Qualien MCP

What qualien-mcp MCP server does

The qualien-mcp MCP server acts as a composite gateway for software quality engineering and testing workflows. Instead of adding separate MCP connections for browser automation, project files, source control, issue tracking, databases, and related systems, an assistant connects to one gateway. Downstream tools are exposed with server-based namespaces such as playwright__… and filesystem__….

A default installation provides Playwright for browser automation, DOM access, and screenshots, plus Filesystem for reading and editing project files, page objects, and test utilities. The built-in catalog contains 21 known servers covering areas such as GitHub, Jira, Postgres, MySQL, Slack, Docker, Kubernetes, OpenAPI, Figma, Confluence, Selenium, WebdriverIO, BrowserStack, Microsoft 365, and Sentry. Servers are enabled by catalog key or defined directly with their command and arguments.

How it works

Running npx qualien-mcp starts the gateway over the MCP connection used by the client. Each local downstream runs as a child process, and the gateway shuts down its child processes when it exits. Calls are routed through the gateway and logged to stderr with the downstream server, tool name, and latency.

Configuration is read from qualien-mcp.config.json in the working directory, or from a path supplied with --config. Configuration entries merge with the built-in defaults, so an entry can enable a catalog server, replace its settings, or disable it. A catalog server can also be mounted under another key, which supports configurations such as multiple database connections.

Remote downstreams use Streamable HTTP definitions with a URL. OAuth credentials are stored per user in ~/.qualien-mcp/credentials.json with restricted file permissions. If a remote server is not authenticated, the gateway skips it and reports the login command instead of preventing the remaining servers from starting.

Setup and configuration

For Claude Code, run claude mcp add qualien -- npx -y qualien-mcp. Claude Desktop and Cursor use an mcpServers entry with npx and -y qualien-mcp; VS Code uses the equivalent entry under servers in .vscode/mcp.json. Claude Desktop can also install the downloadable .mcpb extension, which asks for a project folder and uses a configuration file inside that folder.

Add servers by placing a qualien-mcp.config.json file in the working directory or passing --config. Catalog entries can provide downstream environment values, such as DATABASE_URI for Postgres or FIGMA_API_KEY for Figma. Run npx qualien-mcp catalog to inspect the catalog and each server's requirements. GitHub can be enabled in configuration and authorized with npx qualien-mcp login github.

Tools and capabilities

The qualien-mcp MCP server supports per-server and per-tool selection through tools.allow and tools.deny. This lets teams reduce the exposed tool set instead of presenting every downstream capability to the model.

Central guardrails include read-only database handling by default for Postgres and MySQL, filesystem path restrictions through configured roots, and blocking of destructive-looking Docker and Kubernetes tools unless explicitly enabled. Database writes and DDL can be allowed by setting readOnly to false for the relevant server. Destructive infrastructure actions require allowDestructive: true.

The gateway can combine local and remote servers, forward credentials or other environment values to configured downstreams, and keep the assistant's client configuration to a single MCP entry. It is intended for QA and SDET tasks where browser, repository, test-file, service, and tracking-system access need to be available together.