Skillget

mcpli

mcp
Security Audit
Warn
Health Warn
  • No license — Repository has no license file
  • Description — Repository has a description
  • Active repo — Last push 0 days ago
  • Low visibility — Only 8 GitHub stars
Code Pass
  • Code scan — Scanned 4 files during light audit, no dangerous patterns found
Permissions Pass
  • Permissions — No dangerous permissions requested
Purpose

This is a command-line interface tool that connects to Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers, fetches their available tools, and allows you to interact with them directly from your terminal. It acts as a bridge, turning server endpoints into native shell commands.

Security Assessment

The overall risk is rated as Low. A light code audit scanning four files found no dangerous patterns, hardcoded secrets, or requests for dangerous system permissions. However, by design, the application makes outbound network requests to user-provided URLs to fetch tool data. Additionally, as demonstrated in the documentation, it passes sensitive data (like passwords) via environment variables in HTTP headers. While relying on environment variables is a standard and relatively safe practice, users must still ensure they only connect to trusted servers to prevent accidentally leaking credentials over unencrypted or malicious endpoints.

Quality Assessment

The project is actively maintained, with its most recent code push happening today. It features clear, self-documenting code and a highly detailed README. On the downside, it currently lacks a formal open-source license, which legally means all rights are reserved by the author and it cannot be safely used in commercial projects without explicit permission. Additionally, it has low community visibility with only 8 GitHub stars, indicating it has not yet been extensively battle-tested by a wide audience.

Verdict

Use with caution: The code itself appears clean and safe, but the lack of a software license poses potential legal risks, and you should only connect to MCP servers you fully trust.
SUMMARY

A command-line interface for interacting with MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers

README.md

mcpli

One command to turn any MCP server into a CLI tool.

mcpli add knuspr https://mcp.knuspr.de/mcp/ \
  --header 'rhl-email: ${ROHLIK_USERNAME}' \
  --header 'rhl-pass: ${ROHLIK_PASSWORD}'
mcpli knuspr batch_search_products '{"queries": [{"keyword": "milk"}]}'

Features

  • ⚡ Instant — mcpli add connects, fetches tools, and you're ready to go. No manual setup
  • 🔍 Discoverable — Tab completion for servers AND tools in your shell
  • 📖 Self-documenting — --help shows full tool descriptions at every level
  • 🔧 Familiar — Works like any CLI you already use (git, kubectl, etc.)
  • 🤖 Agent-friendly — AI agents can add and use MCP servers with a single command

Quick Start

# 1. Add a server (fetches and caches all tools)
mcpli add myserver https://example.com/mcp/

# 2. Explore available tools
mcpli myserver --help

# 3. Invoke a tool
mcpli myserver search '{"query": "hello"}'

Installation

Homebrew (macOS/Linux)

brew install juanibiapina/taps/mcpli

Go

go install github.com/juanibiapina/mcpli@latest

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/juanibiapina/mcpli
cd mcpli
go build -o mcpli ./cmd/mcpli

Discovering Tools

Every server and tool is a native subcommand with built-in help:

# See all configured servers
mcpli --help

# See all tools on a server
mcpli myserver --help

# See a tool's full description and usage
mcpli myserver search_products --help

Example output of mcpli myserver --help:

Usage:
  mcpli myserver [command]

Available Commands:
  get_cart              View everything currently in the shopping cart...
  search_products       Search products by keyword, filters, or recomm...
  add_items_to_cart     Put products into the cart for purchase...

Use "mcpli myserver [command] --help" for more information about a command.

Shell Completion

Enable tab completion for servers and tools:

# Bash
echo 'source <(mcpli completion bash)' >> ~/.bashrc

# Zsh
echo 'source <(mcpli completion zsh)' >> ~/.zshrc

# Fish
mcpli completion fish | source

After setup, tab completion works for everything:

mcpli <TAB>              # Complete server names
mcpli myserver <TAB>     # Complete tool names

Commands

Add a server

mcpli add <name> <url> [--header "key: value"]...

Headers can include environment variable references using ${VAR_NAME} syntax:

mcpli add knuspr https://mcp.knuspr.de/mcp/ \
  --header 'rhl-email: ${ROHLIK_USERNAME}' \
  --header 'rhl-pass: ${ROHLIK_PASSWORD}'

This connects to the server, fetches all available tools, and caches them locally.

List servers

mcpli list

List tools for a server

mcpli list <server>

Invoke a tool

mcpli <server> <tool> [json-arguments]

Examples:

# Tool with no arguments
mcpli myserver get_cart

# Tool with arguments
mcpli myserver search_products '{"keyword": "milk"}'

OAuth Authentication

When a server requires OAuth, mcpli detects the 401 response automatically and starts the authorization flow:

mcpli add glean https://contentful-be.glean.com/mcp/default
# → Detects 401, opens browser for OAuth login
# → Stores tokens, completes server setup

After authentication, tokens are used transparently when invoking tools. Expired tokens are refreshed automatically. OAuth credentials are stored following XDG conventions ($XDG_STATE_HOME/mcpli/auth.json).

If automatic token refresh fails, re-authenticate with:

mcpli update <server>

Update a server

Refresh the cached tool definitions:

mcpli update <server>

Remove a server

mcpli remove <server>

Configuration

Configuration is stored in ~/.config/mcpli/config.json (following XDG conventions).

The config file contains server URLs, headers (with unexpanded env var references), and cached tool definitions.

License

MIT

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