Install without YAML

Ad-hoc mode is for when you need a tool now and don’t want to write a stack first.

pegboard install mcp github='npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/server-github' \
                 --env GITHUB_TOKEN='${env:GITHUB_TOKEN}'
pegboard install mcp notion=https://mcp.notion.com/mcp --agent claude-code
pegboard install skill vercel-labs/agent-skills@web-design-guidelines

Without --agent, the install goes to every detected agent. It goes through the same plan, confirmation, backups, and secret handling as apply. Pass -y to skip the confirmation.

Remove something

pegboard uninstall mcp notion

Pegboard records each ad-hoc install in state, so it knows exactly what to remove and where.

Keep it

install doesn’t touch pegboard.yaml unless you ask it to. There are two ways to promote an experiment:

# Add it to the stack as you install it
pegboard install mcp notion=https://mcp.notion.com/mcp --save

# Move everything installed ad-hoc into pegboard.yaml
pegboard adopt

How it works with a stack

Ad-hoc entries and a pegboard.yaml can live side by side:

• apply leaves ad-hoc entries alone. apply --prune-adhoc removes them.
• drift lists them separately, without counting them as drift. drift --strict counts them, which is useful in CI.