MCP servers finally get a proper command-line client

What it does

mcptools is a Go CLI that talks to MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers over stdio or HTTP. It lists available tools, resources, and prompts, then calls them with typed parameters. It also doubles as a mock server, proxy, and project scaffold generator for TypeScript MCP implementations.

The interesting bit

The default output format renders tool signatures as colorized man pages—bold cyan function names, green required arguments, yellow optional ones—so you can read an MCP server’s API like a Unix manual. That’s a small UX obsession that pays off when you’re juggling a dozen AI-facing endpoints.

Key highlights

• Supports both legacy HTTP/SSE and modern streamable HTTP transports, auto-detecting from the URL
• Includes an interactive shell and a built-in web interface for browsing server capabilities
• Can spin up mock servers, proxy requests to shell scripts, or guard access to specific tools and resources
• Formats output as colorized tables, compact JSON, or pretty-printed JSON
• Manages server aliases and LLM application configurations to avoid retyping long connection strings

Caveats

• The legacy HTTP/SSE transport is pinned to MCP protocol version 2024-11-05
• The installed binary may clash with other tools named mcp; the README suggests aliases like mcpt or mcptools

Verdict

Worth a look if you’re building or integrating MCP servers and want one tool to inspect, test, and script against them. Skip it if you only need a simple HTTP client—curl already exists.