Command Line & Manual Setup

Most people never need this page. The Rook installer connects Claude and the ChatGPT desktop app for you, and Claude’s skills install from Customize → Plugins (see Install Rook). This page is for the Claude Code command line, for other MCP clients such as Cursor and Windsurf, and for repairing a connection by hand.

Claude Code command line

The desktop app’s Code tab picks up the Rook plugin from your Claude account. In the claude command line, you can also add it inside a session:

/plugin marketplace add bringfire/rook-release
/plugin install rook@rook

The command line reads Rook’s MCP entry from %USERPROFILE%\.claude.json, which the installer writes.

The MCP entry

Every MCP client starts Rook the same way: run Rook’s Python with -m rook, and pass four environment variables. Use your own Windows user name in the paths, or the expanded value of %LOCALAPPDATA%.

Setting	Value on a standard install
Command	%LOCALAPPDATA%\Rook\venv\Scripts\python.exe
Arguments	-m rook
ROOK_INSTALL_ROOT	%LOCALAPPDATA%\Rook\app
ROOK_DATA_DIR	%LOCALAPPDATA%\Rook\data
ROOK_MODE	release
PYTHONPATH and PYTHONHOME	empty strings

The environment variables are required: without them Rook can’t find its install. A working directory (cwd) isn’t needed.

Claude

The installer writes this under mcpServers in both %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (the desktop app) and %USERPROFILE%\.claude.json (the command line):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rook": {
      "command": "C:/Users/YOU/AppData/Local/Rook/venv/Scripts/python.exe",
      "args": ["-m", "rook"],
      "env": {
        "PYTHONPATH": "",
        "PYTHONHOME": "",
        "ROOK_INSTALL_ROOT": "C:/Users/YOU/AppData/Local/Rook/app",
        "ROOK_DATA_DIR": "C:/Users/YOU/AppData/Local/Rook/data",
        "ROOK_MODE": "release"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop rewrites this file when it saves its own settings, and may drop keys it doesn’t use, such as type and cwd. Rook doesn’t need them. Fully quit and reopen Claude after any change.

ChatGPT desktop app (Codex), Codex command line, and IDE extension

They share %USERPROFILE%\.codex\config.toml:

[mcp_servers.rook]
command = "C:/Users/YOU/AppData/Local/Rook/venv/Scripts/python.exe"
args = ["-m", "rook"]
startup_timeout_sec = 30
tool_timeout_sec = 120

[mcp_servers.rook.env]
PYTHONPATH = ""
PYTHONHOME = ""
ROOK_INSTALL_ROOT = "C:/Users/YOU/AppData/Local/Rook/app"
ROOK_DATA_DIR = "C:/Users/YOU/AppData/Local/Rook/data"
ROOK_MODE = "release"
ROOK_MCP_TOOL_PROFILE = "lean"

Use forward slashes in the paths, as above. The ChatGPT app can also add a server from Settings → MCP servers → Add server (type STDIO), then restart.

Cursor, Windsurf, and others

Add the same command, arguments, and environment variables in the client’s MCP settings. These clients get Rook’s tools but not its skills.