MCP Overview

Index Lane v1 uses MCP in the smallest viable way:

• local
• stdio
• backed by the same Index Lane API key as the CLI

That avoids building a second hosted auth system before the core CLI product is solid.

Why local stdio first

Remote HTTP MCP auth is a real product problem.

Local stdio is much simpler for v1:

• no extra OAuth dance for the MCP server itself
• no second session model
• no new hosted auth surface to debug

Startup

index-lane mcp serve

That starts the local MCP server and lets a compatible client call Index Lane tools through the user’s saved API key.