MCP Inspector Online
Test and debug Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers directly in your browser. Glama's free online MCP Inspector lets you call tools, read resources, explore prompts, and troubleshoot authentication. No installation or Glama account required.
What is Glama's MCP Inspector?
An MCP inspector is a developer tool for testing and debugging MCP servers without connecting them to an AI assistant. Glama's hosted inspector connects to remote Streamable HTTP and SSE endpoints so you can inspect available capabilities and test requests interactively.
- State persisted in URL for easy sharing and bookmarking
- Connect through the built-in proxy, or directly to servers that allow browser requests
- Additional debugging info printed to browser console
Try the inspector with our test server.
Missing a feature? Join our Discord to request it.
How to test an MCP server online
- Click Add Server and enter a name and your MCP server's HTTP or SSE endpoint URL.
- Configure authentication if needed: OAuth, a bearer token, or custom headers. A server may require its own account even though the inspector does not require a Glama login.
- Click Connect to discover the server's tools, resources, and prompts.
- Open Tools to select a tool, enter its arguments, and run it. Use Resources and Prompts to inspect the other capabilities the server exposes.
No server yet? Use the built-in test server above, or browse hosted MCP connectors. Tool calls run against the connected server and can change data; review the tool and its arguments before executing it.
Glama vs. the official MCP Inspector
Glama's online inspector is a separate product from the official MCP Inspector. Both help you test MCP servers, but they fit different workflows.
Use Glama for browser-based testing: open this page and connect to a remote server without installing a package. Test Streamable HTTP and SSE connections, inspect tool responses, and debug OAuth authentication.
Use the official inspector for local development: run npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector on your machine when you want to launch local stdio servers directly. A hosted web page cannot start local processes; to test a stdio server with Glama, expose it through an HTTP proxy and tunnel as described below.
Supported MCP Features
Explore the MCP capabilities below when the connected server supports them.
Core primitives
- Tools – invoke server-defined functions
- Resources – read data exposed by the server
- Resource Templates – parameterized resource URIs
- Prompts – reusable prompt templates
Server → client requests
- Elicitation – server asks the user for structured input mid-call
- Sampling – server asks the client to run an LLM
- Roots – server queries client filesystem roots
Long-running operations
- Tasks – long-running tool executions with status tracking
- Progress Notifications – real-time progress updates with percent and message
- Cancellation – abort in-flight requests
Real-time updates
- Resource Subscriptions – live updates when a resource changes
- List-changed Notifications – servers announce tool, prompt, and resource changes
- Logging – structured server logs streamed to the client
Utilities
- Ping – connection health check
- Completion – argument autocomplete for tools and prompts
- Pagination – cursor-based list iteration
Authentication
- OAuth 2.1 – authorization code flow with refresh tokens
- Dynamic Client Registration (DCR) – automatic client provisioning
- PKCE – proof key for code exchange
- Bearer Token – static token authentication
- Custom Headers – arbitrary request headers
- Search Params – API key in URL query string
Transports
- Streamable HTTP – modern transport replacing SSE
- Server-Sent Events (SSE) – legacy streaming transport
- Local stdio servers – exposed via mcp-proxy public tunnel
Content types
- Text – plain text responses
- Images – base64 image content (PNG, JPEG, WebP)
- Audio – base64 audio content (WAV, MP3)
- Embedded Resources – linked resource references
Expose Local MCP Servers
Test your local MCP servers with the inspector by exposing them via a public tunnel using mcp-proxy.
# Expose your MCP server via a public tunnel
npx mcp-proxy --port 8080 --tunnel -- tsx server.js
# Request a specific subdomain
npx mcp-proxy --port 8080 --tunnel --tunnelSubdomain myapp -- tsx server.js
# When the tunnel is established, you'll see a message like:
tunnel established at https://bright-wombat-83.tunnel.gla.maOnce the tunnel is established, you can use the provided URL to connect to your local server in the inspector.
Bookmarkable URLs
Your server configurations are automatically saved in the URL. You can bookmark the current page to save your server setup, or share the URL with others to give them the same configuration. Configurations can include credentials and tool arguments: remove secrets and sensitive data before sharing a URL.
URL Parameters
serversJSON array containing server configurations (name, URL, authentication, headers, timeout)activeID of the currently selected servertabActive tab: tools, resources, resource-templates, or promptstoolName of the selected toolargsJSON object containing tool arguments