Deployment

Guide for deploying MCP servers to production.

⚠️ FIRST: Ensure the User is Logged In

Before any deployment command, always verify authentication:

mcp-use whoami

If this fails or the user has never logged in, run mcp-use login first — it opens a browser for OAuth.

The fastest path to production — one command:

mcp-use deploy

Or via the npm script (pre-configured in all templates):

npm run deploy

Your server is live at https://{slug}.run.mcp-use.com/mcp.

Before running mcp-use deploy:

Logged in — run mcp-use whoami to verify, or mcp-use login if needed
Git repository — your project must be a git repo
GitHub remote — the origin remote must point to GitHub (SSH or HTTPS)
Changes pushed — deployment pulls from GitHub, not your local files. Commit and push first.
GitHub App installed — the mcp-use GitHub App must have access to the repo. The CLI will prompt you to install it if missing.

mcp-use deploy [options]

Flag	Description	Default
`--name <name>`	Custom deployment name	`package.json` name or directory name
`--port <port>`	Server port	`3000`
`--runtime <runtime>`	`"node"` or `"python"`	Auto-detected from project files
`--env <KEY=VALUE>`	Set environment variable (repeatable)	—
`--env-file <path>`	Load env vars from a file	—
`--open`	Open deployment in browser after success	`false`
`--new`	Force a fresh deployment (ignore existing link)	`false`

# Inline
mcp-use deploy --env API_KEY=sk-xxx --env DATABASE_URL=postgres://...

# From file
mcp-use deploy --env-file .env.production

NEVER commit secrets to git. Use --env or --env-file for API keys, database URLs, and other sensitive values.

❌ Running mcp-use deploy without verifying auth first
✅ Always run mcp-use whoami before deploying — run mcp-use login if needed
❌ Running mcp-use deploy with uncommitted/unpushed changes
✅ The cloud builds from GitHub — always git push first
❌ Hardcoding secrets in code or committing .env
✅ Use --env / --env-file flags, or mcp-use deployments env set
❌ Forgetting to install the mcp-use GitHub App on the repo
✅ The CLI will prompt you, but you can also install it at github.com/apps/mcp-use
❌ Running mcp-use start without mcp-use build first
✅ Always build before starting in production