mcp-cli-host
A command-line interface (CLI) host platform that facilitates interactions between Large Language Models and external tools via the Model Context Protocol (MCP).
Documentation
MCPCLIHost ๐ค
A CLI host application that enables Large Language Models (LLMs) to interact with external tools through the Model Context Protocol (MCP). Currently supports Openai, Azure Openai, Deepseek and Ollama models.
English | ็ฎไฝไธญๆ
What it looks like: ๐ค

Features โจ
- Interactive conversations with multipe LLM models
- Support for multiple concurrent MCP servers
- Dynamic tool discovery and integration
- Configurable MCP server locations and arguments
- Configurable message history window for context management
- Monitor/trace error from server side
- Support Sampling, Roots, Elicitation, retrievling Resource, Prompts
- Support runtime exclude specific tool
- Show MCP server card when connected
- display image from tool call output
Latest Update ๐
- [2025-11-26] Support display image from tool call output
- [2025-07-18] Support Streamable HTTP mcp server, OAuth process not support yet
- [2025-07-02] Support Elicitation
- [2025-06-27] Deal with `Prompts` in MCP server: Link
- [2025-06-20] Deal with `Resources` in MCP server: Link
Environment Setup ๐ง
1. For Openai and Deepseek:
export OPENAI_API_KEY='your-api-key'By default for Openai the `base_url` is "https://api.openai.com/v1"
For deepseek it's "https://api.deepseek.com", you can change it by `--base-url`
2. For Ollama, need setup firstly:
- Install Ollama from https://ollama.ai
- Pull your desired model:
ollama pull mistral- Ensure Ollama is running:
ollama serve3. For Azure Openai:
export AZURE_OPENAI_DEPLOYMENT='your-azure-deployment'
export AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY='your-azure-openai-api-key'
export AZURE_OPENAI_API_VERSION='your-azure-openai-api-version'
export AZURE_OPENAI_ENDPOINT='your-azure-openai-endpoint'4. For Google Gemini
export GEMINI_API_KEY='your-gemini-api-token'Installation ๐ฆ
pip install mcp-cli-hostConfiguration โ๏ธ
MCPCLIHost will automatically find configuration file at `~/.mcp.json`. You can also specify a custom location using the `--config` flag:
STDIO mcp server
{
"mcpServers": {
"sqlite": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"mcp-server-sqlite",
"--db-path",
"/tmp/foo.db"
]
},
"filesystem": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem",
"/tmp"
]
}
}
}Each MCP server entry requires:
- `command`: The command to run (e.g., `uvx`, `npx`)
- `args`: Array of arguments for the command:
- For SQLite server: `mcp-server-sqlite` with database path
- For filesystem server: `@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem` with directory path
Remote mcp server(only support Streamable HTTP)
{
"mcpServers": {
"github": {
"url": "https://api.githubcopilot.com/mcp/",
"headers": {"Authorization": "Bearer "}
}
}
}Usage ๐
MCPCLIHost is a CLI tool that allows you to interact with various AI models through a unified interface. It supports various tools through MCP servers.
Available Models
Models can be specified using the `--model` (`-m`) flag:
- Deepseek: `deepseek:deepseek-chat`
- OpenAI: `openai:gpt-4`
- Ollama models: `ollama:modelname`
- Azure Openai: `azure:gpt-4-0613`
- Gemini: `gemini:gemini-2.5-flash`
Examples
# Use Ollama with Qwen model
mcpclihost -m ollama:qwen2.5:3b
# Use Deepseek
mcpclihost -m deepseek:deepseek-chat --sys-prompt 'You are a slightly playful assistant, please answer questions in a cute tone!'Flags
- `--config string`: Config file location (default is $HOME/mcp.json)
- `--debug`: Enable debug logging
- `--message-window int`: Number of messages to keep in context (default: 10)
- `-m, --model string`: Model to use (format: provider:model) (default "anthropic:claude-3-5-sonnet-latest")
- `--base-url string`: Base URL for OpenAI API (defaults to api.openai.com)
- `--roots string`: MCP clients to expose filesystem โrootsโ to servers
- `--sys-prompt string`: System prompt
Interactive Commands
While chatting, you can use:
- `/help`: Show available commands
- `/tools`: List all available tools
- `/exclude_tool tool_name`: Exclude specific tool from the conversation
- `/resources`: List all available resources
- `/get_resource`: Get specific resources by uri, example: /get_resource resource_uri
- `/prompts`: List all available prompts
- `/get_prompt`: Get specific prompt by name, example: /get_prompt prompt_name
- `/servers`: List configured MCP servers
- `/history`: Display conversation history
- `/quit`: Exit at any time
MCP Server Compatibility ๐
MCPCliHost can work with any MCP-compliant server. For examples and reference implementations, see the MCP Servers Repository.
Known issues ๐
- In scenario of `Sampling` and `Elicitation`, when typing "Ctrl+c", the process will crash with something like `asyncio.exceptions.CancelledError`, will be resolved later.
License ๐
This project is licensed under the Apache 2.0 License - see the LICENSE file for details.
Frequently asked questions
What is mcp-cli-host?
mcp-cli-host is A command-line interface (CLI) host platform that facilitates interactions between Large Language Models and external tools via the Model Context Protocol (MCP).
How do I install mcp-cli-host?
Open the GitHub repository and follow its README. Most MCP servers are added to your client's MCP config, then called by your agent.
Is mcp-cli-host open source?
Yes โ it is hosted on GitHub at https://github.com/vincent-pli/mcp-cli-host and has 22 stars.
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