MCP DevTools
A single, high-performance MCP server that replaces many Node.js and Python-based MCP servers with one efficient Go binary, providing access to essential developer tools through a unified, modular interface that can be easily extended with new tools.
Default Tools
graph LR
A[MCP DevTools<br>Server]
A --> B[Search &<br>Discovery]
A --> E[Intelligence &<br>Memory]
A --> F[Utilities]
B --> B_Tools[🌐 Internet Search<br>📡 Web Fetch<br>📦 Package Search<br>📚 Package Documentation<br>🐙 GitHub]
E --> E_Tools[🧠 Think Tool]
F --> F_Tools[🧮 Calculator<br>🕵 Find Long Files]
classDef components fill:#E6E6FA,stroke:#756BB1,color:#756BB1
classDef decision fill:#FFF5EB,stroke:#FD8D3C,color:#E6550D
classDef data fill:#EFF3FF,stroke:#9ECAE1,color:#3182BD
classDef process fill:#EAF5EA,stroke:#C6E7C6,color:#77AD77
class A components
class B,B_Tools decision
class E,E_Tools data
class F,F_Tools process
Additional Tools (Disabled by Default)
graph LR
A[MCP DevTools<br>Server]
A --> B[Search &<br>Discovery]
A --> C[Document<br>Processing]
A --> E[Intelligence &<br>Memory]
A --> F[Utilities]
A --> G[Agents]
A --> D[UI Component<br>Libraries]
A --> H[MCP]
B --> B_Tools[📝 Terraform Docs]
C --> C_Tools[📄 Document Processing<br>📈 Excel Spreadsheets<br>📑 PDF Processing]
E --> E_Tools[🔢 Sequential Thinking<br>🕸️ Memory Graph]
F --> F_Tools[🇬🇧 American→English<br>🔌 API Integrations<br>📁 Filesystem<br>✂️ Code Skim<br>🔍 Code Search<br>🏷️ Code Rename]
G --> G_Tools[🤖 Claude Code<br>🎯 Codex CLI<br>🐙 Copilot CLI<br>✨ Gemini CLI<br>👻 Kiro]
D --> D_Tools[🎨 ShadCN UI<br>✨ Magic UI<br>⚡ Aceternity UI]
H --> H_Proxy[🌐 MCP Proxy]
classDef components fill:#E6E6FA,stroke:#756BB1,color:#756BB1
classDef llm fill:#E5F5E0,stroke:#31A354,color:#31A354
classDef process fill:#EAF5EA,stroke:#C6E7C6,color:#77AD77
classDef data fill:#EFF3FF,stroke:#9ECAE1,color:#3182BD
classDef decision fill:#FFF5EB,stroke:#FD8D3C,color:#E6550D
classDef api fill:#FFF5F0,stroke:#FD9272,color:#A63603
classDef ui fill:#F3E5F5,stroke:#AB47BC,color:#8E24AA
class A components
class B,B_Tools decision
class C,C_Tools api
class D,D_Tools ui
class E,E_Tools data
class F,F_Tools process
class G,G_Tools llm
class H_Proxy api
Why I Built MCP DevTools
🚀 Single Binary Solution
- Replace multiple potentially resource-heavy Node.js/Python MCP servers, each spawned for every client tool you use
- One binary, one configuration, consistent performance
- Built in Go for speed and efficiency and because I'm not smart enough to write Rust
- Minimal memory footprint compared to multiple separate servers
- Fast startup and response times
- Download one binary, configure once - or compile from source
- Works out of the box for most tools
- OpenTelemetry support for tracing and metrics
🛠 Comprehensive Tool Suite For Agentic Coding
- 20+ essential developer agent tools in one package
- No need to manage multiple MCP server installations
- Consistent API across all tools
- Modular design with tool registry allowing for easy addition of new tools
Quickstart
Quick Install / Update
If you have Golang installed, simply run go install github.com/sammcj/mcp-devtools@HEAD and it will be installed to your $GOPATH/bin.
