install

Install centy-daemon

Guide the user step-by-step through setting up centy-daemon locally and wiring it up as an MCP server inside Claude Code. Work through each step in order, confirming success before moving on. If a step fails, diagnose and fix before continuing.

Prerequisites check

Before starting, verify the user has the required tools:

rustc --version   # needs 1.85+
cargo --version
git --version

If Rust is missing, direct them to https://rustup.rs and wait for confirmation.

Step 1 — Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/centy-io/centy-daemon.git
cd centy-daemon

Step 2 — Build the daemon binary

cargo build --release

This places the binary at target/release/centy-daemon. The build takes a few minutes on first run.

Step 3 — Install the binary (optional but recommended)

Make the daemon available system-wide by copying it to a directory on $PATH:

# macOS / Linux
cp target/release/centy-daemon ~/.local/bin/centy-daemon
# or
sudo cp target/release/centy-daemon /usr/local/bin/centy-daemon

Alternatively, set CENTY_DAEMON_PATH to the absolute path of the binary and skip this step.

Step 4 — Start the daemon

# Runs in the foreground on 127.0.0.1:50051
centy-daemon

# Run as a background process on login (launchd / systemd / any process manager)
# For a quick test, just run it in a separate terminal tab

Verify it is running:

grpcurl -plaintext 127.0.0.1:50051 list   # should print centy.CentyDaemon

Step 5 — Register the MCP server in Claude Code

Add the following block to the project's .mcp.json (or to ~/.claude/mcp.json for global access):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "centy": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "centy-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

centy-mcp is the official MCP bridge. It connects to the running daemon at 127.0.0.1:50051 and exposes every daemon RPC as a Claude Code tool.

If the daemon listens on a non-default address, set the environment variable:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "centy": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "centy-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "CENTY_DAEMON_ADDR": "127.0.0.1:9090"
      }
    }
  }
}

Step 6 — Verify the integration

Restart Claude Code (or reload the MCP servers) then confirm the tools are available:

• Run /mcp in Claude Code — you should see the centy server listed.
• Ask Claude to call IsRunning — it should report the daemon address.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Fix
centy-mcp connection refused	Make sure centy-daemon is running (centy-daemon &)
Binary not found	Set CENTY_DAEMON_PATH=/absolute/path/to/centy-daemon in the MCP env block
Version mismatch error in MCP logs	Run cargo build --release again; rebuild centy-mcp if you changed the proto
rustc --version too old	Run rustup update stable

Once complete, tell the user they are ready to use Centy. Suggest running the mcp-usage skill to learn about available tools.