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ericnunes30

mcp-tool-search

by ericnunes30

mcp-tool-search

A standalone MCP (Model Context Protocol) gateway/proxy server that lets any MCP-compatible client (Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, VSCode, Windsurf, Claude Desktop, Pi) search and call tools across multiple downstream MCP servers through a single mcp proxy tool.

Features

  • Single mcp proxy tool (~200 tokens) for on-demand tool search/describe/call

  • Connects to multiple downstream MCP servers (stdio, HTTP, SSE, StreamableHTTP)

  • Direct tool mode: expose individual MCP tools as native tools

  • Metadata caching with content-based invalidation

  • OAuth authentication support (authorization_code + client_credentials)

  • npx resolution (skip ~143MB npm parent process)

  • Output guarding (50KiB / 2000 line truncation)

  • Config compatible with standard MCP mcpServers format

  • stdio transport only (all clients supported)

  • Builds with tsup (esbuild) — keeps .ts import extensions in source, compiles to single-file .js bundle

Related MCP server: Multi MCP

Quick Start

Installation

npm install -g mcp-tool-search

Or build from source:

git clone https://github.com/ericnunes30/mcp-gateway-proxy.git
cd mcp-gateway-proxy
npm install
npm run build

Configuration

Create a config file at ~/.config/mcp-tool-search/config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "filesystem": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem", "/path/to/dir"]
    },
    "github": {
      "url": "https://api.github.com/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"    }
  }
}

CLI Usage

# Using --mcp-config (preferred)
node dist/cli.js --mcp-config ~/.config/mcp-tool-search/config.json

# --config also works as an alias
node dist/cli.js --config ~/.config/mcp-tool-search/config.json

Client Configuration

Cursor

Add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-tool-search": {
      "command": "mcp-tool-search",
      "args": ["--mcp-config", "/path/to/config.json"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop

Add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-tool-search": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["mcp-tool-search", "--mcp-config", "/path/to/config.json"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

Claude Code reads MCP server config from ~/.claude.json (home directory), not .claude/settings.json. On Windows, use the absolute path to node.exe.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-tool-search": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "C:/PROGRA~1/nodejs/node.exe",
      "args": [
        "G:/novosApps/mcp-tool-search/dist/cli.js",
        "--mcp-config",
        "C:/Users/Eric/.config/mcp-tool-search/config.json"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Pi (with pi-mcp-extension)

Add to ~/.pi/agent/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-tool-search": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/mcp-gateway-proxy/dist/cli.js", "--mcp-config", "/path/to/config.json"],
      "lifecycle": "eager"
    }
  }
}

The proxy connects to all your downstream MCP servers. The Pi extension only needs to know about the proxy — no duplication of tools.

Pi agent → pi-mcp-extension → mcp-tool-search (proxy) → N downstream servers

Proxy Tool Usage

The mcp tool accepts these parameters:

Parameter

Type

Description

tool

string

Tool name to call

args

string

Arguments as JSON string

connect

string

Server name to connect

describe

string

Tool name to describe

search

string

Search query

regex

boolean

Treat search as regex

includeSchemas

boolean

Include schemas in search

server

string

Filter to server

action

string

"ui-messages", "auth-start", "auth-complete"

Examples

mcp({})                                              → Show server status
mcp({ server: "filesystem" })                        → List tools from server
mcp({ search: "file" })                              → Search tools
mcp({ describe: "read_file" })                        → Show tool details
mcp({ connect: "github" })                            → Connect to server
mcp({ tool: "read_file", args: '{"path":"/foo"}' })   → Call a tool
mcp({ action: "auth-start", server: "linear" })      → Start OAuth
mcp({ action: "auth-complete", server: "linear", args: '{"redirectUrl":"..."}' }) → Complete OAuth

Example Output

mcp({}) →
MCP: 2/5 servers, 38 tools

✓ chrome-devtools (29 tools)
✓ pencil (9 tools)
○ stitch (not connected)
○ tavily (not connected)
○ computer-use (not connected)
mcp({ search: "screenshot" }) →
Found 3 tools matching "screenshot":

chrome_devtools_take_screenshot
  Take a screenshot of the page or element.
  Parameters: format, quality, uid, fullPage, filePath

pencil_get_screenshot
  Returns a screenshot of a node in a .pen file.
  Parameters: filePath, nodeId

Configuration Reference

Server Entry

Field

Type

Description

command

string

Command to run (stdio)

args

string[]

Arguments for command

env

Record<string,string>

Environment variables

url

string

HTTP/SSE/StreamableHTTP URL

headers

Record<string,string>

HTTP headers

transport

"stdio" | "http" | "sse" | "streamable-http"

Transport type

type

"http"

Alias for transport (standard MCP compatibility)

oauth

object

OAuth configuration

lifecycle

"lazy" | "eager" | "keep-alive"

