Installation

Install the smcp CLI on macOS, Linux, Windows, or from source

  2 min read  

The smcp CLI is a single binary with no dependencies. Install it on macOS, Linux, or Windows using your preferred method below.

macOS

brew install mcp-hub-corp/tap/smcp

Manual download

Download the latest release binary from GitHub:

# Download the latest release for macOS (Apple Silicon)
curl -L -o smcp https://github.com/mcp-hub-platform/mcp-cage/releases/latest/download/smcp-darwin-arm64
chmod +x smcp
sudo mv smcp /usr/local/bin/

For Intel Macs, replace smcp-darwin-arm64 with smcp-darwin-amd64.

Linux

APT repository (Ubuntu/Debian)

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mcphub/smcp
sudo apt update
sudo apt install smcp

Supports Ubuntu Noble (24.04 LTS) and Jammy (22.04 LTS).

Manual download

# Download the latest release for Linux (amd64)
curl -L -o smcp https://github.com/mcp-hub-platform/mcp-cage/releases/latest/download/smcp-linux-amd64
chmod +x smcp
sudo mv smcp /usr/local/bin/

For ARM64 systems, replace smcp-linux-amd64 with smcp-linux-arm64.

Windows

Download

Download the latest release zip from GitHub Releases:

  1. Download smcp_windows_amd64.zip from the latest release
  2. Extract the zip file
  3. Move smcp.exe to a directory in your PATH

Alternatively, use PowerShell:

# Download and extract the latest release
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://github.com/mcp-hub-corp/mcp-cage/releases/latest/download/smcp_windows_amd64.zip" -OutFile "$env:TEMP\smcp.zip"
Expand-Archive -Path "$env:TEMP\smcp.zip" -DestinationPath "$env:TEMP\smcp" -Force
Move-Item -Path "$env:TEMP\smcp\smcp.exe" -Destination "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Microsoft\WindowsApps\smcp.exe" -Force
Remove-Item -Path "$env:TEMP\smcp.zip", "$env:TEMP\smcp" -Recurse -Force

Add to PATH (optional)

If you moved smcp.exe to a custom directory instead of WindowsApps, add it to your PATH:

# Add to PATH for the current user (persistent)
$mcpDir = "C:\path\to\smcp"
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("PATH", "$([Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable('PATH', 'User'));$mcpDir", "User")

Restart your terminal after updating the PATH.

From Source

If you have Go 1.24 or later installed, you can build from source:

go install github.com/mcp-hub-platform/mcp-cage@latest

This installs the binary to your $GOPATH/bin directory. Make sure it is in your PATH.

Minimum requirements for source builds

  • Go 1.24 or later
  • Git

Verify the Installation

After installing, confirm that the CLI is available:

smcp --version

You should see output like:

smcp version 1.x.x (build abc1234)

Run a System Check

The smcp doctor command verifies that your system is ready to run MCP servers:

smcp doctor

This checks and reports on:

  • Sandbox capabilities – whether your OS supports the sandboxing features used to isolate MCP server processes (macOS sandbox-exec, Linux seccomp/namespaces, Windows job objects)
  • Network isolation – whether network restrictions can be applied to sandboxed processes
  • Filesystem isolation – whether filesystem access can be scoped to specific directories
  • Cache directory – whether the local package cache is writable and has sufficient space

If any check fails, smcp doctor will print a description of the issue and suggest a fix. All checks must pass before you can run MCP servers with full sandboxing.

Next Steps