mcp2cli
knowsuchagency
Turn any MCP, OpenAPI or GraphQL server into a CLI at runtime - zero codegen, token-efficient.
What is mcp2cli?
mcp2cli dynamically exposes MCP servers, OpenAPI specs and GraphQL endpoints as command-line interfaces with no code generation. It supports MCP HTTP/SSE with OAuth, stdio mode for local servers, usage-aware tool ranking, saved connections, and a TOON encoding claimed to cut tool-schema token overhead by 96-99% (project's own claim).
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Zero-codegen - any MCP or OpenAPI service becomes a CLI immediately
- Token-efficient TOON encoding helps agents that call many tools repeatedly
- OAuth self-healing and saved connections make it production-usable
Cons
- Thin commit history relative to star count - watch rapid star acquisition
- Token savings depend heavily on the specific server's schema verbosity
- A CLI shim, not a persistent agent runtime - no bidirectional streaming
License
MIT (OSI-open)
When it is interesting
Scripting or automating MCP tool calls in CI, shell scripts or agent loops where a full MCP client is overkill.
When it is too early
If you need stateful sessions or bidirectional streaming.
Commercial alternative & related
- Commercial counterpart: Zapier MCP
This repo featured in the 2026-07 edition of the Open-Source AI Radar.
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