Photon Lifecycle Guide

Photons are single-file TypeScript MCP servers. No compilation — runs directly with tsx.

Quick Start

npm install -g @portel/photon    # Install runtime
photon maker new my-weather      # Create photon
photon beam                      # Launch Beam UI
photon mcp my-weather            # Run as MCP server
photon cli my-weather current --city London  # CLI

Files go in ~/.photon/. See Directory Structure for the full layout. Connect to Claude Desktop:

{ "mcpServers": { "my-weather": { "command": "photon", "args": ["mcp", "my-weather"] } } }