About cMCP
cMCP is a command-line client for invoking methods on local or remote MCP servers. It supports several transports and can use a configuration file to manage server entries.
Key features
- 01Connect over STDIO, HTTP, or SSE
- 02List and call tools
- 03Read resources and resource templates
- 04List and retrieve prompts
- 05Pass parameters, environment variables, and HTTP headers
Use cases
- 01Inspect tools and resources exposed by a server
- 02Invoke MCP tools from the command line
- 03Switch between configured servers
MCP support
As an MCP client, cMCP connects to servers over STDIO, HTTP, and SSE, and can list or invoke tools, prompts, and resources. It can also read server definitions from an MCP JSON configuration.
Details
From the project READMEcMCP

cmcp is a command-line utility that helps you interact with MCP servers. It's basically curl for MCP servers.
Installation
pip install cmcp
Usage
STDIO
Interact with the STDIO server:
cmcp COMMAND METHOD
Add required parameters:
cmcp COMMAND METHOD param1=value param2:='{"arg1": "value"}'
Add required environment variables:
cmcp COMMAND METHOD ENV_VAR1:value ENV_VAR2:value param1=value param2:='{"arg1": "value"}'
HTTP (or SSE)
Interact with the HTTP (or SSE) server:
cmcp URL METHOD
Add required parameters:
cmcp URL METHOD param1=value param2:='{"arg1": "value"}'
Add required HTTP headers:
cmcp URL METHOD Header1:value Header2:value param1=value param2:='{"arg1": "value"}'
Verbose mode
Enable verbose mode to show JSON-RPC request and response:
cmcp -v COMMAND_or_URL METHOD
Quick Start
Given the following MCP Server (see here):
# server.py
from mcp.server.fastmcp import FastMCP
# Create an MCP server
mcp = FastMCP("Demo")
# Add a prompt
@mcp.prompt()
def review_code(code: str) -> str:
return f"Please review this code:\n\n{code}"
# Add a static config resource
@mcp.resource("config://app")
def get_config() -> str:
"""Static configuration data"""
return "App configuration here"
# Add a dynamic greeting resource
@mcp.resource("greeting://{name}")
def get_greeting(name: str) -> str:
"""Get a personalized greeting"""
return f"Hello, {name}!"
# Add an addition tool
@mcp.tool()
def add(a: int, b: int) -> int:
"""Add two numbers"""
return a + b
STDIO transport
List prompts:
cmcp 'mcp run server.py' prompts/list
Get a prompt:
cmcp 'mcp run server.py' prompts/get name=review_code arguments:='{"code": "def greet(): pass"}'
List resources:
cmcp 'mcp run server.py' resources/list
Read a resource:
cmcp 'mcp run server.py' resources/read uri=config://app
List resource templates:
cmcp 'mcp run server.py' resources/templates/list
List tools:
cmcp 'mcp run server.py' tools/list
Call a tool:
cmcp 'mcp run server.py' tools/call name=add arguments:='{"a": 1, "b": 2}'
HTTP transport
Run the above MCP server with HTTP transport:
mcp run server.py -t streamable-http
List prompts:
cmcp http://localhost:8000 prompts/list
# or `cmcp http://localhost:8000/mcp prompts/list`
Get a prompt:
cmcp http://localhost:8000 prompts/get name=review_code arguments:='{"code": "def greet(): pass"}'
List resources:
cmcp http://localhost:8000 resources/list
Read a resource:
cmcp http://localhost:8000 resources/read uri=config://app
List resource templates:
cmcp http://localhost:8000 resources/templates/list
List tools:
cmcp http://localhost:8000 tools/list
Call a tool:
cmcp http://localhost:8000 tools/call name=add arguments:='{"a": 1, "b": 2}'
SSE transport (Deprecated)
Run the above MCP server with SSE transport:
mcp run server.py -t sse
List prompts:
cmcp http://localhost:8000/sse prompts/list
Get a prompt:
cmcp http://localhost:8000/sse prompts/get name=review_code arguments:='{"code": "def greet(): pass"}'
List resources:
cmcp http://localhost:8000/sse resources/list
Read a resource:
cmcp http://localhost:8000/sse resources/read uri=config://app
List resource templates:
cmcp http://localhost:8000/sse resources/templates/list
List tools:
cmcp http://localhost:8000/sse tools/list
Call a tool:
cmcp http://localhost:8000/sse tools/call name=add arguments:='{"a": 1, "b": 2}'
Using mcp.json (Advanced)
For convenience, you can use a configuration file to manage your MCP servers instead of typing the full command or URL each time. By default, cmcp looks for .cmcp/mcp.json (in the current directory) or ~/.cmcp/mcp.json (in your home directory).
The configuration follows the standard MCP JSON format, which is also used by Cursor, Claude Code, FastMCP, and other MCP clients.
Example configuration file:
{
"mcpServers": {
"local-server": {
"command": "python",
"args": ["mcp-server.py"],
"env": {
"API_KEY": "value"
}
},
"remote-server": {
"url": "http://localhost:3000/mcp",
"headers": {
"API_KEY": "value"
}
}
}
}
Use a configured server by prefixing its name with ::
# Use the local-server from config
cmcp :local-server tools/list
# Use the remote-server from config
cmcp :remote-server tools/call name=add arguments:='{"a": 1, "b": 2}'
# Use a custom config file
cmcp --config /path/to/config.json :local-server tools/list
Related Projects
cA2A: A command-line utility for interacting with A2A agents.
License
Comments
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From what the protocol is to installing your first server, these answers cover most first questions.
An open protocol that defines how AI applications connect to external tools and data in a uniform way. Clients talk to the model; MCP servers provide tools, resources and prompt templates. They exchange standard messages, so one server can be reused by many clients.