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.

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 tools
`mcp-cli info <server>`	Show server tools and parameters
`mcp-cli info <server> <tool>`	Get tool JSON schema
`mcp-cli grep "<pattern>"`	Search tools by name
`mcp-cli call <server> <tool>`	Call tool (reads JSON from stdin if no args)
`mcp-cli call <server> <tool> '<json>'`	Call tool with arguments

Both formats work: <server> <tool> or <server>/<tool>

Workflow

Discover: mcp-cli → see available servers
Explore: mcp-cli info <server> → see tools with parameters
Inspect: mcp-cli info <server> <tool> → get full JSON schema
Execute: mcp-cli call <server> <tool> '<json>' → run with arguments

Examples

# List all servers
mcp-cli

# With descriptions  
mcp-cli -d

# See server tools
mcp-cli info filesystem

# Get tool schema (both formats work)
mcp-cli info filesystem read_file
mcp-cli info filesystem/read_file

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

# Pipe from stdin (no '-' needed!)
cat args.json | mcp-cli call filesystem read_file

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

# Output is raw text (pipe-friendly)
mcp-cli call filesystem read_file '{"path": "./file"}' | head -10

Advanced Chaining

# Chain: search files → read first match
mcp-cli call filesystem search_files '{"path": ".", "pattern": "*.md"}' \
  | head -1 \
  | xargs -I {} mcp-cli call filesystem read_file '{"path": "{}"}'

# Loop: process multiple files
mcp-cli call filesystem list_directory '{"path": "./src"}' \
  | while read f; do mcp-cli call filesystem read_file "{\"path\": \"$f\"}"; done

# Conditional: check before reading
mcp-cli call filesystem list_directory '{"path": "."}' \
  | grep -q "README" \
  && mcp-cli call filesystem read_file '{"path": "./README.md"}'

# Multi-server aggregation
{
  mcp-cli call github search_repositories '{"query": "mcp", "per_page": 3}'
  mcp-cli call filesystem list_directory '{"path": "."}'
}

# Save to file
mcp-cli call github get_file_contents '{"owner": "x", "repo": "y", "path": "z"}' > output.txt

Note: call outputs raw text content directly (no jq needed for text extraction)

Options

Flag	Purpose
`-d`	Include descriptions
`-c <path>`	Specify config file

Common Errors

Wrong Command	Error	Fix
`mcp-cli server tool`	AMBIGUOUS_COMMAND	Use `call server tool` or `info server tool`
`mcp-cli run server tool`	UNKNOWN_SUBCOMMAND	Use `call` instead of `run`
`mcp-cli list`	UNKNOWN_SUBCOMMAND	Use `info` instead of `list`
`mcp-cli call server`	MISSING_ARGUMENT	Add tool name
`mcp-cli call server tool {bad}`	INVALID_JSON	Use valid JSON with quotes

Exit Codes

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