TurboMCP CLI

CLI for MCP servers with complete protocol support

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Features
• Installation
• Quick Start
• Usage
• Commands
• Transport Support
• Examples
• Related Tools

Overview

turbomcp-cli is a command-line interface for the Model Context Protocol, built on the turbomcp-client library. It provides complete MCP protocol coverage with rich, multi-format output and smart transport auto-detection.

Features

• 🎯 Complete MCP Protocol - All operations: tools, resources, prompts, completions, sampling, logging
• 🔧 Tool Management - List, call, and export tool schemas
• 📦 Resource Access - List, read, and subscribe to MCP resources
• 💬 Prompt Operations - List and execute prompts with arguments
• 🌐 Multi-Transport - STDIO (child process), TCP, Unix sockets, HTTP SSE, WebSocket
• 🚀 Smart Auto-Detection - Automatically detects transport from URL format
• 🎨 Rich Output - Human, JSON, YAML, and table formats with colored output
• 🛡️ Built on Core Libraries - Uses turbomcp-client and turbomcp-transport
• ⚡ Error Handling - Comprehensive error handling with actionable suggestions

Installation

From Crates.io

# Install latest stable version
cargo install turbomcp-cli

# Install specific version
cargo install turbomcp-cli --version 3.1.3

From Source

git clone https://github.com/Epistates/turbomcp.git
cd turbomcp
cargo install --path crates/turbomcp-cli

Quick Start

# List tools from a server
turbomcp-cli tools list --command "./my-mcp-server"

# Call a tool with arguments
turbomcp-cli tools call calculate --arguments '{"a": 5, "b": 3}'

# Get server information
turbomcp-cli server info

# List resources
turbomcp-cli resources list --url tcp://localhost:8080

# Work with prompts
turbomcp-cli prompts list --url unix:///tmp/mcp.sock

Usage

turbomcp-cli <COMMAND>

Commands:
  tools       Tool operations (list, call, schema, export)
  resources   Resource operations (list, read, templates, subscribe, unsubscribe)
  prompts     Prompt operations (list, get, schema)
  complete    Completion operations (get)
  server      Server management (info, ping, log-level, roots)
  sample      Sampling operations (create)
  connect     Interactive connection wizard
  status      Connection status
  dev         Development server with hot reload
  install     Install MCP server to Claude Desktop or Cursor
  build       Build an MCP server (supports WASM targets)
  deploy      Deploy an MCP server to cloud platforms
  new         Create a new MCP server project from a template
  help        Print help information

Global Options:
  -f, --format <FORMAT>     Output format [default: human] [possible: human, json, yaml, table, compact]
  -v, --verbose             Enable verbose output
  -c, --connection <NAME>   Use saved connection from ~/.turbomcp/config.yaml
  --no-color                Disable colored output
  -h, --help                Print help
  -V, --version             Print version

Connection Options

Commands that connect to a server accept these flags (via flattened Connection):

• --transport <KIND> - Force transport: stdio, http, ws, tcp, unix (auto-detected if omitted)
• --url <URL> - Server URL (env: MCP_URL, default: http://localhost:8080/mcp)
• --command <COMMAND> - Command to execute for STDIO transport, overrides --url (env: MCP_COMMAND)
• --auth <AUTH> - Bearer token or API key (env: MCP_AUTH)
• --timeout <SECONDS> - Connection timeout in seconds (default: 30)

Use the global -f, --format json flag (not --json) to emit JSON output.

Commands

tools list - List Available Tools

List all tools available from an MCP server.

# List tools from HTTP server
turbomcp-cli tools list --url http://localhost:8080/mcp

# List tools from WebSocket server
turbomcp-cli tools list --url ws://localhost:8080/mcp

# List tools from STDIO server
turbomcp-cli tools list --command "./target/debug/my-server"

Example Output:

Available Tools:
- calculator_add: Add two numbers together
- file_read: Read contents of a file
- search_web: Search the web for information

Total: 3 tools

tools call - Call a Tool

Execute a specific tool on the MCP server.

