Allow deploying the Dory MCP server separately from the client

[ghilesmeddour]

Really enjoying the Dory MCP! 🙌 It'd be great to be able to deploy it independently from the desktop client. A standalone version would unlock headless automation and shared/remote endpoints.

[dory-finn]

Thanks for the feedback — really glad you're enjoying Dory MCP! 🙌

This makes a lot of sense. A standalone/headless MCP deployment would unlock some important use cases, especially running Dory MCP without keeping the desktop client open, exposing shared or remote endpoints, and enabling automation/server-side agent workflows.

We’ll start exploring standalone/headless deployment for the Dory MCP server. The main areas we’ll need to design carefully are authentication, secure credential handling, permission boundaries, and how workspace/connection context is shared between the client and the MCP server.

I’ll keep this issue open to track the exploration. Thanks again for raising it — this is definitely aligned with where we want Dory MCP to go.

[dory-finn]

Thanks again for the suggestion — this is now available through the Dory CLI:

https://www.npmjs.com/package/@getdory/cli

You can run Dory MCP independently from the Desktop client in several ways.

Use standalone storage

Run a fully independent headless MCP server with its own local data:

codex mcp add dory -- \
  npx -y @getdory/cli mcp serve --stdio --data standalone

Reuse Dory Desktop data

You can also reuse your existing Dory Desktop data, including configured database connections:

codex mcp add dory -- \
  npx -y @getdory/cli mcp serve --stdio --data desktop

With --data desktop, the CLI uses the same local data directory as Dory Desktop, so you do not need to configure your connections again.

Run a shared or remote HTTP MCP endpoint

First create a bearer token:

export DORY_MCP_TOKEN="$(
  npx -y @getdory/cli mcp token create \
    --data standalone \
    --name "remote-http" \
    --scope read |
  jq -r '.token'
)"

Then start the HTTP server:

npx -y @getdory/cli mcp serve \
  --http \
  --host 0.0.0.0 \
  --port 3318 \
  --allow-remote \
  --token "$DORY_MCP_TOKEN" \
  --data standalone

The MCP endpoint will be available at:

http://<your-host>:3318/api/mcp

For a public deployment, we recommend placing it behind an HTTPS/TLS reverse proxy rather than exposing the plain HTTP endpoint directly.

We'd love to hear how it works for your headless automation or shared-server use case.