There is also an experimental installer script:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sammcj/mcp-devtools/main/install.sh | bash
This will:
- Download the latest release and installs to an appropriate location (respects
$GOPATH/binor uses~/.local/bin) - Remove macOS quarantine attributes automatically
- Generate example MCP client configurations in
~/.mcp-devtools/examples/ - Open your file manager to show the example configs and show you where to configure your MCP clients
Customisation:
# Dry run (shows what would be done without making changes)
DRY_RUN=1 curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sammcj/mcp-devtools/main/install.sh | bash
# Install to a specific directory
INSTALL_DIR=/custom/path curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sammcj/mcp-devtools/main/install.sh | bash
# Install a specific version
VERSION=0.50.0 curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sammcj/mcp-devtools/main/install.sh | bash
# Skip example config generation
NO_CONFIG=1 curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sammcj/mcp-devtools/main/install.sh | bash
# Skip all confirmation prompts (for automation)
FORCE=1 curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sammcj/mcp-devtools/main/install.sh | bash
Manual Installation
You have a few other options to make MCP DevTools available to your MCP clients:
- If you have Golang installed
- If you do not have, and do not want to install Golang
If you have Golang installed
Golang option 1: Use the automated installer
The automated installer works great even if you have Golang installed:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sammcj/mcp-devtools/main/install.sh | bash
This will respect your $GOPATH/bin if it's in your PATH, and automatically configure example MCP client settings.
Golang option 2: Download at runtime
Note that while go run makes it easy to get started, it means every time your client starts to download the tool may not be what you want in the long run.
MCP Client Configuration:
{
"mcpServers": {
"dev-tools": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "go",
"args": ["run", "github.com/sammcj/mcp-devtools@HEAD"],
"env": {
"ENABLE_ADDITIONAL_TOOLS": "security,sequential_thinking,code_skim,code_rename",
"DISABLED_TOOLS": "",
"NOTE_FOR_HUMANS": "A minimal set of tools are enabled by default, MCP DevTools provides many additional useful tools including efficient Context7 documentation search, Frontend UI Framework templates, Code search and optimisation and many others, visit https://github.com/sammcj/mcp-devtools for more information on available tools and configuration"
}
}
}
}
Or if you're using Claude Code you can also add it via the CLI:
claude mcp add --transport stdio mcp-devtools go run github.com/sammcj/mcp-devtools@HEAD
Golang option 3: Download, then run
- Install the latest MCP DevTools binary:
go install github.com/sammcj/mcp-devtools@HEAD
echo "${GOPATH}/bin/mcp-devtools" # Use this path in your MCP configuration, if your GOPATH is not set, please check your Go installation / configuration.
# If you're on macOS, you'll also need to run the following command to allow the downloaded binary to run:
xattr -r -d com.apple.quarantine ${GOPATH}/bin/mcp-devtools
- Update your MCP client to add the MCP DevTools server configuration, replacing
/path/to/mcp-devtoolswith the actual path to the binary (e.g./Users/samm/go/bin/mcp-devtools):
{
"mcpServers": {
"dev-tools": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "/path/to/mcp-devtools",
"env": {
"ENABLE_ADDITIONAL_TOOLS": "security,sequential_thinking,code_skim,code_rename",
"DISABLED_TOOLS": "",
"NOTE_FOR_HUMANS": "A minimal set of tools are enabled by default, MCP DevTools provides many additional useful tools including efficient Context7 documentation search, Frontend UI Framework templates, Code search and optimisation and many others, visit https://github.com/sammcj/mcp-devtools for more information on available tools and configuration"
}
}
}
}
If you do not have Golang installed
If you do not have, and do not want to install Golang, you can download the latest release binary from the releases page.
