mcp-inspect

A terminal UI (TUI) inspector for Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers. Inspect server capabilities, resources, prompts, tools, message history, and MCP server logs, and test MCP tools, all in an interactive terminal interface. Similar to MCP Inspector but works from any terminal session, including inside of sandboxes or containers.

🎥 Watch the Demo: Check out the mcp-inspect Introduction and Demo video to see how to inspect MCP servers, test tools, browse resources, and monitor server activity—all from your terminal.

Installation

npm install -g mcp-inspect

Or use via npx:

npx mcp-inspect <config-file.json>

Usage

mcp-inspect <config-file.json>

Where config-file.json is your MCP configuration file (typically mcp.json).

Configuration File Format

The configuration file should follow the MCP configuration format:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "server-name": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["server.js"]
    },
    "another-server": {
      "type": "sse",
      "url": "http://localhost:6969/sse"
    }
  }
}

Supported transport types:

• stdio - Standard input/output communication
• sse - Server-Sent Events
• streamableHttp - Streamable HTTP

Features

• Server Management: Connect to multiple MCP servers simultaneously
• Resource Inspection: Browse and view available resources
• Prompt Templates: View and inspect prompt templates
• Tool Testing: Test MCP tools with custom inputs and view results
• Message History: Track all requests, responses, and notifications
• Logging: View server stderr output and notifications
• Interactive UI: Navigate with keyboard shortcuts

Keyboard Shortcuts

Global

• ESC - Exit application
• Ctrl+C - Exit application
• Tab / Shift+Tab - Cycle focus between panes
• ↑ / ↓ - Navigate lists and scroll content
• Enter - Select item / Test tool
• + - Zoom to full-screen modal view (in details panes)

Tabs

• Quick switch to tabs:
  • I - Info
  • R - Resources
  • P - Prompts
  • T - Tools
  • M - Messages
  • L - Logging

Server Management

• C - Connect to selected server (when disconnected or in error state)
• D - Disconnect from selected server (when connected)

Tool Testing

• Enter - Test tool (from tool list or details view)

GitHub Pages

The docs/ folder is set up for GitHub Pages so you can publish a static site and a Client ID Metadata Document (CIMD) for MCP auth.

1. Enable Pages: In the repo, go to Settings → Pages. Under "Build and deployment", set Source to "Deploy from a branch", Branch to main (or your default), and Folder to /docs.
2. After deployment, the site is at https://<owner>.github.io/mcp-inspect/ and the CIMD at https://<owner>.github.io/mcp-inspect/.well-known/auth/client-metadata.json.

If your GitHub user/org differs from teamsparkai, update client_id, client_uri, and logo_uri in docs/.well-known/auth/client-metadata.json to match your Pages URL.

Internal design/todo docs are in internal/.

Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build
npm run build

# Run in development mode
npm run dev <config-file.json>

License

MIT

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Please open an issue or submit a pull request.