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MCP Payroll in Windsurf

Gross-to-net for hourly staff, computed in the conversation. payroll_run turns hours worked, hourly rate and a tax rate into gross pay, tax withheld and net pay, and payroll_invoice_total folds a payroll run into an invoice-ready total; the arithmetic is exact integer cents under the shared money formatter, so a run for three people agrees with a calculator to the cent.

Two tools against the 100-tool ceiling; the one worth remembering is payroll_invoice_total, which folds a whole run into the number that goes on the invoice.

What you get in Windsurf

The contract suite runs real stdio cases: 38 hours at 24.00 with a 22% tax rate returns gross 912.00, tax 200.64 and net 711.36 exactly, a second employee's run is independent of the first, and payroll_invoice_total equals the sum of the runs it was given.

Install it in Windsurf

The file is mcp_config.json, and the key inside it is mcpServers.

If you also run Claude Desktop, the shortest path there is one click: payroll.mcpb from the latest release opens as an extension, with no JSON and no terminal. Windsurf reads its own config, so here it is:

The config block:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "payroll": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/mcp-servers/servers/payroll/dist/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

The node command above wants a built file. From a clone, once:

git clone https://github.com/theluckystrike/mcp-servers.git
cd mcp-servers && npm install
npm run build -w packages/mcp-license -w servers/payroll

That writes servers/payroll/dist/index.js, and its absolute path is the one argument the config needs.

The npm packages are not published yet, so the form below returns a 404 today. It is here because it is what the entry becomes the day the publish lands, with nothing else changed:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "payroll": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@theluckystrike/mcp-payroll"]
    }
  }
}

Save and reopen the MCP Servers list; Cascade picks it up without restarting the editor.

Nothing is published to npm yet, so the working install paths are the ones above: the .mcpb bundle from the latest release, a clone and build, or the hosted URL.

No install: the hosted endpoint

There is no hosted endpoint for this one yet. MCP Payroll runs locally over stdio with the config above, which is also the only form in which it reads and writes files on your own disk. Thirty of the servers in this collection are served at https://mcp.zovo.one/mcp/<name> over MCP streamable HTTP; https://mcp.zovo.one/mcp/connect lists them and prints a ready URL for each.

Windsurf notes worth knowing first

Read this first: mcp_config.json applies to the legacy Cascade agent only. The Devin Local agent, the default for new tabs, takes its servers from the Devin CLI config files, so a correct entry here can still be invisible in a fresh tab. The other hard number is a cap: Cascade reaches at most 100 tools at once, and every enabled server spends from it.

Free: Everything: two tools, no metering, no key. Pro is $19 once, verified offline.

Questions

Where does Windsurf keep its MCP config?

~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json, under mcpServers. Reach it from the MCPs icon at the top right of the Cascade panel, or Devin Settings, Cascade, MCP Servers.

I edited the file and a new tab still cannot see MCP Payroll.

That file applies to the legacy Cascade agent only. The Devin Local agent, the default for new tabs, reads its servers from the Devin CLI config files instead. Check which agent the tab runs.

How many servers can I load at once?

Cascade reaches at most 100 tools at any one time, and every enabled server spends from that single budget. MCP Payroll contributes 2 tools, so keep the enabled list short rather than counting servers.

Related

MCP Payroll in detail · The same server in VS Code and Cline · Every server in Windsurf · Guides · Windsurf docs · Buy Pro