Connection mode

idleTimeout

number

Idle timeout (seconds)

directTools

boolean | string[]

Expose as direct tools

excludeTools

string[]

Tools to exclude

exposeResources

boolean

Expose resources as tools

toolPrefix

"server" | "short" | "none"

Tool name prefix

requestTimeoutMs

number

Request timeout

autoAuth

boolean

Auto-start OAuth

bearerToken

string

Bearer token

bearerTokenEnv

string

Env var name for bearer token

Settings (top-level)

Field

Type

Description

toolPrefix

"server" | "short" | "none"

Global tool prefix

directTools

boolean | string[]

Global direct tools

autoAuth

boolean

Global auto-auth

idleTimeout

number

Global idle timeout

requestTimeoutMs

number

Global request timeout

disableProxyTool

boolean

Disable proxy tool

authRequiredMessage

string

Custom auth message

Environment Variables

Variable

Description

MCP_TOOL_SEARCH_DEBUG

Enable debug logging to stderr

MCP_TOOL_SEARCH_DATA_DIR

Data directory override (default: ~/.config/mcp-tool-search/)

MCP_DIRECT_TOOLS

Direct tools filter (comma-separated, server/tool or server)

MCP_TOOL_SEARCH_NPX_CACHE_TTL

npx cache TTL in ms (default: 24h)

Architecture

┌──────────────────┐     stdio      ┌──────────────────┐
│  MCP Client      │◄──────────────►│  mcp-tool-search │
│  (Cursor, etc.)  │   JSON-RPC     │   (this server)  │
└──────────────────┘                └────────┬─────────┘
                                               │
                    ┌──────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┐
                    │                          │                          │
              ┌─────┴─────┐            ┌──────┴──────┐           ┌──────┴──────┐
              │  stdio    │            │   HTTP/SSE  │           │ Streamable  │
              │  server   │            │   server    │           │   HTTP      │
              └───────────┘            └─────────────┘           └─────────────┘

Development

npm install      # Install dependencies
npm run build    # Build with tsup → dist/cli.js
npm run typecheck # Type-check with tsc (no emit)
npm test         # Run vitest test suite (84 tests)

Build System

The project uses tsup (powered by esbuild) for compilation:

  • Source code uses .ts import extensions (e.g., import { foo } from "./types.ts")

  • tsconfig.json has noEmit: true for type-checking only

  • tsup bundles everything into a single dist/cli.js file (~150KB)

  • Dependencies (@modelcontextprotocol/sdk, open, recheck, typebox, zod) are externalized

Project Structure

src/
├── cli.ts                    # CLI entry point
├── server.ts                 # MCP server setup + stdio transport
├── state.ts                  # Gateway state factory
├── config/
│   ├── types.ts              # Config types (McpConfig, ServerEntry, etc.)
│   ├── config.ts             # Config loader + merge logic
│   ├── imports.ts            # Config imports/expand logic
│   └── paths.ts              # Config path resolution
├── cache/
│   ├── metadata-cache.ts     # Metadata cache (hash-based invalidation)
│   └── tool-metadata.ts      # Tool metadata builder + search
├── auth/
│   ├── auth-store.ts         # Token storage (secure file permissions)
│   ├── oauth-provider.ts     # OAuth client provider
│   ├── oauth-flow.ts         # OAuth flow (start, complete, authenticate)
│   └── callback-server.ts    # OAuth callback HTTP server
├── mcp/
│   ├── server-manager.ts     # MCP server connection manager
│   ├── transport.ts          # Transport creation (stdio/HTTP/SSE/StreamableHTTP)
│   └── npx-resolver.ts       # npx package resolution (skip npm parent)
├── lifecycle/
│   ├── lifecycle.ts          # Lifecycle manager (lazy/eager/keep-alive)
│   └── lazy-connect.ts       # Lazy connect with 60s failure backoff
├── guard/
│   └── output-guard.ts       # Output truncation (50KiB / 2000 lines)
├── tools/
│   ├── proxy.ts              # Proxy tool definition + dispatch
│   ├── proxy-actions.ts      # Proxy action handlers (search/describe/call/etc.)
│   ├── direct-tools.ts       # Direct tool resolution + executor
│   └── tool-registrar.ts     # MCP content transformation
├── handlers/
│   ├── list-tools.ts         # ListToolsRequest handler
│   └── call-tool.ts          # CallToolRequest handler
└── utils/
    ├── abort.ts              # AbortSignal utilities
    ├── logger.ts             # stderr-only logger
    ├── env.ts                # Environment variable interpolation
    └── utils.ts              # General utilities (parallelLimit, etc.)

License

MIT

A
license - permissive license
-
quality - not tested
B
maintenance

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