# Stophy CLI and MCP: two ways to give an agent web data

October 6, 2026

Set up the Stophy MCP server and the CLI: the server address, the MCP tools, the CLI command form, JSON output, paging, and when to use each.

An agent reads the web in one of two places. Inside a chat or a coding session, it calls tools. In a shell, it runs commands. Stophy has an MCP server for the first case and a CLI for the second. Both call the same endpoints, return the same data and use the same account.

## The MCP server

The server address is https://mcp.stophy.dev/mcp. It uses OAuth, so you sign in with your browser and the setup has no API key. In Claude Code, add the server, then run /mcp, select stophy and select Authenticate.

```shell
claude mcp add --transport http stophy https://mcp.stophy.dev/mcp
```

In Codex, add the server and log in.

```shell
codex mcp add stophy --url https://mcp.stophy.dev/mcp
codex mcp login stophy
```

The agent gets these tools:

- stophy_search_endpoints finds endpoints from plain words, such as reddit posts or restaurant reviews. Each match has its id, its required inputs, its filters and its price.
- stophy_describe_endpoint returns the inputs and the output fields of an endpoint.
- stophy_call runs an endpoint by its id and returns the data with creditsUsed.

A question such as which mechanical keyboard people recommend becomes two calls. The agent calls stophy_search_endpoints and gets redditSearch. Then it calls stophy_call with these arguments:

```json
{
  "id": "redditSearch",
  "input": { "query": "best mechanical keyboard", "sort": "top", "time": "pastYear" },
  "fields": ["title", "subreddit", "score", "comments"]
}
```

fields keeps only the named keys of each result. A smaller response uses fewer tokens of the agent's context.

To use an API key, connect to https://api.stophy.dev/mcp and send the header Authorization: Bearer <key>. The same address works with no key for some endpoints, within a free daily limit.

## The CLI

Install the CLI with npm, then log in with your browser. You need Node.js 20 or later. A standalone binary is at stophy.dev/cli.

```shell
npm install -g @stophy/cli
stophy login --browser
```

A command has the form stophy <site> <command>. The filters of an endpoint are the options of its command.

```shell
stophy reddit search "best mechanical keyboard" --sort top --time pastYear
```

- The output is markdown. Add --json to print the data as JSON. The CLI prints the credits used to stderr, so stdout holds only the data.
- Add -o <path> to write the output to a file.
- When more results exist, the output ends with a cursor. Run the same command with --cursor <cursor> to get the next page.
- stophy endpoints lists every command with its cost. stophy describe reddit.search shows the options of a command, its cost and an example.

With --json, the output is the data object of the API response. For a search, that object has a results list, so a script can read it with jq.

```shell
stophy reddit search typescript --json | jq -r '.results[].title'
```

## Which one to use

- Use MCP when the agent runs in an MCP client, such as Claude Code, Codex or Cursor, and selects the endpoint itself.
- Use the CLI in a script, a scheduled job or CI, and for an agent that has a shell but no MCP client.
- Use both on one machine. A call costs the same number of credits through either, and both use one balance.

## Set up both with one command

stophy init logs you in, installs the agent skills and adds the MCP server to your agents. Add --all to run every step without a prompt.

```shell
npx -y @stophy/cli init --all
```

The setup for each agent is at stophy.dev/mcp. The install steps for each system are at stophy.dev/cli.