Content
<h1><img src="assets/logo.png" alt="" width="80" valign="middle" /> Pare</h1>
[](https://github.com/Dave-London/Pare/actions/workflows/ci.yml)
[](https://codecov.io/gh/Dave-London/Pare)
[](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@paretools/git)
[](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@paretools/git)
[](https://www.typescriptlang.org/)
[](https://github.com/Dave-London/Pare/blob/main/LICENSE)
[](https://nodejs.org)
[](https://scorecard.dev/viewer/?uri=github.com/Dave-London/Pare)
[](https://www.bestpractices.dev/projects/11962)
**Reliable, structured CLI output for AI agents — no more parsing fragile terminal text.**
Pare provides [MCP](https://modelcontextprotocol.io) servers that wrap common developer tools (git, npm, docker, test runners, etc.) and return clean, schema-validated JSON instead of raw terminal text. Agents get typed data they can act on directly, without brittle string parsing.
## The Problem
Parsing CLI output is fragile. Raw terminal text includes ANSI escape codes, decorative headers, progress bars, locale-specific formatting, and platform differences that break agent workflows in subtle ways. An agent that works fine with `git status` on macOS may fail on Windows because the output format changed. A test runner's summary line might shift between versions, silently breaking a regex.
Pare eliminates this entire class of errors by returning schema-validated JSON with consistent field names, regardless of platform, tool version, or locale. As a bonus, structured output is significantly smaller — agents use fewer tokens per tool call:
| Tool Command | Raw Tokens | Pare Tokens | Reduction |
| ----------------------------------------- | ---------: | ----------: | --------: |
| `docker build` (multi-stage, 11 steps) | 373 | 20 | **95%** |
| `git log --stat` (5 commits, verbose) | 4,992 | 382 | **92%** |
| `npm install` (487 packages, warnings) | 241 | 41 | **83%** |
| `vitest run` (28 tests, all pass) | 196 | 39 | **80%** |
| `cargo build` (2 errors, help text) | 436 | 138 | **68%** |
| `pip install` (9 packages, progress bars) | 288 | 101 | **65%** |
| `cargo test` (12 tests, 2 failures) | 351 | 190 | **46%** |
| `npm audit` (4 vulnerabilities) | 287 | 185 | **36%** |
> Token estimates use ~4 chars/token. The biggest savings appear on verbose commands (builds, installs, tests). For simpler tools like `eslint` or `tsc`, the main advantage is reliable structured data — agents can use typed JSON directly rather than parsing strings.
## How It Works
Each Pare tool returns two outputs:
- **`content`** — human-readable text, for MCP clients that display it
- **`structuredContent`** — typed, schema-validated JSON, ready for agents to process
This uses MCP's `structuredContent` and `outputSchema` features to provide type-safe, validated data that agents can rely on without custom parsing.
## Example: `git status`
**Raw git output (~118 tokens):**
```
On branch main
Your branch is ahead of 'origin/main' by 2 commits.
(use "git push" to publish your local commits)
Changes to be committed:
(use "git restore --staged <file>..." to unstage)
modified: src/index.ts
new file: src/utils.ts
Changes not staged for commit:
(use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
(use "git restore <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
modified: README.md
Untracked files:
(use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
temp.log
```
**Pare structured output (~59 tokens):**
```json
{
"branch": "main",
"upstream": "origin/main",
"ahead": 2,
"staged": [
{ "file": "src/index.ts", "status": "modified" },
{ "file": "src/utils.ts", "status": "added" }
],
"modified": ["README.md"],
"deleted": [],
"untracked": ["temp.log"],
"conflicts": [],
"clean": false
}
```
50% fewer tokens. Zero information lost. Fully typed. Savings scale with output verbosity — test runners and build logs see 80–92% reduction.
## Available Servers (28 packages, 240 tools)
Install only the servers relevant to your stack — most projects need just 2–4. The full catalog covers a wide range of ecosystems so Pare works wherever you do.
| Category | Servers | Tools | Wraps |
| -------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----: | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Version Control | [git](./packages/server-git), [github](./packages/server-github) | 55 | git, gh |
| Languages & Packages | [npm](./packages/server-npm), [python](./packages/server-python), [cargo](./packages/server-cargo), [go](./packages/server-go), [deno](./packages/server-deno), [bun](./packages/server-bun), [nix](./packages/server-nix), [dotnet](./packages/server-dotnet), [ruby](./packages/server-ruby), [swift](./packages/server-swift), [jvm](./packages/server-jvm) | 101 | npm, pip, cargo, go, deno, bun, nix, dotnet, gem, swift, gradle, maven |
| Build, Lint & Test | [build](./packages/server-build), [lint](./packages/server-lint), [test](./packages/server-test), [cmake](./packages/server-cmake), [bazel](./packages/server-bazel) | 23 | tsc, esbuild, vite, webpack, eslint, prettier, biome, vitest, pytest, jest |
| Infrastructure | [docker](./packages/server-docker), [k8s](./packages/server-k8s), [infra](./packages/server-infra), [security](./packages/server-security), [remote](./packages/server-remote) | 40 | docker, kubectl, helm, terraform, ansible, trivy, ssh |
| Utilities | [search](./packages/server-search), [http](./packages/server-http), [make](./packages/server-make), [process](./packages/server-process), [db](./packages/server-db) | 21 | ripgrep, fd, curl, make, just, psql, mysql, redis, mongosh |
> **[Tool Schemas](./docs/tool-schemas/)** — detailed response examples and field descriptions for every tool.
