mcp-inspector
Skill1 starsChanged 7 days agoMITView on GitHub
How to try the MCP server by hand with the official MCP Inspector that docker compose starts beside it - where it runs, how it connects, and what to check before calling a tool, resource or prompt change done. Use when you want to see tools, resources or prompts as a client sees them, or debug what the model receives.
2 other projects use a version of this.
Adopted by
Most recently taken up by
- MCPJam/inspectortheir own version, first seen Oct 14, 2026
- adeze/raindrop-mcptheir own version, first seen Mar 10, 2026
Other versions2 projects use a version of this.
Word for word · 0
None found.
Edited · 0
None found.
Wrote their own version · 2
- MCPJam/inspector★ 2.3ksame name
- adeze/raindrop-mcp★ 188same name
How matches are found. Word for word: the exact same text. Edited: shares passages with this file (“99% same” means 99% of its five-word phrases also appear here; 10% or more counts). Their own version: similar meaning, or, weakest, the same name. We can’t tell which project had it first. Projects are counted among the 200 most-starred candidates, and mentions are links to the repository we found, up to 50 per site, so both counts are a floor.
In this repository40 other files it gives its agents.
- AGENTS.mdAGENTS.md
- CLAUDE.mdCLAUDE.md
- add-a-use-caseSkill
- api-conventionsSkill
- branches-and-pull-requestsSkill
- cancellationSkill
- ci-for-your-solutionSkill
- ci-pipelineSkill
- clean-architecture-layersSkill
- configuration-and-environmentsSkill
- coverageSkill
- csharp-house-styleSkill
- data-access-ef-coreSkill
- database-migrationsSkill
- docker-and-composeSkill
- docs-and-voiceSkill
- errors-and-exceptionsSkill
- expose-a-use-caseSkill
- family-syncSkill
- health-checksSkill
- integration-testsSkill
- json-serializationSkill
- mapping-with-mapperlySkill
- mediatorSkill
- optional-token-authSkill
- packages-and-dependenciesSkill
- pagingSkill
- presentation-integration-testsSkill
- releasesSkill
- sample-dataSkill
- security-findingsSkill
- serilogSkill
- telemetrySkill
- template-authoringSkill
- test-designSkill
- time-providerSkill
- unit-testsSkill
- validationSkill
- writing-a-skillSkill
- xml-docs-and-openapiSkill
The file
We split this skill into the rules it gives an agent
4 rules. About 0 are common, 1 is distinctive, and 3 are very specific to this project.
≈0
Common · estimate
Many files like this have a rule of this kind.
≈1
Distinctive · estimate
This author's own choices. Worth a look.
3
Very specific
Tied to their project's names, files or tools. Probably skip.
- Common
- Distinctive
- Very specific
- Distinctive: line 24
After changing a tool, check its description and every argument's description read well, the annotations are right, and a call returns the …
- Very specific: line 38
Use latest for the Inspector image.
- Very specific: line 39
Start the chat demo without its profile.
- Very specific: line 40
Treat a manual check as a test.
≈ “Common” is an estimate: at least 1 in 5 of the 350,495 skill files we read have a rule of the same kind, not the same words. “Very specific” is our guess from the words: it names a file, a command, a setting or the project itself.
Files
MCP Inspector
The rule
docker-compose.yml runs the official MCP Inspector next to the server, already pointed at http://api:7320/mcp over streamable HTTP. It's the quickest way to see exactly what a client gets: every tool with its description, input and output schema and annotations, every resource and template, and every prompt. The image version is pinned in the compose file, and the port is bound to 127.0.0.1 only.
| Service | Address |
| MCP server | http://localhost:7320/mcp |
| MCP Inspector | http://localhost:7325 |
| Aspire dashboard (logs, traces, metrics) | http://localhost:7322 |
Steps
- Start everything:
docker compose up -d --build. - Open http://localhost:7325, flip the switch on the server card to connect, then open Tools, Resources or Prompts.
- After changing a tool, check its description and every argument's description read well, the annotations are right, and a call returns the result model you expect.
- Try the failure paths too: an unknown id, a star rating of 6. The model should get a message it can act on.
- Find the tool call in the Aspire dashboard if something looks wrong: its trace shows the tool, the use case and each SQL command, and its logs sit beside it (
telemetry). - With authentication on, the Inspector needs a token from your authority. Leave
Authentication:Authorityempty for local checks.
Chat demo
To try the tools the way a model does, add the optional demo profile: docker compose --profile demo up -d --build. It starts Open WebUI at http://localhost:7326, already connected to the server and using Kilo's free gateway as the model, with no account or key. It's online only, and your prompts and tool results go to Kilo, a third party, so use it with sample data. Plain docker compose up doesn't start it, and solutions created with --include-auth leave it out, because Open WebUI has no token to send.
In the template repository, docker-compose.yml wraps the chat service and its volume in conditional blocks for the authentication toggle, which dotnet new resolves. Describe them in shipped files without naming the toggle's symbol, because Verify Template fails if it survives in a generated solution (template-authoring).
Don't
- Expose port 7325 beyond
127.0.0.1. The Inspector can call every tool. - Use
latestfor the Inspector image. Change the pinned version on purpose. - Start the chat demo without its profile. Plain
docker compose upstays the server, the Inspector and the telemetry stack. - Treat a manual check as a test. Write the integration test as well (
presentation-integration-tests).
Check
docker compose up -d --build && curl -fsS http://localhost:7320/health/ready
docker compose downDoes it work?
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