Install adapter with Homebrew

Install prest-mcp from the official pREST Homebrew tap so Cursor, Claude Desktop, and other stdio MCP clients can reach PostgreSQL through pREST’s /_mcp endpoint.

This page focuses on the adapter. For the pREST server formula (prestd on homebrew-core), see Start with Homebrew.

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Prerequisites

• macOS (or Linux with Homebrew)

• pREST v2.1.0+ running with /_mcp available (local is fine)

Confirm MCP discovery:

curl -s http://localhost:3000/_mcp | head

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Install

One-shot:

brew install prest/tap/prest-mcp

Or tap, then install:

brew tap prest/tap
brew install prest-mcp

Tap repository: prest/homebrew-tap.

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Verify

which prest-mcp
PREST_MCP_URL=http://localhost:3000/_mcp prest-mcp

The process waits on stdin for MCP JSON-RPC. Stop with Ctrl+C after a smoke test. Logs go to stderr only.

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Point a client at it

Minimal env for any stdio MCP client:

Variable	Required	Notes
PREST_MCP_URL	yes	e.g. http://localhost:3000/_mcp
PREST_MCP_TOKEN	no	JWT when auth is enabled
PREST_MCP_TIMEOUT_MS	no	Default 30000

Example Cursor .cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "prest": {
      "command": "prest-mcp",
      "env": {
        "PREST_MCP_URL": "http://localhost:3000/_mcp"
      }
    }
  }
}

If the GUI app cannot find Homebrew’s PATH, use /opt/homebrew/bin/prest-mcp (Apple Silicon) or /usr/local/bin/prest-mcp (Intel).

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Troubleshooting

Symptom	Fix
Formula not found	brew update then brew install prest/tap/prest-mcp
Stale binary	brew upgrade prest-mcp or reinstall
Client spawn failed	Absolute path; restart the IDE
Connection refused	Start pREST; check PREST_MCP_URL

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Next steps

• Full install options (Go, Docker, registry): Install pREST MCP Adapter

• Use with Cursor · Claude Desktop

• End-to-end: PostgreSQL to AI agent

• Start with Homebrew · Distribution