mcp-cli

Name: mcp-cli
Author: github

Command-line interface for discovering and executing MCP server tools and external integrations. Five core commands cover server discovery, tool exploration, schema inspection, execution, and grep-based searching across all available tools Supports JSON input/output for scripting, raw text extraction, and description flags for verbose tool documentation Handles complex JSON arguments via heredoc, stdin piping, or file input to accommodate special characters and multi-line payloads Distinguishes exit codes by error type: client errors (1), server/tool failures (2), and network issues (3) for reliable error handling in automation

INSTALLATION

npx skills add https://github.com/github/awesome-copilot --skill mcp-cli

Run in your project or agent environment. Adjust flags if your CLI version differs.

SKILL.md

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 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

Discover: mcp-cli → see available servers and tools

Explore: mcp-cli <server> → see tools with parameters

Inspect: mcp-cli <server>/<tool> → get full JSON input schema

Execute: mcp-cli <server>/<tool> '<json>' → run with arguments

Examples

# 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