Cli

What pushtodisplay/cli MCP server does

The pushtodisplay/cli MCP server connects AI agents to Push To Display boards. It can send content to a selected board, inspect available boards, create or modify boards, choose a default board, delete boards, and list active device connections. Updates are delivered to display boards associated with the Push To Display mobile app on iOS and Android devices.

The server supports display-oriented content rather than general-purpose messaging. Its underlying CLI can send plain text, multiple content blocks, styled blocks, and JSON payloads. Updates can target panels in a multi-panel layout and can specify text size, weight, color, background color, spacing density, and horizontal or vertical alignment.

How it works

The MCP process runs locally through Node.js and communicates with an MCP client using stdio. The command is exposed by the pushtodisplay npm package with the mcp subcommand. An agent can then invoke the available MCP tools instead of issuing CLI commands directly.

The tool set includes pushtodisplay_send_update, pushtodisplay_list_boards, pushtodisplay_get_board, pushtodisplay_create_board, pushtodisplay_update_board, pushtodisplay_set_default_board, pushtodisplay_delete_board, and pushtodisplay_list_devices. Board updates use the user's default board when no specific board is selected, where supported by the request.

Setup and configuration

Install or run the CLI with Node.js 18 or newer. The documented MCP command is npx pushtodisplay mcp; the package can also be installed globally with npm. MCP clients that support stdio can run the same server command.

Before using the tools, authenticate with a Push To Display account. Browser login opens a sign-in flow, while device-code login supports headless machines such as SSH sessions, containers, and remote servers. Credentials are stored in the operating system keychain when available, with a configuration-directory fallback. The pushtodisplay/cli MCP server reuses this CLI session, so a prior CLI login supplies its authentication.

The service endpoints and configuration location can be changed with PTD_API_URL, PTD_SERVICE_URL, PTD_IDP_URL, and PTD_CONFIG_DIR. Configuration is resolved from environment variables, then the config file, then built-in defaults.

Tools and capabilities

Available MCP operations cover:

• Sending content to a board.
• Listing boards and retrieving individual board details.
• Creating boards and changing their names, descriptions, or layouts.
• Selecting a default board for updates.
• Permanently deleting boards.
• Listing active device connections.

The CLI also provides JSON output for machine-readable workflows, and its send command accepts panel targeting and per-block styling options. These options are relevant when an agent needs to place different content in a multi-panel display rather than overwrite a single undifferentiated message.

Limitations and notes

The material documents authentication through a Push To Display account; it does not describe anonymous access. A device must be connected to receive or show the board update, although the MCP tool list only provides a way to inspect active connections. The README does not specify rate limits, offline behavior, guaranteed delivery, or the full schema for every MCP tool.

The pushtodisplay/cli MCP server is intended for MCP clients with stdio support. The provided setup examples cover Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, and VS Code with GitHub Copilot; compatibility with other clients depends on their stdio MCP support. Deleting a board is described as permanent, so agents should treat that operation as destructive.