Smithery's MCP proxy shut down: connect SerpKite directly

On October 31, 2026, Smithery shut down its MCP proxy and connection management. Server URLs on run.tools and server.smithery.ai stopped working, along with Smithery Connect, Toolbox, the Smithery API, accounts, API keys, the CLI and the SDKs. smithery.ai stays as a public directory run by Arcade (Smithery’s notice).

If you used SerpKite through a Smithery URL, that connection is gone. SerpKite’s own server never ran on Smithery: it is a remote MCP server at one address, and you can connect to it directly.

Find the old addresses

Smithery URLs can sit in client configs, scripts and deploy files. This checks the default config files for Claude Code and Cursor; add .vscode/mcp.json, ~/.codex/config.toml or your own repos if you use them:

grep -nEi 'run\.tools|server\.smithery\.ai|api\.smithery\.ai|@smithery/' \
  ~/.claude.json .mcp.json ~/.cursor/mcp.json .cursor/mcp.json 2>/dev/null

Switch to the direct URL

Claude (web or desktop). Open Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector and enter https://api.serpkite.com/v1/mcp. Claude opens a SerpKite approval page; sign in and approve. No key is needed.

Claude Code. Remove the old entry, then add the server and authenticate with /mcp:

claude mcp remove serpkite
claude mcp add --transport http serpkite https://api.serpkite.com/v1/mcp

Cursor. Replace the old entry in ~/.cursor/mcp.json or .cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "serpkite": {
      "url": "https://api.serpkite.com/v1/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer ${env:SERPKITE_API_KEY}" }
    }
  }
}

VS Code, ChatGPT and other clients. Any client that speaks streamable HTTP needs the same two values: the URL and the Authorization header. Stdio-only clients can run npx -y mcp-remote https://api.serpkite.com/v1/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer …". The MCP server docs have the exact config for each client.

Clean up the old connection

If you connected through Smithery Connect, SerpKite created an API key named Smithery Connect (OAuth) for that connection; it is on your API keys page. Smithery no longer runs anything that could use it, so revoke it. If you gave Smithery one of your own API keys instead, rotate or revoke that key. A new OAuth client gets its own key named after the app, which you can give a monthly credit limit.

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