mcp-management

name	mcp-management
description	Manage MCP servers: discover and execute tools/prompts/resources, filter by task, multi-server orchestration. Use for MCP integrations, capability discovery, or MCP client workflows.

MCP Management

Skill for managing and interacting with Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers.

Overview

MCP is an open protocol enabling AI agents to connect to external tools and data sources. This skill provides scripts and utilities to discover, analyze, and execute MCP capabilities from configured servers without polluting the main context window.

Key Benefits:

• Progressive disclosure of MCP capabilities (load only what's needed)
• Intelligent tool/prompt/resource selection based on task requirements
• Multi-server management from single config file
• Context-efficient: subagents handle MCP discovery and execution
• Persistent tool catalog: automatically saves discovered tools to JSON for fast reference

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

1. Discovering MCP Capabilities: Need to list available tools/prompts/resources from configured servers
2. Task-Based Tool Selection: Analyzing which MCP tools are relevant for a specific task
3. Executing MCP Tools: Calling MCP tools programmatically with proper parameter handling
4. MCP Integration: Building or debugging MCP client implementations
5. Context Management: Avoiding context pollution by delegating MCP operations to subagents

Core Capabilities

1. Configuration Management

MCP servers configured in .claude/.mcp.json.

Gemini CLI Integration (recommended): Create symlink to .gemini/settings.json:

mkdir -p .gemini && ln -sf .claude/.mcp.json .gemini/settings.json

See references/configuration.md and references/gemini-cli-integration.md.

2. Capability Discovery

npx tsx scripts/cli.ts list-tools  # Saves to assets/tools.json
npx tsx scripts/cli.ts list-prompts
npx tsx scripts/cli.ts list-resources

Aggregates capabilities from multiple servers with server identification.

3. Intelligent Tool Analysis

LLM analyzes assets/tools.json directly - better than keyword matching algorithms.

4. Tool Execution

Primary: Gemini CLI (if available)

gemini -y -m gemini-2.5-flash -p "Take a screenshot of https://example.com"

Secondary: Direct Scripts

npx tsx scripts/cli.ts call-tool memory create_entities '{"entities":[...]}'

Fallback: mcp-manager Subagent

See references/gemini-cli-integration.md for complete examples.

Implementation Patterns

Pattern 1: Gemini CLI Auto-Execution (Primary)

Use Gemini CLI for automatic tool discovery and execution. See references/gemini-cli-integration.md for complete guide.

Quick Example:

gemini -y -m gemini-2.5-flash -p "Take a screenshot of https://example.com"

Benefits: Automatic tool discovery, natural language execution, faster than subagent orchestration.

Pattern 2: Subagent-Based Execution (Fallback)

Use mcp-manager agent when Gemini CLI unavailable. Subagent discovers tools, selects relevant ones, executes tasks, reports back.

Benefit: Main context stays clean, only relevant tool definitions loaded when needed.

Pattern 3: LLM-Driven Tool Selection

LLM reads assets/tools.json, intelligently selects relevant tools using context understanding, synonyms, and intent recognition.

Pattern 4: Multi-Server Orchestration

Coordinate tools across multiple servers. Each tool knows its source server for proper routing.

Scripts Reference

scripts/mcp-client.ts

Core MCP client manager class. Handles:

• Config loading from .claude/.mcp.json
• Connecting to multiple MCP servers
• Listing tools/prompts/resources across all servers
• Executing tools with proper error handling
• Connection lifecycle management

scripts/cli.ts

Command-line interface for MCP operations. Commands:

• list-tools - Display all tools and save to assets/tools.json
• list-prompts - Display all prompts
• list-resources - Display all resources
• call-tool <server> <tool> <json> - Execute a tool

Note: list-tools persists complete tool catalog to assets/tools.json with full schemas for fast reference, offline browsing, and version control.

Quick Start

Method 1: Gemini CLI (recommended)

npm install -g gemini-cli
mkdir -p .gemini && ln -sf .claude/.mcp.json .gemini/settings.json
gemini -y -m gemini-2.5-flash -p "Take a screenshot of https://example.com"

Method 2: Scripts

cd .claude/skills/mcp-management/scripts && npm install
npx tsx cli.ts list-tools  # Saves to assets/tools.json
npx tsx cli.ts call-tool memory create_entities '{"entities":[...]}'

Method 3: mcp-manager Subagent

See references/gemini-cli-integration.md for complete guide.

Technical Details

See references/mcp-protocol.md for JSON-RPC protocol details, message types, error codes, and transport mechanisms (stdio, HTTP+SSE).

See references/integration-strategy.md for execution priority, agent integration patterns, and multi-server orchestration guidance.