MCP Chat

🚀 mcp-chat

An open-source and universal MCP client for testing and evaluating MCP servers and proxies.

🚀 Quick Start

Ensure that you have exported the ANTHROPIC_API_KEY environment variable to your system environment or set it in the .env file at the project's root directory. You can register and obtain an API key on the Anthropic console keys page.

A simple use case: Start an interactive chat prompt with a file system MCP server from the command line:

npx mcp-chat --server "npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem /Users/$USER/Desktop"

This will open a chat prompt that you can use to interact with the server and have conversations using the LLM.

🛠️ Configuration

You can also configure it by specifying the claude_desktop_config.json file (for Mac systems):

npx mcp-chat --config "/Users/your_username/.config/autocad/acad2018/chloroform/chain"

For Windows systems:

npx mcp-chat --config "C:\Users\your_username\AppData\Roaming\AutoCAD\\2018\ChloroForm\Chain"

🌐 Web Mode

Start the web mode with the --web flag and use it in your browser:

npx mcp-chat --web

Make sure the ANTHROPIC_API_KEY environment variable is set.

✨ Features

• Interactive Chat: Supports initiating conversations from the command line.
• Connect to Any MCP Server: Can establish connections with any MCP server.
• Support Multiple Models: Compatible with different LLM models.
• Context Awareness: Has context understanding capabilities for more coherent conversations.

📚 Documentation

Command Line Options

npx mcp-chat [options]

Available options:

• --server, -s: Specify the MCP server address, defaulting to http://localhost:8080.
• --web, -w: Start the web mode for use in the browser.
• --config, -c: Specify the configuration file path.
• --version, -v: Display the current version number.
• --help, -h: Display help information.

Usage Examples

1. Initiate a conversation from the command line:

npx mcp-chat --server http://localhost:8080 -p "List the files on the desktop"

2. Start the web mode:

npx mcp-chat --web

👨‍💻 Developer Guide

Connect to an MCP Server for Testing

When developing an MCP server, you can test mcp-chat using the following commands:

Node.js Environment

npm install @modelcontextprotocol/server-file-system
node -e "require('@modelcontextprotocol/server-file-system').start(8080)"

Then use mcp-chat to initiate a conversation:

npx mcp-chat --server http://localhost:8080 -p "List the files on the desktop"

Python Environment

Install Python dependencies:

pip install modelcontextprotocol-server-file-system
python3 -m modelcontextprotocol.server_file_system.start 8080

Then use mcp-chat to initiate a conversation:

npx mcp-chat --server http://localhost:8080 -p "List the files on the desktop"

📁 Project Structure

├── src/
│   ├── index.ts            # Main client implementation and CLI parameter handling
│   ├── constants.ts        # Definition of default constants
│   └── interactive.ts      # Logic for interactive chat prompts
└── test/                   # Test folder
    ├── cli.test.ts         # CLI parameter testing
    └── config.test.ts      # Configuration file parsing testing

🚀 Release a New Version

Visit the Github releases page, click the "New release" button, select "Add a tag", and create a new semantic version number v{major}.{minor}.{patch}. Fill in the release title "Release v{major}.{minor}.{patch}" and the change log, then click "Publish".

There's no need to manually update the version number in package.json because the GitHub workflow will handle it automatically and push it to the main branch.

📄 License

MIT License