# If you're on macOS, you'll also need to run the following command to allow the downloaded binary to run:
xattr -r -d com.apple.quarantine mcp-devtools
Configure your MCP client to use the downloaded binary (replacing /path/to/mcp-devtools ):
{
"mcpServers": {
"dev-tools": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "/path/to/mcp-devtools",
"env": {
"ENABLE_ADDITIONAL_TOOLS": "security,sequential_thinking,code_skim,code_rename",
"DISABLED_TOOLS": "",
"NOTE_FOR_HUMANS": "A minimal set of tools are enabled by default, MCP DevTools provides many additional useful tools including efficient Context7 documentation search, Frontend UI Framework templates, Code search and optimisation and many others, visit https://github.com/sammcj/mcp-devtools for more information on available tools and configuration"
}
}
}
}
Available Tools
These tools can be disabled by adding their function name to the DISABLED_TOOLS environment variable in your MCP configuration.
Additional Tools (Disabled By Default)
These tools can be enabled by setting the ENABLE_ADDITIONAL_TOOLS environment variable in your MCP configuration.
Security Subsystem / Tools
Frontend UI Component Libraries
Agents as Tools - In addition to the above tools, MCP DevTools can provide access to AI agents as tools by integrating with external LLMs.
👉 See detailed tool documentation
Candidates for major refactoring
- Wrapping up all frontend UI component libraries into a single tool with subcommands
The following tools are currently in review for potential deprecation (unless I hear people are using them):
Quick Start
Installation
Option 1: Go Install (recommended)
go install github.com/sammcj/mcp-devtools@HEAD
Option 2: Build from Source
git clone https://github.com/sammcj/mcp-devtools.git
cd mcp-devtools
make build
Option 4: Download Release Download the latest binary from releases and place in your PATH and remember to check for updates!
Basic MCP Configuration
STDIO
{
"mcpServers": {
"dev-tools": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "/path/to/mcp-devtools",
"env": {
"BRAVE_API_KEY": "This is optional "
}
}
}
}
Replacing /path/to/mcp-devtools with your actual binary path (e.g., /Users/yourname/go/bin/mcp-devtools).
Note: The BRAVE_API_KEY is optional and only needed if you want to use the Brave Search provider. Other providers like Google, Kagi, SearXNG, and DuckDuckGo are also available. See the Internet Search documentation for more details.
Streamable HTTP
mcp-devtools --transport http --port 18080
{
"mcpServers": {
"dev-tools": {
"type": "streamableHttp",
"url": "http://localhost:18080/http"
}
}
}
Transport Options
MCP DevTools supports two transport modes:
STDIO Transport (Default)
Best for: Simple, local use with MCP clients like Claude Desktop, Cline, etc.
{
"mcpServers": {
"dev-tools": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "/path/to/mcp-devtools",
"env": {
"BRAVE_API_KEY": "your-api-key-if-needed"
}
}
}
}
Streamable HTTP Transport
Best for: Production deployments, shared use, centralised configuration
# Basic HTTP mode
mcp-devtools --transport http --port 18080
# With authentication
mcp-devtools --transport http --port 18080 --auth-token mysecrettoken
# With OAuth (see OAuth documentation)
mcp-devtools --transport http --port 18080 --oauth-enabled
Client Configuration:
{
"mcpServers": {
"dev-tools": {
"type": "streamableHttp",
"url": "http://localhost:18080/http"
}
}
}
Stateless by design: the HTTP transport implements MCP 2026-07-28, which has no initialize handshake and no Mcp-Session-Id. Every request carries its own protocol version and client info, so any request can be served by any replica. Round-robin load balancing, scale-to-zero and rolling restarts all work without sticky sessions. GET and DELETE on the endpoint return 405; only POST is used.
The one exception is sequential_thinking, which keeps thought history in the server process. It is registered on stdio only and is not exposed over HTTP.
Tools that persist state under ~/.mcp-devtools still need a single replica or a shared volume: code_search (index built by one call, queried by the next), memory (knowledge graph) and security_override (override tokens). They hold nothing in the process, so a restart is fine, but two replicas with separate disks will disagree.
Configuration Options
Environment Variables
All environment variables are optional, but if you want to use specific search providers or document processing features, you may need to provide the appropriate variables.
