diff --git a/src/cli.ts b/src/cli.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..aead93a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/cli.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+export const parseArgs = (
+    argv: string[],
+    env: NodeJS.ProcessEnv = process.env
+): { configPath?: string } => {
+    const flagIndex = argv.indexOf('--config')
+    if (flagIndex !== -1 && argv[flagIndex + 1]) {
+        return { configPath: argv[flagIndex + 1] }
+    }
+    return { configPath: env.DBMOLE_CONFIG }
+}
diff --git a/src/index.ts b/src/index.ts
index 7f814eb..aa2f23c 100644
--- a/src/index.ts
+++ b/src/index.ts
@@ -1 +1,35 @@
-export const placeholder = true
+import { StdioServerTransport } from '@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/server/stdio.js'
+import { parseArgs } from './cli.js'
+import { createRegistry } from './config/registry.js'
+import { defaultStorePath } from './config/store.js'
+import { createManager } from './db/manager.js'
+import { createServer } from './server.js'
+
+const main = async () => {
+    const { configPath } = parseArgs(process.argv.slice(2))
+    const registry = createRegistry({ storePath: defaultStorePath(), configPath })
+    const manager = createManager(registry)
+    const server = createServer(registry, manager)
+
+    let shuttingDown = false
+    const shutdown = async () => {
+        if (shuttingDown) {
+            return
+        }
+        shuttingDown = true
+        await manager.disposeAll().catch(() => {})
+        process.exit(0)
+    }
+    process.on('SIGINT', shutdown)
+    process.on('SIGTERM', shutdown)
+    process.stdin.on('close', shutdown)
+
+    await server.connect(new StdioServerTransport())
+    console.error('dbmole: MCP server listening on stdio')
+}
+
+main().catch((error) => {
+    const message = error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error)
+    console.error('dbmole: fatal: ' + message)
+    process.exit(1)
+})
diff --git a/src/server.ts b/src/server.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..97d4cd8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/server.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+import { McpServer } from '@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/server/mcp.js'
+import type { Registry } from './config/registry.js'
+import type { Manager } from './db/manager.js'
+import { registerConnectionTools } from './tools/connections.js'
+import { registerQueryTools } from './tools/query.js'
+import { registerSchemaTools } from './tools/schema.js'
+
+export const SERVER_VERSION = '0.1.0'
+
+export const createServer = (registry: Registry, manager: Manager): McpServer => {
+    const server = new McpServer({ name: 'dbmole-mcp', version: SERVER_VERSION })
+    registerConnectionTools(server, registry, manager)
+    registerQueryTools(server, manager)
+    registerSchemaTools(server, manager)
+    return server
+}
diff --git a/test/unit/cli.test.ts b/test/unit/cli.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b39554c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/cli.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
+import { parseArgs } from '../../src/cli.js'
+
+describe('parseArgs', () => {
+    it('prefers the --config flag', () => {
+        expect(parseArgs(['--config', '/tmp/c.json'], { DBMOLE_CONFIG: '/env.json' })).toEqual({
+            configPath: '/tmp/c.json'
+        })
+    })
+
+    it('falls back to DBMOLE_CONFIG env', () => {
+        expect(parseArgs([], { DBMOLE_CONFIG: '/env.json' })).toEqual({ configPath: '/env.json' })
+    })
+
+    it('returns undefined without flag or env', () => {
+        expect(parseArgs([], {})).toEqual({ configPath: undefined })
+    })
+
+    it('ignores --config without a value', () => {
+        expect(parseArgs(['--config'], {})).toEqual({ configPath: undefined })
+    })
+})
diff --git a/test/unit/server.test.ts b/test/unit/server.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8a719cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/server.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+import { mkdtempSync, rmSync } from 'node:fs'
+import { tmpdir } from 'node:os'
+import { join } from 'node:path'
+import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
+import { createRegistry } from '../../src/config/registry.js'
+import { createServer } from '../../src/server.js'
+import { connectClient, fakeManager } from './helpers.js'
+
+describe('createServer', () => {
+    let dir: string
+
+    beforeEach(() => {
+        dir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'dbmole-server-'))
+    })
+
+    afterEach(() => {
+        rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true })
+    })
+
+    it('registers all nine tools', async () => {
+        const registry = createRegistry({ storePath: join(dir, 'connections.json'), env: {} })
+        const server = createServer(registry, fakeManager())
+        const client = await connectClient(server)
+        const { tools } = await client.listTools()
+        expect(tools.map((tool) => tool.name).sort()).toEqual([
+            'add_connection',
+            'describe_table',
+            'execute_sql',
+            'list_connections',
+            'list_databases',
+            'list_tables',
+            'remove_connection',
+            'test_connection',
+            'update_connection'
+        ])
+    })
+})
diff --git a/test/unit/smoke.test.ts b/test/unit/smoke.test.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index 525482f..0000000
--- a/test/unit/smoke.test.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,7 +0,0 @@
-import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
-
-describe('smoke', () => {
-    it('runs', () => {
-        expect(1 + 1).toBe(2)
-    })
-})