diff --git a/crates/cli/src/subcommands/db_arg_resolution.rs b/crates/cli/src/subcommands/db_arg_resolution.rs
index 7661d2258ab..2d5ccc3e137 100644
--- a/crates/cli/src/subcommands/db_arg_resolution.rs
+++ b/crates/cli/src/subcommands/db_arg_resolution.rs
@@ -13,6 +13,10 @@
 // | subscribe   | resolve_optional_database_parts    | No (variable args)  | No                |
 // | describe    | resolve_database_with_optional_parts | No (optional args)| No                |
 //
+// Commands that address a server rather than a database (`list`, `rename`, `mcp`) have no
+// database argument to resolve, so they take the project's server from the config directly
+// via `resolve_config_server`.
+//
 // "Auto-fallthrough" means: if the provided database name doesn't match any config target,
 // treat it as an ad-hoc database outside the project (equivalent to --no-config for that arg).
 //
@@ -21,7 +25,7 @@
 // so 2+ positional args means the first must be a database. For `call`/`subscribe`/`describe`,
 // the first positional could be a non-database argument, so we must error to avoid misinterpreting it.
 
-use crate::spacetime_config::find_and_load_with_env;
+use crate::spacetime_config::{find_and_load_with_env, SpacetimeConfig};
 use itertools::Itertools;
 
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, PartialEq, Eq)]
@@ -81,6 +85,31 @@ pub(crate) fn load_config_db_targets(no_config: bool) -> anyhow::Result<Option<V
         .filter(|targets| !targets.is_empty()))
 }
 
+/// Resolve the server for commands that address a *server* rather than a specific
+/// database (`list` has no database argument to hang a config lookup off).
+///
+/// Only answers when the whole config agrees on one server: a multi-database
+/// config spanning several servers has no single right answer, so we leave the
+/// CLI's default server alone rather than guess.
+pub(crate) fn resolve_config_server(no_config: bool) -> anyhow::Result<Option<String>> {
+    if no_config {
+        return Ok(None);
+    }
+    Ok(find_and_load_with_env(None)?.and_then(|loaded| single_config_server(&loaded.config)))
+}
+
+/// The one server a config points at, or `None` if it names zero or several.
+fn single_config_server(config: &SpacetimeConfig) -> Option<String> {
+    config
+        .collect_all_targets_with_inheritance()
+        .iter()
+        .filter_map(|target| target.fields.get("server").and_then(|v| v.as_str()))
+        .unique()
+        .exactly_one()
+        .ok()
+        .map(str::to_string)
+}
+
 pub(crate) fn resolve_optional_database_parts(
     raw_parts: &[String],
     config_targets: Option<&[ConfigDbTarget]>,
@@ -262,8 +291,44 @@ pub(crate) fn resolve_database_with_optional_parts(
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
     use super::{
-        resolve_database_arg, resolve_database_with_optional_parts, resolve_optional_database_parts, ConfigDbTarget,
+        resolve_database_arg, resolve_database_with_optional_parts, resolve_optional_database_parts,
+        single_config_server, ConfigDbTarget,
     };
+    use crate::spacetime_config::SpacetimeConfig;
+
+    fn parse_config(json: &str) -> SpacetimeConfig {
+        serde_json::from_str(json).unwrap()
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn root_server_is_used_when_config_has_no_database() {
+        let config = parse_config(r#"{ "server": "local", "module-path": "./spacetimedb" }"#);
+        assert_eq!(single_config_server(&config).as_deref(), Some("local"));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn children_inherit_the_root_server() {
+        let config =
+            parse_config(r#"{ "server": "local", "children": [{ "database": "foo" }, { "database": "bar" }] }"#);
+        assert_eq!(single_config_server(&config).as_deref(), Some("local"));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn no_server_when_config_omits_it() {
+        let config = parse_config(r#"{ "database": "foo" }"#);
+        assert_eq!(single_config_server(&config), None);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn no_server_when_children_disagree() {
+        let config = parse_config(
+            r#"{ "children": [
+                { "database": "foo", "server": "local" },
+                { "database": "bar", "server": "maincloud" }
+            ] }"#,
+        );
+        assert_eq!(single_config_server(&config), None);
+    }
 
     #[test]
     fn single_db_infers_database() {
diff --git a/crates/cli/src/subcommands/dns.rs b/crates/cli/src/subcommands/dns.rs
index 59e049b038b..1a7a4e67ad9 100644
--- a/crates/cli/src/subcommands/dns.rs
+++ b/crates/cli/src/subcommands/dns.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 use crate::common_args;
 use crate::config::Config;
+use crate::subcommands::db_arg_resolution::resolve_config_server;
 use crate::util::{add_auth_header_opt, get_auth_header, ResponseExt};
 use clap::ArgMatches;
 use clap::{Arg, Command};
@@ -22,14 +23,28 @@ pub fn cli() -> Command {
         )
         .arg(common_args::server().help("The nickname, host name or URL of the server on which to set the name"))
         .arg(common_args::yes())
+        .arg(
+            Arg::new("no_config")
+                .long("no-config")
+                .action(clap::ArgAction::SetTrue)
+                .help("Ignore spacetime.json configuration"),
+        )
         .after_help("Run `spacetime rename --help` for more detailed information.\n")
 }
 
