← Back to Overview

CLI

Serve Command

Start the Management MCP server without VS Code — headless mode for CI/CD pipelines, remote AI access, and automated testing.

Overview

Run the full Management MCP server as a standalone process, independent of VS Code.

Headless mode for CI/CD, remote access, and AI automation
All 33 management tools available over MCP
Reads .openpost/ from the current directory (or specified workspace)

Starting

Launch the server with a single command.

openpost serve

# Output:
# Listening on http://127.0.0.1:3199/mcp
# 33 tools available

# Custom port:
openpost serve --port 4000

Runs until Ctrl+C.

Configuration

FlagDefaultDescription
--port <number>3199HTTP port for the MCP server
--workspace <path>cwdTarget directory with .openpost/
Reads environments and collections from the workspace
Vault must be unlocked separately if secrets are needed

Use Cases

AI agents in CI pipelines

GitHub Actions + Claude/Cursor agent running API tests

Remote MCP access

Team AI tools connecting to a shared server

Automated collection runs

AI-triggered test execution via MCP tools

Integration testing

Orchestrated by AI assistants in automated workflows

Headless CI Example

GitHub Actions workflow using the serve command for AI-driven API testing:

steps:
  - uses: actions/checkout@v4

  - name: Install openpost
    run: npm install -g openpost

  - name: Start MCP server
    run: openpost serve &

  - name: Run AI agent tests
    run: |
      # AI agent connects to localhost:3199/mcp
      # Agent runs tests via MCP tools
      # (your AI agent step here)

  - name: Cleanup
    run: kill %1

The server runs in the background while the AI agent connects via MCP and executes test collections.

Next

CLI Overview → Connecting AI Clients →
Ko-fi