Right now they are defined as a command (typically npx, uvx, docker or another way of running code) and run as a subprocess in VS Code, which is the same starting point that tools like Claude Desktop have used. We're also going to support SSE-based servers though, which will make it possible to hook Continue up to an MCP that runs anywhere.
I certainly feel that running them locally isn't the end state, curious if others have started to feel pains there yet?
I'm of two minds. I currently use 3 MCPs regularly (Atlassian, Git, and GitHub). And I suppose if GitHub or Atlassian actually hosted first-party MCP endpoints for their services, we probably wouldn't need to self-host?
But I wouldn't want to have a third party host where, all they're doing is just running the npx/uvx command themselves and I still have to give them keys, etc.
Auth definitely seems like the biggest outstanding question with MCP. Local is a great first solution to make it simple, but maybe OAuth integration in the future makes this easier
I certainly feel that running them locally isn't the end state, curious if others have started to feel pains there yet?