 pub async fn exec(mut config: Config, args: &ArgMatches) -> Result<(), anyhow::Error> {
     let domain = args.get_one::<String>("new-name").unwrap();
     let database_identity = args.get_one::<String>("database-identity").unwrap();
-    let server = args.get_one::<String>("server").map(|s| s.as_ref());
     let force = args.get_flag("force");
+    let no_config = args.get_flag("no_config");
+
+    // `rename` addresses the database by identity, so there is no database name to
+    // resolve against the config -- take the project's server directly.
+    let config_server = resolve_config_server(no_config)?;
+    let server = args
+        .get_one::<String>("server")
+        .map(|s| s.as_str())
+        .or(config_server.as_deref());
     let auth_header = get_auth_header(&mut config, false, server, !force).await?;
 
     let domain: DomainName = domain.parse()?;
diff --git a/crates/cli/src/subcommands/list.rs b/crates/cli/src/subcommands/list.rs
index 889b6a93346..99e896e5739 100644
--- a/crates/cli/src/subcommands/list.rs
+++ b/crates/cli/src/subcommands/list.rs
@@ -1,11 +1,12 @@
 use crate::common_args;
+use crate::subcommands::db_arg_resolution::resolve_config_server;
 use crate::util;
 use crate::util::get_login_token_or_log_in;
 use crate::util::ResponseExt;
 use crate::util::UNSTABLE_WARNING;
 use crate::Config;
 use anyhow::Context;
-use clap::{ArgMatches, Command};
+use clap::{Arg, ArgMatches, Command};
 use futures::future::join_all;
 use serde::Deserialize;
 use spacetimedb_lib::Identity;
@@ -21,6 +22,12 @@ pub fn cli() -> Command {
         ))
         .arg(common_args::server().help("The nickname, host name or URL of the server from which to list databases"))
         .arg(common_args::yes())
+        .arg(
+            Arg::new("no_config")
+                .long("no-config")
+                .action(clap::ArgAction::SetTrue)
+                .help("Ignore spacetime.json configuration"),
+        )
 }
 
 #[derive(Deserialize)]
@@ -39,8 +46,17 @@ struct DatabaseRow {
 pub async fn exec(mut config: Config, args: &ArgMatches) -> Result<(), anyhow::Error> {
     eprintln!("{UNSTABLE_WARNING}\n");
 
-    let server = args.get_one::<String>("server").map(|s| s.as_ref());
     let force = args.get_flag("force");
+    let no_config = args.get_flag("no_config");
+
+    // `list` has no database argument, so unlike `call`/`logs`/`sql` it picks up the
+    // project's server directly from spacetime.json rather than from a database target.
+    let config_server = resolve_config_server(no_config)?;
+    let server = args
+        .get_one::<String>("server")
+        .map(|s| s.as_str())
+        .or(config_server.as_deref());
+
     let token = get_login_token_or_log_in(&mut config, server, !force).await?;
     let identity = util::decode_identity(&token)?;
 
diff --git a/crates/cli/src/subcommands/mcp.rs b/crates/cli/src/subcommands/mcp.rs
index 7d679c121c7..b66658479ec 100644
--- a/crates/cli/src/subcommands/mcp.rs
+++ b/crates/cli/src/subcommands/mcp.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 use crate::api::{build_client, Connection};
 use crate::common_args;
 use crate::config::Config;
+use crate::subcommands::db_arg_resolution::resolve_config_server;
 use crate::util::{auth_header_from_saved_token, database_identity, ResponseExt, UNSTABLE_WARNING};
 use anyhow::Context;
 use clap::{Arg, ArgMatches};
@@ -17,6 +18,12 @@ pub fn cli() -> clap::Command {
         ))
         .arg(common_args::server().help("The nickname, host name or URL of the server hosting the database"))
         .arg(common_args::anonymous())
+        .arg(
+            Arg::new("no_config")
+                .long("no-config")
+                .action(clap::ArgAction::SetTrue)
+                .help("Ignore spacetime.json configuration"),
+        )
         .after_help("Run `spacetime help mcp` for more detailed information.\n")
 }
 
@@ -24,8 +31,16 @@ pub async fn exec(config: Config, args: &ArgMatches) -> Result<(), anyhow::Error
     eprintln!("{UNSTABLE_WARNING}\n");
 
     let database = args.get_one::<String>("database");
-    let server = args.get_one::<String>("server").map(|s| s.as_ref());
     let anon_identity = args.get_flag("anon_identity");
+    let no_config = args.get_flag("no_config");
+
+    // The database arg stays as given (omitting it deliberately serves the whole
+    // server), but the server it is served from follows the project's config.
+    let config_server = resolve_config_server(no_config)?;
+    let server = args
+        .get_one::<String>("server")
+        .map(|s| s.as_str())
+        .or(config_server.as_deref());
 
     let conn = Connection {
         host: config.get_host_url(server)?,