Vibe Check MCP server for AI agents

VibeCheck MCP serves as an AI meta-mentor for autonomous agents, providing adaptive metacognitive oversight through Critical Path Interrupts (CPI). It helps prevent reasoning lock-in by interrupting pattern inertia, essentially functioning as a sanity check before your agent proceeds down potentially flawed paths.

Installation

Prerequisites

This project requires Node.js version 20 or higher.

Standard Installation

Follow these steps to set up the VibeCheck MCP server:

# Clone and install
git clone https://github.com/PV-Bhat/vibe-check-mcp-server.git
cd vibe-check-mcp-server
npm install
npm run build

Create a .env file with your API keys:

# Gemini (default)
GEMINI_API_KEY=your_gemini_api_key
# Optional providers
OPENAI_API_KEY=your_openai_api_key
OPENROUTER_API_KEY=your_openrouter_api_key
# Optional overrides
DEFAULT_LLM_PROVIDER=gemini
DEFAULT_MODEL=gemini-2.5-pro

Start the server:

npm start

Docker Installation

For a containerized setup, use the helper script:

bash scripts/docker-setup.sh

This script:

Creates a directory for persistent data
Builds the Docker image and configures docker-compose
Prompts for your API key
Sets up automatic startup on login
Generates a TCP wrapper script for IDE integration

If you prefer manual Docker setup:

docker build -t vibe-check-mcp .
docker run -e GEMINI_API_KEY=your_gemini_api_key -p 3000:3000 vibe-check-mcp

Claude Desktop Integration

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

"vibe-check": {
  "command": "node",
  "args": ["/path/to/vibe-check-mcp/build/index.js"],
  "env": { "GEMINI_API_KEY": "YOUR_GEMINI_API_KEY" }
}

Usage

Basic Usage Example

import { vibe_check } from 'vibe-check-mcp';

const result = await vibe_check({
  goal: 'Write unit tests',
  plan: 'Use vitest for coverage',
  sessionId: 'demo1'
});

console.log(result.questions);

Agent Prompting Essentials

Include the following in your agent's system prompt:

As an autonomous agent you will:
1. Call vibe_check after planning and before major actions.
2. Provide the full user request and your current plan.
3. Optionally, record resolved issues with vibe_learn.

Tools Overview

The VibeCheck MCP server provides two main tools:

vibe_check: Used to challenge assumptions and prevent tunnel vision
vibe_learn: Optional tool to capture mistakes, preferences, and successes

When To Use Each Tool

Tool	Purpose
🛑 vibe_check	Challenge assumptions and prevent tunnel vision
🔄 vibe_learn	Capture mistakes, preferences and successes

Adaptive Metacognitive Interrupts (CPI)

The CPI architecture monitors planning, implementation, and review phases. When uncertainty spikes, VibeCheck pauses execution, poses clarifying questions, and resumes once the agent acknowledges the feedback.

Key Features

CPI Adaptive Interrupts: Phase-aware prompts that challenge assumptions
Multi-provider LLM: Support for Gemini, OpenAI, and OpenRouter
History Continuity: Summarizes prior advice when sessionId is supplied
Optional vibe_learn: Logging for mistakes and fixes for future reflection

FAQ

Does it increase latency? A single CPI call typically adds approximately 1 second depending on the provider.
Can I disable logging? Yes, vibe_learn is optional.

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "vibe-check" '{"command":"node","args":["/path/to/vibe-check-mcp/build/index.js"],"env":{"GEMINI_API_KEY":"YOUR_GEMINI_API_KEY"}}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "vibe-check": {
            "command": "node",
            "args": [
                "/path/to/vibe-check-mcp/build/index.js"
            ],
            "env": {
                "GEMINI_API_KEY": "YOUR_GEMINI_API_KEY"
            }
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "vibe-check": {
            "command": "node",
            "args": [
                "/path/to/vibe-check-mcp/build/index.js"
            ],
            "env": {
                "GEMINI_API_KEY": "YOUR_GEMINI_API_KEY"
            }
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect