MCP servers

Every product serves its commands as Model Context Protocol tools, through the same simply command:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gitlab": { "command": "simply", "args": ["gitlab", "mcp"] },
    "atlassian": { "command": "simply", "args": ["atlassian", "mcp"] }
  }
}

Nothing to install but @simplysf/simply-cli — each server installs itself the first time the client launches it.

One server per product, deliberately

There is no single simply mcp exposing everything. Together the catalogues are 67 tools, and that many descriptions measurably degrades a model’s ability to pick the right one; some clients also cap or truncate large catalogues.

	Tools	Read-only default
Atlassian	43	24
GitLab	24	18

Separate servers also let you enable one product and not the other, which a combined server would need a filtering flag to express.

Checking what a server offers

simply gitlab mcp --list
simply atlassian mcp --list --allow-writes

Prints the tools that would be registered, then exits. Useful because running the server directly at a terminal looks like a hang — it is waiting for a client on stdin, which is the correct behaviour and an alarming first impression.

Letting an agent write

Read tools only, unless you say otherwise:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gitlab": { "command": "simply", "args": ["gitlab", "mcp"] },
    "gitlab-write": {
      "command": "simply",
      "args": ["gitlab", "mcp", "--allow-writes", "--env-file", "/home/me/gitlab-write.env"]
    }
  }
}

Pairing a read-only server with a write-capable one that uses a different credential file keeps the agent’s normal loop structurally incapable of changing anything. GITLAB_READ_ONLY and ATLASSIAN_READ_ONLY refuse every write even with --allow-writes on.

The layer that actually binds is a read-scoped token, which makes the instance refuse the write regardless of what any caller is persuaded to attempt.

Settings

Each server reads its product’s own environment variables, or an --env-file:

"args": ["gitlab", "mcp", "--env-file", "/home/me/gitlab.env"]

Use an absolute path. MCP clients launch a server from a working directory of their own, so ~ and relative paths may not resolve. On Windows, write it with forward slashes inside JSON.

Per-product detail

The full tool catalogues, per-client configuration for Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, Gemini CLI and VS Code, error codes, and troubleshooting live with each product:

The standalone binaries still work

simply-gitlab-mcp and simply-atlassian-mcp are still published and unchanged. If you have an existing client configuration pointing at them, it keeps working — nothing needs migrating.