# Call a tool with JSON parameters (HTTP)
turbomcp-cli tools call calculator_add \
    --url http://localhost:8080/mcp \
    --arguments '{"a": 5, "b": 3}'

# Call a tool via WebSocket
turbomcp-cli tools call file_read \
    --url ws://localhost:8080/mcp \
    --arguments '{"path": "/etc/hosts"}'

# Call a tool via STDIO
turbomcp-cli tools call calculator_add \
    --command "./target/debug/my-server" \
    --arguments '{"a": 5, "b": 3}'

Example Output:

{
  "result": 8,
  "success": true
}

tools schema - Print Tool Schemas

Print the JSON input schema for one tool (by name) or all tools to stdout.

# Print schemas for all tools (HTTP)
turbomcp-cli tools schema --url http://localhost:8080/mcp

# Print schema for a single tool
turbomcp-cli tools schema calculator_add --url http://localhost:8080/mcp

# Schemas from a STDIO server
turbomcp-cli tools schema --command "./target/debug/my-server"

tools export - Export Schemas to a Directory

Write each tool's input schema as a separate <tool>.json file inside an output directory. The directory is created if needed; tool names are sanitized to prevent path traversal, and output paths are validated so that symlink-based escapes outside the directory are rejected at file creation time.

# Export every schema into ./schemas/
turbomcp-cli tools export \
    --url http://localhost:8080/mcp \
    --output ./schemas

# Export from a STDIO server
turbomcp-cli tools export \
    --command "./target/debug/my-server" \
    --output ./schemas

Transport Support

The CLI supports five transports. Use --transport to force one, or rely on URL-based auto-detection:

HTTP / HTTPS (SSE)

turbomcp-cli tools list --url http://localhost:8080/mcp
turbomcp-cli tools list --url https://api.example.com/mcp

WebSocket

turbomcp-cli tools list --url ws://localhost:8080/mcp
turbomcp-cli tools list --url wss://api.example.com/mcp

TCP

turbomcp-cli tools list --url tcp://localhost:9000

Unix Domain Socket

turbomcp-cli tools list --url unix:///tmp/mcp.sock

STDIO (child process)

# Using --command option
turbomcp-cli tools list --command "./my-server"
turbomcp-cli tools list --command "python server.py"

Transport Auto-Detection:

• http://, https:// → HTTP/SSE transport
• ws://, wss:// → WebSocket transport
• tcp:// → TCP transport
• unix:// → Unix socket transport
• --command option → STDIO transport (spawns a child process)

Examples

# List tools from HTTP server
turbomcp-cli tools list --url http://localhost:8080/mcp

# Call calculator tool via STDIO
turbomcp-cli tools call calculator_add \
  --command "./target/debug/calculator-server" \
  --arguments '{"a": 10, "b": 5}'

# Export all schemas to a directory via WebSocket
turbomcp-cli tools export \
  --url ws://localhost:8080/mcp \
  --output ./my-server-schemas

# Test STDIO server with authentication, emitting JSON
turbomcp-cli --format json tools list \
  --command "python my-server.py" \
  --auth "bearer-token-here"

Roadmap

Planned: Secure Credential Storage

Status: Not yet implemented

Modern CLI best practices mandate using OS-native credential stores for storing long-lived tokens:

Planned commands:

# Future: Secure login flow
turbomcp-cli auth login --provider github
turbomcp-cli auth login --url https://mcp.example.com

# Future: Use stored credentials automatically
turbomcp-cli tools list --url https://mcp.example.com  # Uses keychain

# Future: Logout / clear credentials
turbomcp-cli auth logout --url https://mcp.example.com

Current workaround: Pass tokens via --auth flag or environment variables:

export MCP_AUTH_TOKEN="your-token"
turbomcp-cli tools list --url https://mcp.example.com --auth "$MCP_AUTH_TOKEN"

This feature will be implemented using the keyring crate for cross-platform credential storage.

Related Tools

• turbomcp - Main TurboMCP framework
• turbomcp-server - Server implementation
• turbomcp-client - Client implementation
• turbomcp-transport - Transport protocols

License

Licensed under the MIT License.

Part of the TurboMCP Rust SDK for the Model Context Protocol.