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 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