mcp-cli

name	mcp-cli
description	Interface for MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers via CLI. Use when you need to interact with external tools, APIs, or data sources through MCP servers.

MCP-CLI

Access MCP servers through the command line. MCP enables interaction with external systems like GitHub, filesystems, databases, and APIs.

Commands

Command	Output
mcp-cli	List all servers and tool names
mcp-cli info <server>	Show tools with parameters
mcp-cli info <server>/<tool>	Get tool JSON schema
mcp-cli call <server>/<tool> '<json>'	Call tool with arguments
mcp-cli grep "<glob>"	Search tools by name

Add -d to include descriptions (e.g., mcp-cli info filesystem -d)

Workflow

1. Discover: mcp-cli → see available servers and tools
2. Explore: mcp-cli info <server> → see tools with parameters
3. Inspect: mcp-cli info <server>/<tool> → get full JSON input schema
4. Execute: mcp-cli call <server>/<tool> '<json>' → run with arguments

Examples

# List all servers and tool names
mcp-cli

# See all tools with parameters
mcp-cli info filesystem

# With descriptions (more verbose)
mcp-cli info filesystem -d

# Get JSON schema for specific tool
mcp-cli info filesystem/read_file

# Call the tool
mcp-cli call filesystem/read_file '{"path": "./README.md"}'

# Search for tools
mcp-cli grep "*file*"

# Complex JSON with quotes (use stdin)
mcp-cli call server/tool <<EOF
{"content": "Text with 'quotes' inside"}
EOF

# Or pipe from a file/command
cat args.json | mcp-cli call server/tool

Options

Flag	Purpose
-d	Include descriptions

Exit Codes

• 0: Success
• 1: Client error (bad args, missing config)
• 2: Server error (tool failed)
• 3: Network error