AI Developer Tools

mcpsnoop

A transparent proxy that shows every real tool call between your AI client and MCP servers, live in your terminal.

What is mcpsnoop?

mcpsnoop is a terminal-based debugging tool that sits between your AI client and MCP servers to inspect and replay JSON-RPC tool calls.

mcpsnoop vs Similar AI Tools

Pricing ModelFreeFreeFreeFree
Free Credits
Key Features
  • Live JSON-RPC stream with color-coded requests, responses, errors, and slow calls
  • Replay any captured tool call against a fresh isolated server
  • Capability inspector showing client and server handshake
  • Seven breakable boxes covering OWASP Agentic Top-10 vulnerabilities
  • Three guided simulations for cascading failures, human-agent trust, and rogue agents
  • Network-isolated Docker containers for safe execution
  • Code-to-runtime reasoning across cloud, Git, and Kubernetes
  • Action-gate enforces read-only policy on every API call
  • Sandboxed JavaScript execution for concurrent research
  • Append-only, SHA-256-addressed event history through Jaybase
  • AES-256-GCM encryption for stored node payloads
  • Unified RBAC for ledger, notes, snapshots, and audit reads
Pros
  • Transparent proxy requires no configuration changes
  • Live terminal UI with powerful filtering
  • Covers full OWASP Agentic Top-10 in a realistic manner
  • Docker isolation prevents accidental damage
  • Read-only by construction prevents accidental writes
  • Evidence-backed verification cross-checks every finding
  • Opinionated and secure accounting CLI with immutable audit trail
  • Designed for AI agent integration with JSON output
Cons
  • Pre-1.0 software may have breaking changes
  • Only supports MCP protocol traffic
  • Requires Docker and technical setup
  • Not for production use; only for lab environments
  • Requires an LLM API key, incurring token costs
  • Limited to read-only operations, cannot remediate
  • Pre-1.0, limited feature set
  • No native QuickBooks import (agents must normalize data)
Best For
  • Developers debugging MCP-based AI applications
  • Engineers building custom MCP servers or clients
  • Security researchers focusing on AI agent vulnerabilities
  • Developers building MCP-based applications
  • Security engineers
  • DevOps teams
  • Small teams needing secure, auditable accounting with AI agent support
  • Developers integrating automated bookkeeping workflows

How to use mcpsnoop?

  1. 1Install via 'go install github.com/kerlenton/mcpsnoop/cmd/mcpsnoop@latest' or 'brew install mcpsnoop'.
  2. 2Wrap your server command with 'mcpsnoop -- <server>' in your client's MCP config.
  3. 3Use your client as usual.
  4. 4Run 'mcpsnoop' to open the live terminal UI.
  5. 5For streamable HTTP servers, use 'mcpsnoop http --target URL --listen :7000'.

mcpsnoop Key Features

  • Live JSON-RPC stream with color-coded requests, responses, errors, and slow calls
  • Replay any captured tool call against a fresh isolated server
  • Capability inspector showing client and server handshake
  • Frame inspector with full pretty-printed JSON and in-frame search
  • Hung-call detection with live PENDING timer
  • Filter stream by tool, status, direction, kind, ID, or plain text

mcpsnoop Use Cases

  • Debugging real-time MCP traffic between AI clients and servers
  • Inspecting tool call arguments and responses
  • Replaying tool calls for iterative development
  • Verifying capability agreements between client and server

mcpsnoop Pricing & Free Credits

mcpsnoop currently operates on a Free model.

This tool is completely free to use

Open Source

Free

MIT licensed, free to use without restrictions

mcpsnoop Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Transparent proxy requires no configuration changes
  • Live terminal UI with powerful filtering
  • Replay functionality for quick iteration
  • Works with any MCP server language

Cons

  • Pre-1.0 software may have breaking changes
  • Only supports MCP protocol traffic
  • Requires Go or Homebrew for installation

What is mcpsnoop best for?

  • Developers debugging MCP-based AI applications
  • Engineers building custom MCP servers or clients

mcpsnoop FAQ

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