Let your agent pull intent live with the Pathmode MCP server

Copy-paste handoff works once. But the spec keeps moving — a constraint gets added in review, an edge case gets clarified, the status flips to ready. By the time the agent runs, the pasted prompt is stale. The MCP server closes that gap: the agent reads intent live, at the moment it runs, and writes its work back to the same record.

The input

A connected MCP server — nothing else to prepare. Once pathmode is registered in Claude Code (or any MCP client), the agent has read/write access to the workspace's intent, scoped to an API key.

The flow

1. Register the server once. Add the Pathmode MCP server to your agent's config with the workspace API key. Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-capable client work the same way.

2. The agent reads the current intent. Instead of a pasted blob, it calls get_current_intent — pulling the objective, outcomes, edge cases, linked evidence, and verification criteria as structured data. No drift, no truncation.

3. The agent reads the rules. A get_constitution call surfaces the workspace's non-negotiables — the conventions, boundaries, and "we don't do it this way" rules your team already encoded. The agent works inside them instead of guessing.

4. The agent works the verification loop. When it's done, it calls verify_implementation against the spec's own success criteria, logs what it did with log_implementation_note, and can flip the status with update_intent_status. The record reflects reality, not a snapshot.

The output

A handoff where the spec is the live source of truth, not a copy:

• No stale prompts — the agent reads intent at run time, after the last edit
• Rules enforced, not hoped for — the constitution is in the agent's context every run
• A closed loop — the implementation note and status come back into Pathmode, so the next reviewer sees what actually shipped
• One key, scoped access — the agent sees the workspace it's authorized for, nothing more

Why this beats pasting the spec

A pasted spec is a photograph. The MCP connection is a window. The difference shows up the moment the spec changes between hand-off and execution — which, on any spec worth reviewing, it always does. Live reads also mean the agent can pull related intent and evidence it needs mid-task, instead of asking you to paste more.

Try it yourself

1. Generate a workspace API key in Pathmode
2. Register the pathmode MCP server in Claude Code
3. Ask the agent to "read the current intent and implement it"
4. Watch it call get_current_intent and get_constitution before writing a line

Related

• Use case: Hand off a spec to Claude Code without losing context
• Use case: Verify an agent's output against the spec's success criteria
• Playbook: The Anatomy of an Agent-Ready Spec