Exode MCP in Windsurf: Setting Up Cascade

Find the config file

You do not need to guess the path. Open the MCP menu in the Cascade panel and choose the option to open the raw config file. That opens the file the current build of Windsurf actually reads, which matters because the location has changed between releases.

The vendor documentation lists ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json on macOS and Linux and %USERPROFILE%\.codeium\windsurf\mcp_config.json on Windows. Newer documentation also names a Devin-branded config directory for current builds. Opening the file from the menu is the reliable way to get the right one.

Add the Exode entry

The server is a local command server, so it needs a command and args. Nothing else is required, though pinning WORKSPACE_ROOT is worth doing if your .exode files are not in the folder Windsurf launches from.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "exode": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "claude-exode-mcp"],
      "env": { "WORKSPACE_ROOT": "/Users/you/projects/motion" }
    }
  }
}

Refresh and confirm

Windsurf does not always pick up a new server without being told. Press refresh in the MCP menu after saving the file, then open the exode server and check that its tools are listed.

If the server shows as connected with zero tools, the process started and then exited. Run npx -y claude-exode-mcp in a terminal to see why; an old Node.js is the usual answer.

Plan around the tool ceiling

Cascade can use at most 100 tools at any one time, across every connected server. Exode exposes a large catalog, so if you also connect a browser server and a ticketing server, you can hit the ceiling without noticing.

Each MCP has a settings page where individual tools can be turned on and off. For animation work, keep the animation, state machine, object and validation tools, and leave the import, analytics and video-export tools off until you need them. The tools reference page groups them so you can choose quickly.

Prompting inside Cascade

Cascade behaves like other agents here: name the file, name the states, name the feel. The prompts page has copy-ready examples for toggles, entrance animations and multi-step flows.

Cascade can read your open files as context, which is useful for matching an existing motion vocabulary. Ask it to follow the spring settings used elsewhere in the project, and it will read them from the files rather than inventing numbers.

When another tool fits better

If you want the animation tuned visually rather than described, the ExodeUI editor is the faster surface. Windsurf is strongest at the structural pass: adding states, wiring conditions, and scaffolding components that already exist in the design system.

For motion that stays in code and never needs a state machine, a CSS transition or a code animation library is less setup than any MCP server, ours included.