How I Built mcpman — A Universal MCP Server Package Manager for 10+ AI IDEs

When I first started working with the Model Context Protocol (MCP), I noticed something frustrating: each AI IDE had its own way of managing MCP servers. Claude Desktop had one config format, VS Code needed another, Cursor required yet another approach. That's when I built mcpman — a universal package manager for MCP servers that works seamlessly across Claude, VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Zed, and 10+ other AI IDEs. The Problem: MCP Configuration Chaos The Model Context Protocol opened up incredible possibilities for AI-assisted development. But each IDE implemented MCP differently: Claude Desktop uses a JSON config file in a specific directory VS Code extensions need settings in settings.json Cursor has its own configuration system Windsurf , Zed , Codeium , Aider — all different If you wanted to use the same MCP server across multiple IDEs, you'd manually find the right config file for each IDE, learn the specific format, keep them in sync, and debug inconsistencies. Why I Built mcpma