MCP Inspector

The MCP Inspector is useful when you want a GUI instead of terminal-based test-server checks.

When to use it

Use MCP Inspector when you want to:

• browse available tools interactively,
• send tool calls without building CLI command lines by hand,
• inspect payloads and responses visually.

Use test-server when you want scriptable terminal checks.

Streamable HTTP setup

1. Start the generated server.
2. Open MCP Inspector.
3. Create a connection using the server URL, including the endpoint path.

Example:

http://127.0.0.1:8080/mcp

STDIO setup

Use the full server startup command.

Example:

node /absolute/path/to/generated-server/build/index.js

If the generated server needs runtime env values, ensure they are available to the launched process.

Suggested workflow

1. validate fast with test-server
2. switch to MCP Inspector for exploratory testing
3. use Local Workflows for repo-level regression checks