mcp-cli

The mcp-cli utility acts as a bridge between the command line and Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers, enabling developers to interact with external systems, databases, and APIs without requiring a full IDE environment. By standardizing the way tools are discovered and invoked, it allows for seamless integration of agentic capabilities into shell workflows, CI/CD pipelines, and local development environments. It is designed for engineers who need to perform ad-hoc tasks, debug server responses, or script tool execution using standard command-line pipes.

• Enables discovery of all available MCP servers and associated tool names.

• Provides deep inspection of tool JSON schemas to understand required parameters before execution.

• Supports direct tool execution from the CLI by passing arguments as JSON strings.

• Offers advanced search capabilities via grep-like functionality to filter tools by name or purpose.

• Includes flags for raw text output or structured JSON output, facilitating integration with command-line utilities like jq.

• Use mcp-cli to list servers and tools to understand the current operational context.

• Utilize JSON input schema inspection to debug and validate arguments before calling tools.

• Combine with other command-line tools like jq or xargs to build complex automation chains, such as searching for files and then reading their content programmatically.

• Ensure all tool arguments are provided in valid JSON format; use heredoc or pipe redirection for complex input payloads.

• Note that exit codes are standardized: 0 for success, 1 for client-side configuration or argument errors, 2 for tool-specific failures, and 3 for network-related connectivity issues.