General:
LOG_LEVEL- Logging level:debug,info,warn,error(default:warn). Logs are written to~/.mcp-devtools/logs/mcp-devtools.logfor all transports. Stdio transport uses minimumwarnlevel and never logs to stdout/stderr to prevent MCP protocol pollution.LOG_TOOL_ERRORS- Enable logging of failed tool calls to~/.mcp-devtools/logs/tool-errors.log(set totrueto enable). Logs older than 60 days are automatically removed on server startup.ENABLE_ADDITIONAL_TOOLS- Comma-separated list to enable security-sensitive tools (e.g.security,security_override,filesystem,claude-agent,codex-agent,gemini-agent,kiro-agent,process_document,pdf,memory,terraform_documentation)DISABLED_TOOLS- Comma-separated list of functions to disable (e.g.think,internet_search)
Default Tools:
BRAVE_API_KEY- Enable Brave Search provider by providing a (free Brave search API key)GOOGLE_SEARCH_API_KEY- Enable Google search with API key from Cloud Console (requires Custom Search API to be enabled)GOOGLE_SEARCH_ID- Google Search Engine ID from Programmable Search Engine (required withGOOGLE_SEARCH_API_KEY, select "Search the entire web")KAGI_API_KEY- Enable Kagi Search provider by providing your Kagi API key (requires Kagi subscription)SEARXNG_BASE_URL- Enable SearXNG search provider by providing the base URL (e.g.https://searxng.example.com)CONTEXT7_API_KEY- Optional Context7 API key for higher rate limits and authentication with package documentation toolsMEMORY_FILE_PATH- Memory storage location (default:~/.mcp-devtools/)PACKAGE_COOLDOWN_HOURS- Hours to wait before recommending newly published packages (default:72, set to0to disable)PACKAGE_COOLDOWN_ECOSYSTEMS- Comma-separated ecosystems for cooldown protection (default:npm, usenoneto disable)
Security Configuration:
FILESYSTEM_TOOL_ALLOWED_DIRS- Colon-separated (Unix) list of allowed directories (only for filesystem tool)
Document Processing:
DOCLING_PYTHON_PATH- Python executable path (default: auto-detected)DOCLING_CACHE_ENABLED- Enable processed document cache (default:true)DOCLING_HARDWARE_ACCELERATION- Hardware acceleration (auto(default),mps,cuda,cpu)
Command-Line Options
--transport,-t- Transport type (stdio,http). Default:stdio--port- Port for the HTTP transport. Default:18080--base-url- Base URL for the HTTP transport. Default:http://localhost--auth-token- Bearer token required on HTTP requests--endpoint-path- Endpoint path for the HTTP transport. Default:/http
Architecture
MCP DevTools uses a modular architecture:
- Tool Registry: Central registry managing tool discovery and registration
- Tool Interface: Standardised interface all tools implement
- Transport Layer: stdio and stateless Streamable HTTP
- Plugin System: Easy to add new tools following the interface
Each tool is self-contained and registers automatically when the binary starts.
Security Framework
MCP DevTools includes a configurable security system that provides multi-layered protection for tools that access files or make HTTP requests.
Important: This feature should be considered in BETA, if you find bugs and have solutions please feel free to raise a PR.
Key Features
- Access Control: Prevents tools from accessing sensitive files and domains
- Content Analysis: Scans returned content for security threats using pattern matching
- YAML-Based Configuration: Easy-to-manage rules with automatic reloading
- Security Overrides: Allow bypassing false positives with audit logging
- Performance Optimised: Minimal impact when disabled, efficient when enabled
Built-in Protection
- Shell Injection Detection: Command injection, eval execution, backtick commands
- Data Exfiltration Prevention: DNS exfiltration, credential theft, keychain access
- Prompt Injection Mitigation: "Ignore instructions" attacks, conversation extraction
- Persistence Mechanism Detection: Launchctl, systemd, crontab modifications
- Sensitive File Protection: SSH keys, AWS credentials, certificates
Quick Setup
# Enable security framework and override tool
# You may optionally also add 'security_override' if you want a tool the agent can use to override security warnings
ENABLE_ADDITIONAL_TOOLS="security"
Configuration is managed through ~/.mcp-devtools/security.yaml with sensible defaults.
