| name | the-emissary |
| description | Find and connect an MCP server — an "Emissary of the Pact" — when the agent needs a tool, service, API, or data source it does not already have. Use when the user asks for an MCP server, to connect to or integrate an external service (Notion, GitHub, Figma, a database, Slack, a SaaS API…), asks "is there an MCP for X", "add an MCP", or sets a task that needs live tools the agent lacks. This rite DISCOVERS a server from the official MCP Registry and reputable directories and PROPOSES its connection config for the user to approve — it NEVER installs, launches, or writes credentials on its own. The companion to the-grimoire: that finds spells (inert skills); this finds Emissaries (live tool-servers). |
🤝 The Emissary — Summon a Server of the Pact (MCP)
An Emissary of the Pact is an MCP server: not an inert spell you read, but a
live process or endpoint your harness connects to, whose tools then become
yours (its Channels). Binding one therefore runs code and often hands
over secrets — so this rite only ever discovers and proposes. The conjurer
alone approves the binding. (Lexicon: Pact → Emissary → Channels.)
You do not clone or vendor an Emissary. You find its metadata, weigh its
house, and hand the conjurer the exact words to summon it themselves.
The Rite of Summoning
-
Seek. Find candidate Emissaries for the capability — the official MCP
Registry searches server-side, so this is one call, not a crawl:
- Run the bundled search — a tiny, dependency-free helper over the live
Registry (the canonical catalogue). Run it, or read it and re-express it in
bash / PowerShell / JS — it is only one HTTP GET:
python3 scripts/find-emissary.py <keyword>
The raw call it makes, if you would rather not run the script:
curl -s "https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io/v0/servers?search=<keyword>&version=latest" \
| jq '.servers[].server | {name, description, remotes, packages, repository}'
- Browse the directories in
references/sources.md
— the awesome-list, PulseMCP, Smithery — for breadth and reviews, then open
each link to the real repo.
-
Choose by house, not by stars. Prefer the first-party Emissary — the
service's own official server. Failing that, an accountable, maintained
source. A viral community server is still street magic: read how far its code
reaches before you trust it.
-
Read its binding-terms. From the server's server.json (or its README):
how it connects — a remote endpoint (streamable-http / sse URL) or a
package to launch locally (npx / uvx / docker) — and what it
demands: environment secrets, API keys, OAuth scopes.
-
Propose — do not bind. Present to the conjurer, plainly:
- what the Emissary is and whose house made it,
- its Channels (the tools it exposes) and what access / secrets it needs —
work these out yourself from the Emissary's repo, README, or registry entry;
no script does this for you, and the definitive list enumerates the moment it
is connected,
- the exact way to add it for their harness, e.g.
- Claude Code:
claude mcp add <name> -- npx -y <package>
- or the JSON block for
.mcp.json / Cursor / VS Code,
- or the remote URL and its OAuth flow.
Then STOP. Do not run the command, open the connection, or write any
secret into a config file or the repo.
-
The conjurer binds it. Only the user performs the add and supplies the
secrets. Confirm it connected, then labour on with the new Channels in hand.
Wards
- An Emissary acts with your reach and your credentials. Vet its house
before binding; grant least privilege — only the scopes and secrets the
task truly needs.
- The Scrying Ward cannot help you here. That ward scans inert spells for
dark magic; a running Emissary executes code it never sees. Trust is the
conjurer's to grant, deliberately.
- Prefer official remotes with proper OAuth over piping an unknown install
script to a shell. Never paste a secret you cannot rotate.
- Never auto-connect. Discovery is yours; the binding is always the user's.
Find the Emissary, weigh its house, hand over the words — and let the conjurer
open the door. 🕯️
Companion: [[the-grimoire]] finds spells; the-emissary finds Emissaries.
