mcp-cli-ent

name	mcp-cli-ent
description	Interact with Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers using the mcp-cli-ent command-line client. Use when listing servers, checking tool schemas, calling tools, or managing persistent browser sessions.

MCP CLI-Ent

A Go-based standalone CLI client for Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers. Agent-first: JSON output by default, structured for programmatic consumption.

Quick Start

# Discover all available tools (compact index: name + description per tool)
mcp-cli-ent

# List tools from a specific server (full JSON with params, call examples)
mcp-cli-ent list-tools context7

# Search for a tool across all servers
mcp-cli-ent --search "wiki"

# Call a tool
mcp-cli-ent call brave-search brave_web_search '{"query":"gemini models"}'

# Human-readable terminal output (terse, 1 line per tool)
mcp-cli-ent list-tools context7 --human

# Expanded human output (desc, params, call example)
mcp-cli-ent list-tools context7 --human --verbose

Output Modes

Bare invocation: Compact Discovery Index

Running mcp-cli-ent with no args returns a compact index — one name + description per tool, grouped by server. No params, no call examples, no schema. Use list-tools <server> when ready to call.

{
  "context7": [
    { "name": "resolve-library-id", "description": "Resolves a package name to a Context7 library ID" },
    { "name": "query-docs", "description": "Retrieves up-to-date documentation and code examples" }
  ],
  "deepwiki": [
    { "name": "read_wiki_structure", "description": "Get documentation topics for a GitHub repository" }
  ]
}

list-tools <server>: Full Tool Details

Returns full JSON with name, description, params, call per tool.

[
  {
    "name": "resolve-library-id",
    "description": "Resolves a package/product name...",
    "params": ["libraryName", "query"],
    "call": "mcp-cli-ent call context7 resolve-library-id '{\"libraryName\":\"...\", \"query\":\"...\"}'"
  }
]

--human: Terminal Output

Terse by default (1 line per tool). --human --verbose expands to 4-line format (name, desc, params, call).

--verbose (JSON mode): Adds full schema field with complete inputSchema.

Error responses

Empty results or no matches return structured JSON errors:

{ "error": true, "error_code": "no_match", "error_description": "No tools matching 'wiki' found" }
{ "error": true, "error_code": "no_tools", "error_description": "No tools found on any server" }

Flags

Flag	Description
--search <query>	Filter tools by name or description (case-insensitive). Works in both JSON and human modes.
--human	Switch from JSON to human-readable terminal output.
-v, --verbose	JSON: include full schema. Human: expanded 4-line format.
--refresh	Force refresh tools cache.
--clear-cache	Clear tools cache.
--config <path>	Custom config file path.
--timeout <sec>	Request timeout (default 30).

Workflows

1. Tool Discovery & Execution

• Run mcp-cli-ent to get compact discovery index (all servers, all tools).
• Filter with --search "keyword" to find specific capabilities.
• Run mcp-cli-ent list-tools <server> for full params and call examples.
• Use --verbose to get full parameter schemas when needed.
• Execute: mcp-cli-ent call <server> <tool> '<json-args>'.
• Ensure integers, booleans, arrays are unquoted in JSON payload (0, true, []).

2. Session Management

For browser-based servers requiring persistent state (Chrome DevTools, Playwright):

• Check sessions: mcp-cli-ent session list
• Start persistent session: mcp-cli-ent session start <server-name>
• Call tool (auto-routed through session): mcp-cli-ent call <server> <tool> '<args>'
• Stop session: mcp-cli-ent session stop <server-name>

3. Daemon Management

Background daemon persists sessions across CLI invocations:

• Check state: mcp-cli-ent daemon status
• Start: mcp-cli-ent daemon start
• Stop: mcp-cli-ent daemon stop
• Logs: mcp-cli-ent daemon logs