---
title: thv serve
hide_title: true
description: Reference for ToolHive CLI command `thv serve`
last_update:
  author: autogenerated
slug: thv_serve
mdx:
  format: md
---

## thv serve

Start the ToolHive API server

### Synopsis

Starts the ToolHive API server and listen for HTTP requests.

```
thv serve [flags]
```

### Options

```
      --experimental-mcp                  EXPERIMENTAL: Enable embedded MCP server for controlling ToolHive
      --experimental-mcp-host string      EXPERIMENTAL: Host for the embedded MCP server (default "localhost")
      --experimental-mcp-port string      EXPERIMENTAL: Port for the embedded MCP server (default "4483")
  -h, --help                              help for serve
      --host string                       Host address to bind the server to (default "127.0.0.1")
      --oidc-audience string              Expected audience for the token
      --oidc-client-id string             OIDC client ID
      --oidc-client-secret string         OIDC client secret (optional, for introspection)
      --oidc-introspection-url string     URL for token introspection endpoint
      --oidc-issuer string                OIDC issuer URL (e.g., https://accounts.google.com)
      --oidc-jwks-url string              URL to fetch the JWKS from
      --oidc-scopes strings               OAuth scopes to advertise in the well-known endpoint (RFC 9728, defaults to 'openid' if not specified)
      --openapi                           Enable OpenAPI documentation endpoints (/api/openapi.json and /api/doc)
      --port int                          Port to bind the server to (default 8080)
      --sentry-dsn string                 Sentry DSN for error tracking and distributed tracing (falls back to SENTRY_DSN env var)
      --sentry-environment string         Sentry environment name, e.g. production or development (falls back to SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT env var)
      --sentry-traces-sample-rate float   Sentry traces sample rate (0.0-1.0) for performance monitoring (default 1)
      --socket string                     UNIX socket path or, on Windows, a named pipe (\\.\pipe\<name>) to bind the server to (overrides host and port if provided)
```

### Options inherited from parent commands

```
      --debug   Enable debug mode
```

### SEE ALSO

* [thv](thv.md)	 - ToolHive (thv) is a lightweight, secure, and fast manager for MCP servers

