# Commands & Serving


cairn reaches the world outside the [MCP tools](/cairn/reference/tools) through two surfaces, one for each reader: the slash commands a person types at a kli prompt, and the `kli mcp-serve cairn` server that carries the tools to any MCP client an agent runs in.

## Pages

- [Slash commands](/cairn/cli/slash-commands) — the six commands cairn registers under a kli host (`/observe`, `/handoff`, `/task`, `/tasks`, `/workon`, `/where`), with syntax, model visibility, and how each relates to the MCP tools (`/workon` and `/where` have none).
- [Serving over MCP](/cairn/cli/mcp-serve) — `kli mcp-serve cairn`, the stdio invocation, the `mcpServers` block clients read, and the tools, prompts, and resources it carries.

The two surfaces share one task graph and read back identically; they differ only in the conveniences the kli host adds on top. Both sit behind one capability boundary; see [Reads, writes, and capabilities](/cairn/concepts/reads-writes-and-capabilities).