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<br>☁️ AWS Documentation & Pricing]

    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 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
• Optional dependencies only for specific tools
• Works out of the box for most tools

🛠 Comprehensive Tool Suite

• 16+ essential developer 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

The easiest way to install MCP DevTools is using the automatic installer:

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/bin or 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

# 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

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sammcj/mcp-devtools/main/install.sh | bash

{
  "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, AWS documentation, 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"
      }
    }
  }
}

claude mcp add --transport stdio mcp-devtools go run github.com/sammcj/mcp-devtools@HEAD

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

{
  "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, AWS documentation, 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'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

{
  "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, AWS documentation, 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.

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

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 three transport modes for different use cases:

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",
    }
  }
}

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 the appropriate variables.

General:

• LOG_LEVEL - Logging level: debug, info, warn, error (default: warn). Logs are written to ~/.mcp-devtools/logs/mcp-devtools.log for all transports. Stdio transport uses minimum warn level 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 to true to 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,sequential-thinking)
• 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 with GOOGLE_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 tools
• MEMORY_FILE_PATH - Memory storage location (default: ~/.mcp-devtools/)
• PACKAGE_COOLDOWN_HOURS - Hours to wait before recommending newly published packages (default: 72, set to 0 to disable)
• PACKAGE_COOLDOWN_ECOSYSTEMS - Comma-separated ecosystems for cooldown protection (default: npm, use none to 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, sse, http). Default: stdio
• --port - Port for HTTP transports. Default: 18080
• --base-url - Base URL for HTTP transports. Default: http://localhost
• --auth-token - Authentication token for HTTP transport

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: Supports STDIO, HTTP, and SSE transports
• 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:

👉 Complete OAuth Setup Guide

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, aws_docs, 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_LEVEL environment variable: debug, info, warn, error (default: warn)
• Stdio transport: Always logs to file (never to stderr to prevent MCP protocol pollution)
• HTTP/SSE transports: 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=true environment 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

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