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MCP DevTools

A single, high-performance MCP server that replaces multiple 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.

graph TD
    A[MCP DevTools Server] --> B[Search & Discovery]
    A --> C[Document Processing]
    A --> E[Intelligence & Memory]
    A --> F[Utilities]
    A --> G[Agents]

    B --> B1[Internet Search]
    B --> B2[Package Search]
    B --> B3[Package Documentation]
    B --> B4[GitHub]
    B --> B5[ShadCN UI Components]
    B --> B6[Web Fetch]

    C --> C1[Document Processing]
    C --> C2[PDF Processing]

    E --> E1[Think Tool]
    E --> E2[Memory Graph]

    F --> F3[American→English]
    F --> F4[Filesystem]

    G --> G1[Claude Code]
    G --> G2[Gemini CLI]

    classDef server fill:#E6E6FA,stroke:#756BB1,color:#756BB1
    classDef category fill:#EFF3FF,stroke:#9ECAE1,color:#3182BD
    classDef utility fill:#E6FFE6,stroke:#4CAF50,color:#2E7D32
    classDef searchDiscovery fill:#FFF3E6,stroke:#FF9800,color:#F57C00
    classDef intelligence fill:#E6F7FF,stroke:#81D4FA,color:#0288D1
    classDef documentProcessing fill:#FFF0F0,stroke:#FFCDD2,color:#C62828
    classDef agents fill:#F0E6FF,stroke:#9575CD,color:#5E35B1

    class A server
    class B,C,E,F,G category
    class F3,F4 utility
    class B1,B2,B3,B4,B5,B6 searchDiscovery
    class C1,C2 documentProcessing
    class E1,E2 intelligence
    class G1,G2 agents
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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
  • 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

  • 12+ essential developer tools in one package
  • No need to manage multiple MCP server installations
  • Consistent API across all tools

Quickstart

You must have a recent version of Go installed.

  1. Install the latest MCP DevTools binary:
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
  1. Update your MCP client to add the MCP DevTools server configuration, replacing /path/to/mcp-devtools with the actual path to the binary (e.g. /Users/samm/go/bin/mcp-devtools):
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dev-tools": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "/path/to/mcp-devtools",
      "env": {
        "DISABLED_FUNCTIONS": "brave_local_search,brave_video_search" // Optional, disable specific tools if not needed
      }
    }
  }
}

See below for various environment variables you can set to configure specific features.

Available Tools

Tool Purpose Dependencies Quick Example
Web Fetch Retrieve web content as Markdown None Documentation and articles
Internet Search Multi-provider web search None (Provider keys optional) Web, image, news, video search
Package Search Check package versions None NPM, Python, Go, Java, Docker
Package Documentation Library documentation lookup None React, Django, TensorFlow docs
PDF Processing Fast PDF text extraction None Quick PDF to Markdown
Document Processing Convert documents to Markdown pip install -U docling PDF, DOCX → Markdown with OCR
Think Structured reasoning space None Complex problem analysis
Memory Persistent knowledge graphs None Store entities and relationships
ShadCN UI Component information None Button, Dialog, Form components
American→English Convert to British spelling None Organise, colour, centre
GitHub GitHub repositories and data None (GitHub token optional) Issues, PRs, repos, cloning
Find Long Files Identify files needing refactoring None Find files over 700 lines
Filesystem File and directory operations ENABLE_AGENTS=filesystem Read, write, edit, search files
Gemini Agent Gemini CLI Agent ENABLE_AGENTS=gemini Code analysis, generation
Claude Agent Claude Code CLI Agent ENABLE_AGENTS=claude Code analysis, generation

👉 See detailed tool documentation

Quick Start

Installation

Option 1: Go Install

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 3: 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 - remove if not needed",
      }
    }
  }
}

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, there are other providers available, see the various tools documentation for more details.

Streamable HTTP

mcp-devtools --transport http --port 8080
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dev-tools": {
      "type": "streamableHttp",
      "url": "http://localhost:8080/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 8080

# With authentication
mcp-devtools --transport http --port 8080 --auth-token mysecrettoken

# With OAuth (see OAuth documentation)
mcp-devtools --transport http --port 8080 --oauth-enabled

Client Configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dev-tools": {
      "type": "streamableHttp",
      "url": "http://localhost:8080/http",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer mysecrettoken"
      }
    }
  }
}

SSE Transport

Best for: Real-time applications, web dashboards

mcp-devtools --transport sse --port 18080 --base-url http://localhost

Client Configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dev-tools": {
      "type": "sse",
      "url": "http://localhost:18080/sse"
    }
  }
}

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.

Core Tools:

  • BRAVE_API_KEY - Enable Brave Search provider by providing a (free Brave search API key)
  • SEARXNG_BASE_URL - Enable SearXNG search provider by providing the base URL (e.g. https://searxng.example.com)
  • MEMORY_FILE_PATH - Memory storage location (default: ~/.mcp-devtools/)
  • DISABLED_FUNCTIONS - Comma-separated list of functions to disable (e.g. think,internet_search)

Filesystem Tool (Security-Sensitive):

  • FILESYSTEM_TOOL_ENABLE - Set to "true" to enable filesystem operations (disabled by default)
  • FILESYSTEM_TOOL_ALLOWED_DIRS - Colon-separated (Unix) list of allowed directories

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
  • --debug, -d - Enable debug logging

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.

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"

Docker Support

# Pull latest image
docker pull ghcr.io/sammcj/mcp-devtools:latest

# Run with environment variables
docker run -e BRAVE_API_KEY="your-key" ghcr.io/sammcj/mcp-devtools:latest

Creating New Tools

Want to add your own tools? See the Development Guide.

Getting Help

Contributing

Contributions welcome! This project follows standard Go development practices and includes comprehensive tests.

# Development setup
git clone https://github.com/sammcj/mcp-devtools.git
cd mcp-devtools
make deps
make test
make build

License

Apache Public License 2.0 - Copyright 2025 Sam McLeod

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A modular MCP server that provides commonly used developer tools for AI coding agents

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