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Q Ring

Stores and manages AI coding credentials in native OS keychains through MCP and a command-line interface.

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Install Q Ring

Pick your client, then add it in one click or paste the config.

STDIONode.js
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
claude_desktop_config.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "q-ring": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "-p",
        "@i4ctime/q-ring",
        "qring-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Settings → Developer → Edit Config, merge this into mcpServers, then fully quit and reopen Claude Desktop.

Automated check passed— started and listed 46 tools correctly (9d ago).

Overview

The q-ring MCP server stores credentials in macOS Keychain, Linux Secret Service, or Windows Credential Vault and exposes them to AI coding agents over MCP. Its 46 tools cover secret storage, retrieval, environment-aware values, expiration, audit logs, generation, linking, ephemeral tunnels, and encrypted bundles. Reach for it when agents need controlled access to development secrets without putting values in plain-text .env files.

Use cases

  • Store API keys outside plain-text .env files
  • Select credentials by development environment or Git branch
  • Audit and export secret access events
  • Generate and save application credentials
  • Create temporary secrets for CI or short-lived agent tasks

Key features

  • Native OS keychain storage
  • 46 MCP tools for AI coding agents
  • Environment-aware secret resolution
  • TTL-based expiration and ephemeral tunnels
  • Tamper-evident audit logging
  • AES-256-GCM encrypted secret bundles

Tools46

What Q Ring lets your agent do. Expand a tool for its parameters.

Verified live~16.7k tokens of context

Security & health

What it can reach and how reliably it runs — from our own checks, not the maintainer’s claims.

ActiveLast checked Today

Recent health check succeeded.

19/20 checks healthy over the last 93d

What it can do

From the 46 tools this server returned when we ran it; 46 declare their own safety hints.

Runs commands · 3Can delete or modify data · 16Handles credentials · 39Makes network requests · 9Read-only tools · 29
Unusual tool instructions. 7 tool descriptions contain text aimed at the AI model rather than at you (reaches for local secrets). Read the tool descriptions before connecting.
Network at startup3 connections
Files written at startupNone
Install scriptsNone
npm provenanceSigned build
Package age228 days
Maintainers1

Observed 2026-11-02 in an isolated sandbox. A description of reach, not a security audit.

Supply-chain signal

No high-severity advisories surfaced by our automated scan.

Critical 0High 0Medium 0Low 0

Scanned 11d ago via OSV.dev · @i4ctime/q-ring (npm)

Adoption & maintenance

Factual signals from GitHub, npm, and our automated checks — not a rating.

GitHub stars5Stargazers on the source repository.
npm downloads1kPackage downloads in the last 30 days.
Last commit3d agoMost recent push to the default branch.
Availability100%Our rolling endpoint + install checks that succeeded.
Install checkPassedOur sandbox started it and listed its tools.
Tools exposed46Callable tools this server registers over MCP.
Directory activity1 viewsConfig copies, upvotes, and views on AllMCPs.

How Q Ring works

What q-ring MCP server does

The q-ring MCP server gives AI coding agents access to credentials stored in the host operating system’s native secret storage. It supports macOS Keychain, Linux Secret Service, and Windows Credential Vault. A command-line interface provides the same underlying secret-management workflow for terminal use.

Secrets can be associated with multiple environments, such as development, staging, and production. The selected value can come from an explicit flag, QRING_ENV, NODE_ENV, Git branch conventions, a .q-ring.json project file, or a default configured on the secret. Values are not shown by the list operation.

The project also models several lifecycle and sharing behaviors: time-limited secrets, audit records with hash chaining, linked secrets that update together, in-memory temporary secrets, and AES-256-GCM encrypted secret bundles.

How it works

Install the package globally, then use the qring command to create and retrieve entries. For example, qring set stores a value, qring get reads it, and qring list displays available keys without displaying their values. A missing value can be entered through a secure prompt.

Environment states can be compared with qring diff; qring promote copies a value between environments and can require confirmation before replacing a different target. Expiration can be set with a TTL or an explicit timestamp. Reads of expired values are blocked, while health checks warn when a secret has reached at least 75% of its lifetime.

Every read, write, and deletion is recorded in the audit log. The CLI can inspect anomalies, verify the audit chain, and export records as JSON or CSV. Generated values can use API-key, password, UUID, token, or hexadecimal formats.

Setup and configuration

Install with pnpm, npm, Yarn, or Homebrew. Native installation is the intended path for durable local storage because it can use the operating system keychain. Project-specific environment selection can be configured in .q-ring.json with an environment and branch mappings.

A Docker image is also provided and exposes the MCP interface through mcp-proxy. The q-ring MCP server therefore should be installed natively when durable local secrets are required.

Tools and capabilities

The q-ring MCP server includes 46 MCP tools. The documented MCP operations include environment comparison through diff_environments and environment promotion through promote_secret. Its broader capability set covers:

  • Storing, retrieving, listing, inspecting, and deleting secrets
  • Selecting values by environment and promoting them between environments
  • Applying TTLs or explicit expiration times
  • Generating credentials in several formats
  • Recording, checking, analyzing, and exporting audit events
  • Linking secrets across projects and unlinking them later
  • Creating and reading in-memory tunnels with optional read limits
  • Packaging secrets into AES-256-GCM encrypted bundles

The README identifies Cursor, Kiro, and Claude Code as supported AI integrations. Kiro is named in the project documentation but is not included in the client list for this directory entry.

Limitations and notes

The Docker deployment does not provide durable access to macOS Keychain, Linux Secret Service, or Windows Credential Vault from inside the container. Ephemeral tunnels are intended to remain in memory and can self-destruct based on time or read count. Environment detection follows a defined precedence order, so an explicit --env value takes priority over automatic detection.

Read the full README View source on GitHub

Reviews

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Frequently Asked Questions about Q Ring

q-ring is an MCP server that connects AI coding agents to macOS Keychain, Linux Secret Service, and Windows Credential Vault. Its main tools store, retrieve, generate, audit, expire, link, and temporarily expose secrets, while environment-aware resolution supports development, staging, and production workflows without plain-text .env files.

Install it globally with pnpm, npm, Yarn, or Homebrew. For example, use `npm install -g @i4ctime/q-ring` or `brew install i4ctime/tap/qring`. A Dockerfile is also provided for MCP deployments, but native installation is required for durable local OS-keychain storage.

Yes, q-ring works with Cursor. The README identifies Cursor as one of the AI coding agents supported through its MCP tools. It also names Kiro and Claude Code as supported integrations.

Yes, q-ring can store multiple environment-specific states for one secret and resolve the appropriate value. It can detect the environment from `--env`, `QRING_ENV`, `NODE_ENV`, Git branch rules, `.q-ring.json`, or a secret default, and can compare or promote states.

Yes, you can build the supplied Dockerfile and run the MCP server through `mcp-proxy`. The container path is intended for hosted MCP deployments, ephemeral use, and CI experiments; it cannot access the host operating system’s keychain for durable local storage.

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