Windsurf is an AI-first code editor developed by Codeium, featuring the Cascade AI agent with deep agentic capabilities. It supports MCP servers through a global config file at ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json. Windsurf uses the mcpServers root key like Claude Desktop, but has one notable difference for remote servers: it uses serverUrl instead of url to specify the endpoint. Stdio servers work identically to the canonical format. Windsurf also supports ${env:VARIABLE_NAME} interpolation syntax in config values, and includes an MCP Marketplace where servers can be discovered. The getmcp CLI handles the serverUrl mapping automatically when generating configs for Windsurf.
Quick Install with getmcp
The fastest way to install MCP servers in Windsurf is with the getmcp CLI:
▸Config file not found: Windsurf creates the ~/.codeium/windsurf/ directory on first launch. Open Windsurf at least once before attempting to add MCP servers.
▸Remote server not connecting: Windsurf uses serverUrl (not url) for remote servers. If editing the config manually, make sure to use serverUrl. The getmcp CLI handles this automatically.
▸Server fails to start: Open Windsurf's output panel (View > Output) and select the MCP channel to see server error logs.
▸Environment variable interpolation: Windsurf supports ${env:VARIABLE_NAME} syntax in config values, which reads from your system environment. This is different from the env block which sets variables for the server process.
▸MCP not available in Cascade: MCP support is available in Windsurf 1.0+. Check Help > About Windsurf and update if you are on an older version.
