MCP server

rt ships a plugin MCP server that gives coding agents (Claude Code, and anything else that speaks MCP) access to rt's daemon over structured tool calls instead of shell commands.

How it works

rt mcp serve starts a stdio MCP server named "mattstack." Claude Code reaches it through the mattstack plugin, and its tools appear under the namespace mcp__plugin_mattstack_mattstack__*. You never run rt mcp serve yourself; the plugin spawns it automatically.

Setup

Install seeds the MCP server's namespace (mcp__plugin_mattstack_mattstack) into Claude Code's permissions.allow list, so tool calls don't trigger per-call permission prompts. If you ran rt setup after installing the plugin, this is already in place.

Tools

The server exposes tools in four groups:

Gates

Tool	What it does
`gate_ask`	Open a decision gate with daemon-side ceremony (subject resolution, presentation, nudge). Returns the gate id and presentation.
`gate_answer`	Answer an open gate's questions. Values must match option values verbatim; nuance goes in a `note` field.
`gate_list`	List gates, optionally filtered by status, subject prefix, or kind. Supports cursor-based paging.

Chat

Tool	What it does
`chat_post`	Post a message to an rt chat room.
`chat_dm`	Send a direct message to another handle.
`chat_ack`	Acknowledge a message by id.
`chat_claim`	Claim a message so other agents skip answering it.
`chat_release`	Release a previously claimed message.

Chat tools require rt chat sign-in first. If no signed-in session exists, the tool fails before reaching the daemon.

MR

Tool	What it does
`mr_reply_thread`	Reply to an existing MR/PR discussion thread.
`mr_comment_inline`	Post a new positioned inline comment on an MR diff line (GitLab only).
`mr_map`	List open MRs joined to the local worktrees holding their branches.

mr_reply_thread and mr_comment_inline require the repo's serialized identity (e.g. remote:gitlab.com%2Facme%2Facme-dev), not a bare host/path. mr_map also accepts the short repo-label alias.

Herd

Tool	What it does
`herd_gates`	List a herd's open gates.
`herd_ask`	Open a gate asking the herd operator questions, using this worker's identity.
`herd_answer`	Read the answer to a gate previously opened with `herd_ask`.
`herd_report`	Post a status report to this worker's herd room.

When the daemon is down

Every tool connects to the daemon over its Unix socket. When the daemon is not running, tools return an error with a human-readable explanation. Chat tools also fail early if no signed-in session exists.

How it works​

Setup​

Tools​

Gates​

Chat​

MR​

Herd​

When the daemon is down​

See also​