agent-discover

MCP server registry and marketplace. Discover, install, activate, and manage MCP tools on demand. Acts as a dynamic proxy -- activated servers have their tools merged into the registry's own tool list, so agents can use them without restarting.

Built for AI coding agents (Claude Code, Codex CLI, Gemini CLI, Aider) but works equally well with any MCP client, REST consumer, or WebSocket listener.

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Light Theme	Dark Theme

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Why

Static MCP configs mean every server is always running, even when unused. Adding a new server requires editing config files and restarting. There is no way to browse what is available or install new tools at runtime.

	Without agent-discover	With agent-discover
Discovery	Must know server names in advance	Browse the official MCP registry, search by keyword
Installation	Edit config files, restart agent	One tool call installs and registers
Activation	All servers always running	Activate/deactivate on demand, tools appear/disappear live
Secrets	API keys in config files or env	Per-server secret storage, auto-injected on activation
Monitoring	No visibility into server health	Health checks, per-tool metrics, error counts
Management	Manual config edits	Dashboard + REST API for config, tags

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Features

• Local registry -- register MCP servers in a SQLite database with name, command, args, env, tags
• Marketplace browser -- search the official MCP registry (registry.modelcontextprotocol.io) and install with one tool call
• On-demand activation -- activate/deactivate servers at runtime; their tools appear and disappear dynamically
• Tool proxying -- activated server tools are namespaced as serverName__toolName and merged into the tool list
• Multi-transport -- supports stdio, SSE, and streamable-http transports for connecting to child servers
• Secret management -- store API keys and tokens per server, automatically injected as env vars (stdio) or HTTP headers (SSE/streamable-http) on activation
• Health checks -- connect/disconnect probes for inactive servers, tool-list checks for active ones, with error count tracking
• Per-tool metrics -- call counts, error counts, and average latency recorded automatically on every proxied tool call
• Full-text search -- FTS5 search across server names, descriptions, and tags
• NPM pre-download -- fire-and-forget npm cache add on registration for npx-based servers, plus a dedicated preinstall endpoint
• Real-time dashboard -- web UI at http://localhost:3424 with Servers and Browse tabs, dark/light theme, WebSocket updates
• 3 transport layers -- MCP (stdio), REST API (HTTP), WebSocket (real-time events)

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Quick Start

Install from npm

npm install -g agent-discover

Or run directly with npx

npx agent-discover

Or clone from source

git clone https://github.com/keshrath/agent-discover.git
cd agent-discover
npm install
npm run build

Option 1: MCP server (for AI agents)

Add to your MCP client config (Claude Code, Cline, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "agent-discover": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["agent-discover"]
    }
  }
}

The dashboard auto-starts at http://localhost:3424 on the first MCP connection.

Option 2: Standalone server (for REST/WebSocket clients)

node dist/server.js --port 3424

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MCP Tools (2)

Both tools are action-based -- a single tool handles multiple operations via the action parameter.

Tool	Actions	Description
registry	list, install, uninstall, browse, status	Registry management -- search local servers, install from registry, remove, browse marketplace, show active status
registry_server	activate, deactivate	Server lifecycle -- start/stop MCP servers on demand, tools appear/disappear dynamically

Activated servers expose their tools through agent-discover, namespaced as serverName__toolName. For example, activating a server named filesystem that exposes read_file makes it available as filesystem__read_file.

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REST API (18 endpoints)

All endpoints return JSON. CORS enabled.

GET    /health                            Version, uptime
GET    /api/servers                       List servers (?query=, ?source=, ?installed=)
GET    /api/servers/:id                   Server details + tools
POST   /api/servers                       Register new server
PUT    /api/servers/:id                   Update server config (description, command, args, env, tags)
DELETE /api/servers/:id                   Unregister (deactivates first if active)
POST   /api/servers/:id/activate          Activate -- start server, discover tools, begin proxying
POST   /api/servers/:id/deactivate        Deactivate -- stop server, remove tools
POST   /api/servers/:id/preinstall        Pre-download npx package to npm cache
GET    /api/servers/:id/secrets           List secrets (masked values)
PUT    /api/servers/:id/secrets/:key      Set a secret (upsert)
DELETE /api/servers/:id/secrets/:key      Delete a secret
POST   /api/servers/:id/health            Run health check (connect/disconnect probe)
GET    /api/servers/:id/metrics           Per-tool metrics for a server (call count, errors, latency)
GET    /api/metrics                       Metrics overview across all servers
GET    /api/browse                        Proxy to official MCP registry (?query=, ?limit=, ?cursor=)
GET    /api/npm-check                     Check if an npm package exists (?package=)
GET    /api/status                        Active servers summary (names, tool counts, tool lists)

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Dashboard

The web dashboard auto-starts at http://localhost:3424 and provides two views:

Servers tab -- all registered servers as cards showing health dots, error counts, active/inactive status, description, tags, tools list, and expandable Secrets/Metrics/Config sections. Action buttons for activate, deactivate, health check, and delete.

Browse tab -- search the official MCP registry. Results show server name, version, description, packages, and an install button.

Real-time updates via WebSocket with 2-second database polling. Dark and light themes with persistent preference.

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Testing

npm test              # Run tests
npm run test:watch    # Watch mode
npm run test:coverage # Coverage report
npm run check         # Full CI: typecheck + lint + format + test

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Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Description
AGENT_DISCOVER_PORT	3424	Dashboard HTTP port
AGENT_DISCOVER_DB	~/.claude/agent-discover.db	SQLite database path

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Documentation

• User Manual -- comprehensive guide covering all tools, REST API, dashboard, and troubleshooting
• API Reference -- all MCP tools and REST endpoints
• Architecture -- source structure, design principles, database schema
• Dashboard -- web UI views and features
• Setup Guide -- installation, client setup (Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf)
• Changelog

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License

MIT -- see LICENSE