servers in the Devin CLI config instead. Source: the official Cascade MCP documentation.