MCP Server

Nightward ships a read-only stdio Model Context Protocol server so AI clients can ask for local scan, policy, rule, provider, report-history, and fix-plan context without receiving mutation tools.

nw mcp serve

Use the MCP server when you want an AI assistant to understand your local AI-tool risk posture. Keep normal CLI commands for release gates, CI, scheduled scans, online provider execution, and anything that should write files.

Client Setup

Install Nightward first, then add the same stdio command to your client. Use an absolute path such as /Users/alice/.local/bin/nw if the client does not inherit your shell PATH.

Config: Claude Code: claude mcp add, or Claude Desktop: claude_desktop_config.json

Use the CLI form for Claude Code. Use the JSON block in Claude Desktop's MCP config.

claude mcp add --transport stdio --scope user nightward -- nw mcp serve

# Claude Desktop JSON
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "nightward": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "nw",
      "args": ["mcp", "serve"],
      "env": {}
    }
  }
}

Client references: Claude MCP, Cursor MCP, Codex MCP config, Windsurf Cascade MCP, and Google Antigravity’s in-app “Manage MCP Servers → View raw config” flow.

VS Code-style clients use a different key:

{
  "servers": {
    "nightward": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "nw",
      "args": ["mcp", "serve"]
    }
  }
}

Restart or reload the AI client after editing its MCP config. Then ask for a safe first check such as “List my Nightward findings and summarize the critical ones.”

Tools

Tool	Purpose	Output shape
nightward_scan	Run a read-only HOME or workspace scan.	Redacted scan report summary plus bounded findings.
nightward_doctor	Return adapters, schedule status, provider posture, and local Nightward version.	Doctor JSON.
nightward_findings	List findings with severity, tool, rule, and search filters.	Filtered finding list.
nightward_explain_finding	Return one finding by full ID or unique prefix.	One redacted finding with impact and recommendation.
nightward_fix_plan	Generate plan-only remediation for all findings, one finding, or one rule.	Redacted fix-plan JSON.
nightward_report_changes	Compare the latest two saved report JSON files.	Added, removed, and changed finding summary.
nightward_policy_check	Run the policy gate with optional offline analysis.	Policy result; pass compact: true for chat summaries.

For casual AI-client use, prefer:

{
  "strict": true,
  "include_analysis": true,
  "compact": true
}

Compact mode returns pass/fail, threshold, summary counts, and bounded violation metadata without flooding the model with every ignored item or full finding.

Resources

• nightward://rules
• nightward://providers
• nightward://schedule
• nightward://latest-report

These resources are read-only. They are useful when an assistant needs rule/provider context before explaining a result.

Safety Model

• Stdio only; no HTTP listener.
• Read-only tools only.
• No telemetry.
• No default network calls.
• No live config mutation or schedule install/remove tools.
• No online-capable provider execution through MCP v1.
• Tool output is bounded and redacted before it reaches the client.
• Tool failures return MCP tool results with isError, so client UI can show errors without treating them as protocol failures.

Use explicit CLI commands such as nw analyze --with trivy --online --json outside MCP when you intentionally want online provider execution.

Publishing Status

Nightward’s MCP server is built into the CLI; there is no separate npm package today. The official discovery path is the MCP Registry, which is currently preview infrastructure backed by the modelcontextprotocol/registry project.

To publish Nightward there, the project needs a release artifact that can be referenced as an MCP server package, a server.json metadata file, namespace verification, and a mcp-publisher publish run. The registry hosts metadata, not binaries, so the practical next step is to decide whether Nightward’s npm launcher or a dedicated MCP-only package should be the registry package target.