mcpli

mcpli is a command-line tool that turns MCP servers and their available tools into a native CLI experience with tab completion and built-in help. It discovers servers you’ve added, caches their tool definitions locally, and exposes each server as a subcommand with its own set of tools. You can list all configured servers, inspect the tools for a specific server, and invoke a tool directly with JSON-encoded arguments when required. The tool-level help describes each command, its options, and usage details, enabling a discoverable, self-documented workflow similar to other CLIs you already know.

To start, install mcpli, add a server by providing its URL, and then explore the available tools. Once cached, you can invoke any tool via a simple command like mcpli <server> <tool> [json-arguments]. Completion will help you discover servers and tools as you type, and each tool supports a --help flag to reveal its full description and usage right in the CLI.

Prerequisites:

• A machine with Go installed and configured in your PATH to install the mcpli binary.
• (Optional) Homebrew if you prefer the quick install path on macOS/Linux.

Installation steps:

1. Install via Go (recommended):

# Installs the mcpli CLI from the repository
go install github.com/juanibiapina/mcpli/cmd/mcpli@latest

2. Verify installation:

mcpli --version

3. (Optional) If you use macOS/Linux and prefer Homebrew:

brew install juanibiapina/taps/mcpli

4. Add a server (example URL) to fetch and cache its tools:

mcpli add myserver https://example.com/mcp/

5. List servers and explore tools:

mcpli --help
mcpli myserver --help

• mcpli caches tool definitions locally to avoid server round-trips for discovery.
• Server headers can reference environment variables using the ${VAR} syntax when adding a server.
• Ensure the server URL you add is the MCP endpoint exposing tools you want to use.
• If you run into completion issues, reload your shell or re-source the completion script as described in the Completion setup section of the README.
• The configuration file is stored at ~/.config/mcpli/config.json and contains server URLs, headers, and cached tool definitions.