The Strands MCP Server provides bidirectional Model Context Protocol (MCP) integration, enabling a Strands Agent to both expose its capabilities as an MCP server and connect to remote MCP servers as a client.

Server Mode: Expose your Strands Agent's tools via HTTP or stdio transport for use with Claude Desktop, other agents, or custom clients. External clients can invoke the full agent functionality through the invoke_agent tool using natural language prompts, or call individual exposed tools like the demo greet tool.

Client Mode ( Connect to and interact with remote MCP servers using HTTP, stdio, or SSE transports. This allows you to list available tools from connected servers, call remote tools with arguments, manage multiple simultaneous connections with unique IDs, and disconnect when done.

Key Features:

Agent Invocation: Execute complex queries requiring reasoning across multiple tools using natural language
Connection Management: Maintain and track multiple server connections simultaneously
Multi-transport Support: HTTP, stdio, and Server-Sent Events (SSE) protocols
CLI Interface: Run in Local Mode (standalone server) or Proxy Mode (connecting to upstream servers)
Stateless Operation: Support for multi-node deployments when stateless mode is enabled
Server Lifecycle Management: Start, stop, check status, and list server configurations

Use Cases: Bridge multiple MCP servers together, test MCP implementations, proxy connections for Claude Desktop, build complex agent workflows leveraging remote tools, and enable bidirectional agent-to-agent communication.

strands-mcp-server

PyPI

Bidirectional MCP integration for Strands Agents.

pip install strands-mcp-server

Overview

mcp_server - Expose agent as MCP server
mcp_client - Connect to MCP servers
CLI - stdio for Claude Desktop

graph LR subgraph "Your Strands Agent" A[Tools: calculator, shell, etc.] B[mcp_server tool] C[mcp_client tool] A --> B C --> A end subgraph "Server Mode" B -->|HTTP/stdio| D[MCP Protocol] D --> E[Claude Desktop] D --> F[Other Agents] D --> G[Custom Clients] end subgraph "Client Mode" H[Remote MCP Servers] -->|HTTP/stdio/SSE| I[MCP Protocol] I --> C end subgraph "CLI" J[uvx strands-mcp-server] -->|Local Mode| D J -->|Proxy Mode| I end style A fill:#2d3748,stroke:#4a5568,color:#fff style B fill:#2b6cb0,stroke:#2c5282,color:#fff style C fill:#38a169,stroke:#2f855a,color:#fff style D fill:#805ad5,stroke:#6b46c1,color:#fff style I fill:#805ad5,stroke:#6b46c1,color:#fff style E fill:#d69e2e,stroke:#b7791f,color:#fff style F fill:#d69e2e,stroke:#b7791f,color:#fff style G fill:#d69e2e,stroke:#b7791f,color:#fff style H fill:#e53e3e,stroke:#c53030,color:#fff style J fill:#48bb78,stroke:#38a169,color:#fff

Quick Start

Server:

from strands import Agent from strands_mcp_server import mcp_server agent = Agent(tools=[..., mcp_server]) agent("start mcp server on port 8000")

Client:

from strands import Agent from strands_mcp_server import mcp_client agent = Agent(tools=[mcp_client]) agent.tool.mcp_client( action="connect", connection_id="remote", transport="http", server_url="http://localhost:8000/mcp" ) agent.tool.mcp_client( action="call_tool", connection_id="remote", tool_name="calculator", tool_args={"expression": "42 * 89"} )

For Agents like Claude Desktop/Kiro/...:

{ "mcpServers": { "my-agent": { "command": "uvx", "args": ["strands-mcp-server", "--cwd", "/path/to/project"] } } }

API

mcp_server

Parameter	Default	Description
`action`	required	`start` , `stop` , `status` , `list`
`transport`	`http`	`http` or `stdio`
`port`	8000	Port
`tools`	None	Tools to expose (None = all)
`expose_agent`	True	Include `invoke_agent`
`stateless`	False	Multi-node ready

mcp_client

Parameter	Description
`action`	`connect` , `disconnect` , `list_tools` , `call_tool`
`connection_id`	Connection ID
`transport`	`http` , `stdio` , `sse`
`server_url`	Server URL
`tool_name`	Tool to call
`tool_args`	Tool arguments

invoke_agent

Full agent access when expose_agent=True:

agent.tool.mcp_client( action="call_tool", connection_id="remote", tool_name="invoke_agent", tool_args={"prompt": "Calculate 2 + 2"} )

CLI

uvx strands-mcp-server [OPTIONS]

Option	Description
`--cwd PATH`	Working directory
`--upstream-url URL`	Upstream server (proxy)
`--system-prompt TEXT`	System prompt
`--no-agent-invocation`	Disable invoke_agent
`--debug`	Debug mode

Examples:

# Local uvx strands-mcp-server --cwd /path/to/project # Proxy uvx strands-mcp-server --upstream-url http://localhost:8000/mcp

Troubleshooting

# Debug uvx strands-mcp-server --cwd /path --debug # Check connection curl http://localhost:8000/mcp # Port in use lsof -i :8000 && kill -9 <PID> # Claude logs tail -f ~/Library/Logs/Claude/mcp*.log

Links

License: Apache 2.0

Strands MCP Server

strands-mcp-server

Overview

Quick Start

API

mcp_server

mcp_client

invoke_agent

CLI

Troubleshooting

Links

Resources

Tools

New MCP Servers

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MCP directory API