How to configure the Ozeki SMS MCP Server in Kimi CLI

This guide walks you through integrating the Ozeki SMS MCP Server with Kimi CLI, a terminal-based AI assistant. The connection is established through mcp-proxy to ensure MCP version compatibility between Kimi CLI and the Ozeki SMS Gateway. By following this tutorial, you will learn how to configure the MCP entry in Kimi CLI's configuration file and verify the connection.

What is an MCP server?

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server exposes tools that an AI model can call during a conversation. In this setup, the Ozeki SMS MCP Server provides SMS tools such as sending messages and listing incoming SMS. Kimi CLI connects to the MCP server using mcp-proxy as a compatibility layer, which forwards requests to the Ozeki SMS Gateway over Streamable HTTP.

Kimi CLI SMS MCP Server Overview
Kimi CLI SMS MCP Server Overview

Kimi CLI MCP server configuration

# Kimi CLI MCP configuration file location:
C:\Users\%USERPROFILE%\.kimi\mcp.json

# Add the following block to mcp.json
# Replace {address} with your Ozeki SMS Gateway host IP or hostname
# Replace your-bearer-token with the API key generated for your MCP user account
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ozeki": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "mcp-proxy",
        "--transport", "streamablehttp",
        "-H", "Authorization", "Bearer your-bearer-token",
        "http://{address}:9529/mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Steps to follow

We assume Ozeki SMS Gateway is already installed on your system and you have already created an MCP user account with an API key. You will also need Kimi CLI installed on your system.

  1. Edit the Kimi CLI MCP config
  2. Start Kimi CLI
  3. Verify the MCP server connection

Video tutorial

The following video shows how to add the Ozeki SMS MCP Server to Kimi CLI step-by-step.

Step 1 - Edit the Kimi CLI MCP config

Navigate to the Kimi CLI configuration directory at C:\Users\%USERPROFILE%\.kimi\ using File Explorer. You can open this folder quickly by typing %USERPROFILE%\.kimi directly into the File Explorer address bar and pressing Enter (Figure 1).

Navigate to Kimi CLI config directory
Figure 1 - Navigate to the Kimi CLI configuration directory

Open the mcp.json file in a text editor such as Notepad. If the file does not exist yet, create a new file named mcp.json in the .kimi folder. This file stores all MCP server entries that Kimi CLI should connect to on startup (Figure 2).

Open or create mcp.json in text editor
Figure 2 - Open or create mcp.json in a text editor

Add the Ozeki SMS MCP Server entry to the file as shown below. Replace {address} with your gateway's IP address or hostname, and replace your-bearer-token with the API key you generated for your MCP user account (Figure 3). 

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ozeki": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "mcp-proxy",
        "--transport", "streamablehttp",
        "-H", "Authorization", "Bearer your-bearer-token",
        "http://{address}:9529/mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Add Ozeki SMS MCP to config
Figure 3 - Add the Ozeki SMS MCP Server entry to mcp.json

Save the configuration file. The changes will take effect the next time Kimi CLI is started (Figure 4).

Save config file
Figure 4 - Save the mcp.json configuration file

Step 2 - Start Kimi CLI

Open a terminal window by searching for Terminal in the Start menu. You will launch Kimi CLI from this terminal (Figure 5).

Open a terminal
Figure 5 - Open a new terminal window

Type kimi and press Enter to launch Kimi CLI. It will start up and attempt to connect to all MCP servers listed in the configuration file, including the Ozeki SMS MCP Server you just added (Figure 6). 

kimi

Start Kimi CLI
Figure 6 - Start Kimi CLI in the terminal

Step 3 - Verify the MCP server connection

Once Kimi CLI has started, run the /mcp command to display the connection status of all configured MCP servers (Figure 7). 

/mcp

Run MCP command in Kimi CLI
Figure 7 - Run the /mcp command in Kimi CLI

In the output, verify that the ozeki MCP server is listed and its status shows as connected. This confirms that Kimi CLI has successfully reached the Ozeki SMS Gateway through the mcp-proxy layer using the configured endpoint and API key (Figure 8).

View SMS MCP connection status in Kimi CLI
Figure 8 - Verify the Ozeki SMS MCP Server connection in Kimi CLI

Summary

You have successfully added the Ozeki SMS MCP Server to Kimi CLI. The mcp-proxy layer ensures compatibility between Kimi CLI and the gateway, while the Bearer token in the configuration authenticates every request against your Ozeki SMS Gateway. With the server connected, the AI agent can send and receive SMS messages through your gateway without any additional setup. Kimi CLI can now act on SMS-related instructions simply by being asked to do so in plain language.

More information