nu_plugin_mcp

nu_plugin_mcp runs Model Context Protocol servers whose tools are ordinary Nushell closures. It supports MCP 2025-11-25 over stdio and Streamable HTTP.

Build and register

The plugin targets Nushell 0.114.1 and Rust 1.95 or newer.

cargo build --release
plugin add target/release/nu_plugin_mcp
plugin use mcp

For a script or MCP client, nu --plugins loads the executable without editing the user's plugin registry:

nu --plugins /absolute/path/to/nu_plugin_mcp server.nu

Related MCP server: MCP Streamable HTTP Demo

Define tools

mcp tool creates the descriptor accepted by mcp. The closure receives the MCP arguments as one positional record.

let prefix = "Hello"
let greet = mcp tool greet {|args|
  $"($prefix), ($args.name)!"
} --title "Greeter" --description "Greet a person" --input-schema {
  type: object
  properties: {
    name: {type: string}
  }
  required: [name]
  additionalProperties: false
} --annotations {
  read_only_hint: true
  idempotent_hint: true
  open_world_hint: false
}

The input_schema default is {type: object, additionalProperties: true}. output_schema has no default. When supplied, it must have type: object, and the closure must return a matching record.

Manual descriptor records may contain name, closure, title, description, input_schema, output_schema, and annotations. Unknown fields and duplicate tool names are rejected before the server starts.

Stdio server

stdio is the default transport:

mcp [$greet]

The MCP client launches Nushell, which in turn launches the plugin. A client configuration can therefore point at a Nushell script containing the tool definitions and final mcp command:

{
  "command": "nu",
  "args": [
    "--no-config-file",
    "--plugins",
    "/absolute/path/to/nu_plugin_mcp",
    "/absolute/path/to/server.nu"
  ]
}

Nushell must run the plugin protocol over its local socket so the inherited stdin and stdout remain available to MCP. The command detects an incompatible stdio plugin connection and reports an error.

Streamable HTTP server

Descriptors can also arrive through the pipeline:

[$greet] | mcp --transport http --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8080 --path /mcp

The MCP URL is http://127.0.0.1:8080/mcp. The command stays in the foreground; press Ctrl-C to shut down the server, or use Nushell jobs when you intentionally want background execution.

Set --log-level to trace, debug, info, warn, error, or off to control stderr logging. It defaults to info.

HTTP has no authentication or TLS in this version. Binding --host beyond loopback emits a warning, but it still exposes every closure to network clients. Only use a non-loopback host on a trusted, separately protected network.

Results and errors

• Strings become MCP text content.

• Records become structuredContent and also JSON text for older clients.

• Other JSON-compatible Nushell values become JSON text.

• Schema failures and closure errors are returned with isError: true.

• Unknown tool names are returned as MCP protocol errors.

Schemas use JSON Schema 2020-12. Local references work; HTTP and filesystem reference resolution is disabled.

Development

Run the complete repository check through Nushell:

nu scripts/check.nu

Tracing is written only to stderr. The default level is info; use --log-level off to disable it entirely.