FOCAL MCP Server

FOCAL MCP (Framework for Orchestrated Central AI ruLes) is a local MCP server that centralizes AI behavior rules and applies them across tools like Codex, Claude Code, and Cursor.

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• uv installed (required for uvx)

Run the server (recommended)

uvx --from focal-mcp-server focal-mcp-server

Open the Web UI:

http://127.0.0.1:8765

MCP endpoint:

http://127.0.0.1:8765/mcp

WebSocket notifications:

ws://127.0.0.1:8765/mcp/ws

Related MCP server: CodeGuard MCP Server

Configure Your MCP Client

FOCAL MCP uses streamable HTTP, so you start the server yourself and point clients to the URL above.

Codex (example)

Add the following to ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.focal]
enabled = true
url = "http://127.0.0.1:8765/mcp"

Restart Codex after saving.

Edit Rules (Live)

Rules live outside the repo in:

~/.focal_mcp/workspace/
  core/
    system.md
    style.md
    safety.md
    tool_policy.md
  agents/

Use the Web UI to edit files. Updates are applied immediately.

How Rules Are Applied

FOCAL MCP exposes a tool named focal_rules. Agents should call it before every response to fetch the latest rules.

If rules do not update immediately:

1. Ensure the client is connected to the MCP server.

2. Ensure the client calls focal_rules before responding.

3. Reconnect the client if needed.

Project Prompt (Codex)

The repository-level prompt is stored in:

agents.md

Roadmap

• Project-specific rule management for multi-repo workflows

• UI/UX improvements for rule editing and visibility