MCP DevTools - Tool Reference

February 25, 2026 · View on GitHub

MCP DevTools provides a comprehensive suite of developer tools through a single binary. All tools are designed to work on both macOS and Linux environments.

Each tool has it's own documentation in this directory, detailing its purpose, actions, parameters, and usage examples.

Quick Reference

Example Workflows

Document Analysis Workflow

1. Document Processing → Extract text and structure
2. Think → Analyse content and identify key points
3. Memory → Store important entities and relationships

Package Management Workflow

1. Package Search → Find latest versions
2. Package Documentation → Get usage examples
3. Think → Plan integration approach

Research Workflow

1. Internet Search → Find relevant information
   (Supports: Brave, Google, Kagi, SearXNG, DuckDuckGo)
2. Web Fetch → Retrieve detailed content
3. Memory → Store findings for later reference

API Integration Workflow

1. Configure APIs in ~/.mcp-devtools/apis.yaml
2. Dynamic API tools automatically available (e.g., github_api, slack_api)
3. Use endpoints via unified parameter interface
4. Security framework validates all requests automatically

AWS Documentation Research Workflow

1. AWS Documentation (search) → Find relevant AWS guides
2. AWS Documentation (fetch) → Get detailed AWS content

Terraform Documentation Research Workflow

1. Terraform Documentation (search_providers) → Find provider resources
2. Terraform Documentation (get_provider_details) → Get detailed provider documentation
3. Terraform Documentation (search_modules) → Find relevant modules
4. Terraform Documentation (get_module_details) → Get module configuration examples
5. Memory → Store Terraform configuration patterns

Complex Problem Solving Workflow

1. Sequential Thinking → Break down problem systematically
2. Internet Search / Web Fetch → Gather relevant information
3. Sequential Thinking → Process findings and revise approach
4. Think → Deep analysis of solution options
5. Sequential Thinking → Finalise solution with confidence

Codebase Analysis Workflow

1. Code Skim → Strip implementation details from files/directories
2. Code Search (index) → Index code for semantic search
3. Code Search (search) → Find code by natural language description
4. Think → Analyse code structure and architecture
5. Memory → Store architectural patterns and key components

Excel Data Analysis Workflow

1. Excel (create_workbook) → Create new workbook
2. Excel (write_data) → Populate with data
3. Excel (format_range) → Apply formatting and conditional formatting
4. Excel (create_chart) → Add visualisations
5. Excel (create_pivot_table) → Generate analysis summaries
6. Excel (create_table) → Convert data to structured tables

Configuration Quick Start

Minimal Configuration (Most Tools Available)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dev-tools": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "/path/to/mcp-devtools"
    }
  }
}

Full Configuration (All Tools)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dev-tools": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "/path/to/mcp-devtools",
      "env": {
        "ENABLE_ADDITIONAL_TOOLS": "github,aws_documentation,fetch_url,internet_search,think,memory,filesystem,shadcn_ui,magic_ui,aceternity_ui,security,claude-agent,codex-agent,copilot-agent,gemini-agent,kiro-agent,brave_local_search,brave_video_search,pdf,process_document,sequential-thinking,excel,find_long_files,code_skim,code_search,code_rename",
        "GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT": "gemini-code-assist-123456",
        "BRAVE_API_KEY": "abc123",
        "SEARXNG_BASE_URL": "https://searxng.your.domain",
        "DOCLING_VLM_MODEL": "qwen2.5vl:7b-q8_0",
        "DOCLING_VLM_API_KEY": "ollama",
        "DOCLING_VLM_API_URL": "https://ollama.your.domain/v1",
        "GITHUB_TOKEN": "github_pat_READ_ONLY_GITHUB_TOKEN"
      }
    }
  }
}

Tool Selection Guide

Choose Based on Your Needs

For Document Work:

  • Single documents → PDF Processing
  • Complex documents → Document Processing
  • Research papers → Document Processing + Memory

For Data Analysis:

  • Spreadsheet creation → Excel
  • Data visualisation → Excel (charts and conditional formatting)
  • Data summarisation → Excel (pivot tables)
  • Structured data → Excel (tables with formatting)

For Development:

  • Package management → Package Search + Package Documentation
  • Code research → Internet Search + Web Fetch
  • Codebase exploration → Code Skim + Think
  • Symbol renaming → Code Rename
  • Architecture planning → Sequential Thinking + Think + Memory
  • Complex debugging → Sequential Thinking + Internet Search
  • File operations → Filesystem + Think

For File Management:

  • File operations → Filesystem
  • Project setup → Filesystem + Package Search
  • Code analysis → Filesystem + Think

For Content Creation:

  • Research → Internet Search + Web Fetch + Memory
  • Analysis → Think + Document Processing
  • UI work → ShadCN UI + Package Search

Getting Help

Tip: Start with the minimal configuration and add API keys as needed. Most tools work without any setup!