> See also **[Tool Response Examples](./docs/tool-response-examples.md)** for quick JSON samples.
## Quick Setup
```bash
# 1. Configure MCP servers (non-interactive)
npx @paretools/init --client claude-code --preset web
# 2. Add agent rules to your project
# (append to existing CLAUDE.md, or copy if new)
cat node_modules/@paretools/init/rules/CLAUDE.md >> CLAUDE.md
# 3. Restart your client session
# 4. Validate
npx @paretools/init doctor
```
**Available presets:** `web`, `python`, `rust`, `go`, `jvm`, `dotnet`, `ruby`, `swift`, `mobile`, `devops`, `full`
### Setup Guides by Client
| | | |
| -------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------- |
| [Claude Code](./docs/setup/claude-code.md) | [Claude Desktop](./docs/setup/claude-desktop.md) | [Cursor](./docs/setup/cursor.md) |
| [VS Code / Copilot](./docs/setup/vscode.md) | [Windsurf](./docs/setup/windsurf.md) | [Cline / Roo Code](./docs/setup/cline.md) |
| [OpenAI Codex](./docs/setup/codex.md) | [Gemini CLI](./docs/setup/gemini-cli.md) | [Zed](./docs/setup/zed.md) |
| [Continue.dev](./docs/setup/continue-dev.md) | | |
> **[Full Quickstart Guide](./docs/quickstart.md)** — presets, ecosystem mapping, validation
>
> **[Manual Configuration](./docs/manual-configuration.md)** — config paths and formats for all clients
>
> **[Agent Integration Guide](./docs/agent-integration.md)** — rule files, hooks, CLI-to-MCP mapping
## Configuration
### Tool Selection
By default, every Pare server registers all of its tools. If a server exposes tools you don't need — or you want to limit which tools are available to an agent — you can filter them with environment variables.
**Per-server filter** — restrict a single server's tools:
```bash
# Only register status and log in the git server
PARE_GIT_TOOLS=status,log npx @paretools/git
```
**Universal filter** — restrict tools across all servers:
```bash
# Only register these specific tools across any server
PARE_TOOLS=git:status,git:log,npm:install npx @paretools/git
```
**Disable all tools** — set the env var to an empty string:
```bash
PARE_GIT_TOOLS= npx @paretools/git # no tools registered
```
| Env Var | Scope | Format | Example |
| --------------------- | ----------- | ----------------- | ------------------------ |
| `PARE_TOOLS` | All servers | `server:tool,...` | `git:status,npm:install` |
| `PARE_{SERVER}_TOOLS` | One server | `tool,...` | `status,log,diff` |
**Rules:**
- No env var = all tools enabled (default)
- `PARE_TOOLS` (universal) takes precedence over per-server vars
- Server names use uppercase with hyphens replaced by underscores (e.g., `PARE_MY_SERVER_TOOLS`)
- Whitespace around commas is ignored
**Common patterns:**
```bash
# Read-only git (no push, commit, add, checkout)
PARE_GIT_TOOLS=status,log,diff,branch,show
# Minimal npm
PARE_NPM_TOOLS=install,test,run
# Only specific tools across all servers
PARE_TOOLS=git:status,git:diff,npm:install,test:run
```
In JSON MCP config, set via the `env` key:
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"pare-git": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@paretools/git"],
"env": {
"PARE_GIT_TOOLS": "status,log,diff,show"
}
}
}
}
```
## Troubleshooting
| Issue | Solution |
| ----------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `npx` not found / ENOENT on Windows | Use `cmd /c npx` wrapper (see your [client's setup guide](./docs/setup/)) |
| Slow first start | Run `npx -y @paretools/git` once to cache, or install globally: `npm i -g @paretools/git` |
| Node.js version error | Pare requires Node.js >= 20 |
| NVM/fnm PATH issues | Use absolute path to `npx`: e.g., `~/.nvm/versions/node/v22/bin/npx` |
| MCP connection timeout | Set `MCP_TIMEOUT=30000` for Claude Code, or increase `initTimeout` in client config |
| Too many tools filling context | Use [tool selection](#tool-selection) env vars to limit tools, or only install the servers you need |
## Contributing
Each server is a self-contained package. See [CONTRIBUTING.md](./CONTRIBUTING.md) for the full guide.
## License
[MIT](./LICENSE)
