MCP administration

MCP administration covers everything after the first install of mcp-core: the license in My Account, seats and activations, yearly renewals through Mollie, the diagnostics each license check sends, and the error messages you see when something fails. This section collects the reference pages for those tasks.

What does MCP administration involve?

MCP administration happens in two places: My Account on addocore.com and the shell of the server that runs mcp-core. The website holds the license, the seats with their tokens, the add-on credentials and the billing. The server holds the running container, the .env file and a local license cache in the ./state folder.

The two sides talk through one channel only: the license check. Your server calls AddoCore, never the other way around. That is why most changes you make in My Account show up on the server after the next check, not at the moment you click Save.

Where do you manage your MCP license?

You manage it under My Account → MCP Self-hosted. Each self-hosted license shows its license key, a Download button and five tabs: Overview, Tools, Seats, Add-ons and Advanced. The Add-ons tab only appears when add-ons can be changed on that license.

Other parts of My Account matter for administration too:

• Subscriptions lists every recurring line and holds the automatic billing setup (card or SEPA Direct Debit).
• Options holds the license notification emails: renewal reminders, failed payments and failed license checks.
• Skills lists the free skill downloads, which need no license.
• MCP Hosted appears only if you run an MCP Hosted seat instead of a self-hosted install.

The full walk-through of every tab is in the license management guide listed below.

How does mcp-core stay in sync with your account?

mcp-core checks its license at startup and then every 72 hours, never more often. Each check returns the entitlements (which tools are allowed to load), the seats with their tokens and tool modes, and the latest released version. The server keeps the last good answer on disk.

To apply a change right away instead of waiting up to 72 hours, run:

docker exec mcp-core npm run refresh-license

This sends a signal to the mcp-core process, which then runs a normal check against the same endpoint. No restart and no new download. One exception: when add-on credentials change on the Tools tab, the container restarts itself after the check to load the new values.

Which MCP administration tasks run on their own?

A large part of MCP administration needs no action from you:

• the license check at startup and every 72 hours
• the 96-hour grace period when your server cannot reach AddoCore
• the yearly renewal charge through Mollie, with a reminder email 30 days before
• the release of activations that have not checked in for 30 days

These tasks need you:

• adding or revoking seats, and regenerating a token after a leak
• updating the payment method after a failed renewal
• replacing .env.registry after a registry login renewal email
• running ./mcp-update.sh when you want a new version

What is in the MCP administration guides?

Each guide in this section answers one question:

• MCP license management: the Licenses page, seats, tokens, credentials, add-ons and activations.
• Entitlements vs. tool modes: which tools load at all, and which run read-only or read-write.
• License grace period: what happens when a license check fails, and the license states mcp-core uses.
• MCP license renewal: Mollie renewals, Payment issue, Suspended, cancelling.
• MCP diagnostics: what each check sends, and how to read mcp_status and /health.
• MCP Self-hosted download: the zip contents, when you need a new download, registry token renewal.
• MCP error codes: license check responses, HTTP status codes and tool errors.

Which commands do you use most for MCP administration?

Four commands cover most day-to-day MCP administration on the server. Run them from the folder that holds docker-compose.yml:

./mcp-update.sh
docker exec mcp-core npm run refresh-license
docker logs mcp-core
curl http://127.0.0.1:3200/health

./mcp-update.sh logs in to the AddoCore registry, pulls the version set in MCP_VERSION and starts the container. The refresh command forces a license check. docker logs shows the license and registry lines, for example Check OK valid=true status=active. The /health endpoint needs no token and returns the license state and the active tools as JSON.

Where does MCP administration start when something stops working?

Start by asking Claude to run the mcp_status tool. It is built into mcp-core, needs no entitlement and keeps working while the license blocks every other tool. It reports the running version, the license state, the valid-until date, the entitlements and tool modes of the seat you use, and whether a newer version is out.

If the status shows a message you don’t recognise, look it up in the error codes guide listed above. If a tool is missing from the list, check the entitlements of that seat first, then the container logs for a line saying the tool is not configured.

Most MCP administration comes down to three habits: keep the ./state folder when you move servers, keep the payment method current, and run a refresh after you change something in My Account. For your next step in MCP administration, open the license management guide to see every tab of the Licenses page.