Docker Container (remote access)

[sruckh]

I was thinking I could run a single remote Serena MCP server in a docker container, and point all MCP clients (which are remote connections) to a single Serena MCP server instance. This way there is no dependency of a remote github repository, and I don't have to have docker installed everywhere I want to use Serena. Is this not the intended purpose of the docker container version, or is it just intended to run locally as a container everywhere a MCP client is configured. I thought I had it partially working with SSE transport, but not everything worked as expected, so I was wondering if the use case I am suggesting is even possible.

Thank You.

[MischaPanch]

You could do something like that, but keep in mind that serena will need access to the code, which thus needs to mounted to the container.

Generally, running the MCP remotely and connecting from a client on another system is an absolutely valid use case.

We will focus more on testing and solving docker and SSE issues in the upcoming weeks, as we have higher priority topics at the moment. If you want to help out, we'll gladly accept PRs that improve the setup and/or documentation

[agentience]

Just getting to know Serena, but have thoughts on this... An alternative to requiring mounted volumes would be to expose an 'update' API. A small file watcher daemon could be started in a project repo to send code updates using the api.

[MischaPanch]

Sure, that would work, but why is that better than mounting? :)

[agentience]

Off the top of my head:

1. The docker container can be run on a shared server. In my case, I'd rather place it on a server on my local network with more memory and reduce the memory crowding on my laptop. This becomes especially helpful as multi-agent systems are spawning their own worktrees with their own copies of the the project.
2. Separation of Concerns: The docker container does not need to be aware of the local filesystem, that's up to the daemon. Also avoids changing the configuration of the docker file. Ultimately not a big deal, but it'd be nice just to run a command serena add from any project dir.

[MischaPanch]

Converting to discussion, that's not really an issue