mcp-cli

Included with Lifetime

$97 forever

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.

AI Agents

What this skill does


# MCP-CLI

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

## Prerequisites

Install mcp-cli:

```bash
bun install -g https://github.com/philschmid/mcp-cli
```

## Configuration

Create `mcp_servers.json` in current directory or `~/.config/mcp/`:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "filesystem": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem", "."]
    },
    "deepwiki": {
      "url": "https://mcp.deepwiki.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

- **stdio servers**: Use `command` + `args`
- **HTTP servers**: Use `url`

## Commands

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

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

## Workflow

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

## Examples

```bash
# List all servers and tool names
mcp-cli

# See all tools with parameters
mcp-cli filesystem

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

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

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

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

# JSON output for parsing
mcp-cli filesystem/read_file '{"path": "./README.md"}' --json

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

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

# Find all TypeScript files and read the first one
mcp-cli filesystem/search_files '{"path": "src/", "pattern": "*.ts"}' --json | jq -r '.content[0].text' | head -1 | xargs -I {} sh -c 'mcp-cli filesystem/read_file "{\"path\": \"{}\"}"'
```

## Options

| Flag | Purpose |
|------|---------|
| `-j, --json` | JSON output for scripting |
| `-r, --raw` | Raw text content |
| `-d` | Include descriptions |

## Exit Codes

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

Files: 1

Size: 2.6 KB

Complexity: 11/100

Category: AI Agents

Source: https://github.com/oneqmethod/skills/tree/main/plugins/mcp-cli/skills/mcp-cli

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