👉 Complete Security Documentation
Advanced Features
OAuth 2.0/2.1 Authentication
For production deployments requiring centralised user authentication:
Quick example:
# Browser-based authentication
mcp-devtools --transport http --oauth-browser-auth --oauth-client-id="your-client"
# Resource server mode
mcp-devtools --transport http --oauth-enabled --oauth-issuer="https://auth.example.com"
Proxy Support
All HTTP-based tools automatically support proxy configuration through standard environment variables:
# HTTPS proxy (preferred)
export HTTPS_PROXY="http://proxy.company.com:8080"
# HTTP proxy (fallback)
export HTTP_PROXY="http://proxy.company.com:8080"
# With authentication
export HTTPS_PROXY="http://username:[email protected]:8080"
# Run with proxy
./bin/mcp-devtools stdio
Supported tools: All network-based tools including package_docs, internet_search, webfetch, github, and others automatically respect proxy settings when configured.
Security: Proxy credentials are automatically redacted from logs for security.
Docker Support
# Pull the image (main is latest)
docker pull ghcr.io/sammcj/mcp-devtools:main
# Run
docker run -d --name mcp-devtools -p 18080:18080 --restart always ghcr.io/sammcj/mcp-devtools:main
# Run with proxy support
docker run -d --name mcp-devtools -p 18080:18080 \
-e HTTPS_PROXY="http://proxy.company.com:8080" \
--restart always ghcr.io/sammcj/mcp-devtools:main
Logging
MCP DevTools maintains two log files in ~/.mcp-devtools/logs/:
Application Logs (mcp-devtools.log):
- Contains all application logs at the configured level
- Configure via
LOG_LEVELenvironment variable:debug,info,warn,error(default:warn) - Stdio transport: Always logs to file (never to stderr to prevent MCP protocol pollution)
- HTTP transport: Logs to file at configured level
Tool Error Logs (tool-errors.log):
- Failed tool executions with arguments and error details
- Enable via
LOG_TOOL_ERRORS=trueenvironment variable - Automatically rotates logs older than 60 days
- Useful for debugging tool calling issues
Example:
# Enable debug logging for HTTP mode
LOG_LEVEL=debug mcp-devtools --transport http
# Enable tool error logging (works with any transport)
LOG_TOOL_ERRORS=true mcp-devtools
Observability
MCP DevTools includes optional OpenTelemetry integration for distributed tracing and metrics.
Tracing - Track tool execution spans with HTTP client operations:
# Export traces to OTLP endpoint
MCP_OTEL_ENDPOINT=https://your-oltp-endpoint
Metrics - Opt-in performance and usage metrics:
# Default enabled traces/metrics when OTEL is enabled
MCP_METRICS_GROUPS=tool,session,security
# Include cache metrics
MCP_METRICS_GROUPS=tool,session,security,cache
Available metric groups: tool (tool execution), session (session lifecycle), security (security checks), cache (cache operations)
Creating New Tools
Want to add your own tools? See the Development Guide.
Getting Help
- Tool Documentation: docs/tools/overview.md
- Security Framework: docs/security.md
- OAuth Setup: docs/oauth/README.md
- Development: docs/creating-new-tools.md
- Issues: GitHub Issues, please note that I built this tool for my own use and it is not a commercially supported product, so if you can - please raise a PR instead of an issue.
Contributing
Contributions welcome! This project follows standard Go development practices and includes comprehensive tests.
Important: See docs/creating-new-tools.md for guidelines on adding new tools.
# Development setup
git clone https://github.com/sammcj/mcp-devtools.git
cd mcp-devtools
make deps
make test
make build
# Benchmark tool token costs
ENABLE_ADDITIONAL_TOOLS=<your new tool name here> make benchmark-tokens
# Run security checks, see make help
make inspect # launches the MCP inspector tool
Disclaimer
No warranty is provided for this software. Use at your own risk. The author is not responsible for any damages or issues arising from its use.
License
Apache Public License 2.0 - Copyright 2025 Sam McLeod
