The Wireshark of AI
A native desktop inspector for Model Context Protocol JSON-RPC. Live capture, replay, diff, and export across stdio, HTTP, and SSE — with zero changes to your servers or clients.
No data leaves your machine on Free and Pro.
Product walkthrough
A one-minute overview of the pain points MCP Inspector solves: invisible tool traffic, scattered logs, replay friction, team-scale trace visibility, and security-minded operations.
What it does
Built for developers who are tired of adding console.log to their MCP server source and hoping for the best.
Every JSON-RPC message, both directions, as it happens. MCP Inspector handles client proxy config — your server needs zero modification.
Pick any captured request and fire it again against the live server. See the new response side-by-side with the original.
Compare any two traces — params, results, or errors — with a collapsible JSON diff. Catch response shape changes before they hit production.
Save any session as a .mcp-trace file. Attach to a bug report. Open on any machine running MCP Inspector.
Color-coded timeline shows every call status — in-flight, done, slow (≥200ms), or error. Find the bottleneck without reading logs.
Free and Pro run entirely locally. No telemetry, no cloud sync. Team tier: self-hosted aggregator on your own infrastructure.
Screenshots
Real captures from the desktop inspector — not mockups. Click any shot to enlarge.
Sessions, a live method timeline, transport filters, and a JSON-RPC detail pane — all in one native window.
Drill into the params and result of every request, with byte counts and exact timestamps.
Added, removed, and changed — tools and capabilities compared side by side to catch drift.
Scan the machine for MCP clients and servers, grouped by app, and start tracing in one click.
Browse a server's tools, fill in the params, and execute against the running server — result inline.
Spin up a shared trace hub with Docker, or point Monitor Stations at an aggregator you already run.
Activate Pro, point at your aggregator, and copy the silent-install command for Intune/SCCM fleet deployment.
Database path, WebSocket port, theme, and startup behavior — tuned to how you work.
Save any session as a portable .mcp-trace file, or export OTLP for your observability stack.
Pricing
The free tier is a real product, not a demo. Use it indefinitely. Upgrade when you need replay, diff, or team visibility.
Free
A full desktop install, free forever — put it on any machine, no account required. Add a license key later to unlock more.
Pro
Everything in Free, plus unlimited history, replay, diff, and export. Two machine licenses.
.mcp-traceTeam
Self-hosted aggregator on your infrastructure. Every developer sees every agent's traffic on a shared dashboard. Min 3 seats.
Enterprise: self-hosted license server, SSO/SAML, audit logs, air-gap mode. Contact us →
FAQ
stdio (subprocess wrap), http (direct streamable-HTTP), and sse (legacy SSE transport). The reverse proxy handles SSE and HTTP; the MITM wrapper handles stdio. You pick based on how your server runs.
mcp-inspector) runs on any platform where Python 3.11+ is available.