What the Configuration Options Mean

Module 2 · Section 9 of 10

What the Configuration Options Mean

Every MCP server entry in settings.json has the same shape:

"server-name": {
  "command": "the executable to run",
  "args": ["array", "of", "arguments"],
  "env": {
    "ENV_VAR": "value"
  }
}

command is what gets executed. Usually npx for npm packages, node for scripts, python for Python servers, or a direct path to a binary.

args is the array of arguments passed to that command. For npx, this includes the package name. For node, it’s the path to the script. Additional arguments configure the server itself.

env is optional. You use it to pass environment variables — API keys, configuration values, anything the server needs that shouldn’t go in the args.