Get the tool list.

Recipe 1: MCP Inspector

For a local stdio server, run the official Inspector in CLI mode and ask for tools/list:

npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/inspector --cli node path/to/server.js --method tools/list > tools-list.json

Replace the command with your server's documented launch command. For a visual view instead, run npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/inspector node path/to/server.js, open the Tools tab, and save the complete list it shows. Do not include credentials or unrelated logs.

Recipe 2: a small TypeScript client

If you already use the MCP TypeScript SDK, listTools() returns the server's tool definitions. Install the client package, point the stdio transport at your server, and write the result to a file:

npm install @modelcontextprotocol/client

import { Client } from '@modelcontextprotocol/client';
import { StdioClientTransport } from '@modelcontextprotocol/client/stdio';

const client = new Client({ name: 'export-tools', version: '1.0.0' });
const transport = new StdioClientTransport({ command: 'node', args: ['path/to/server.js'] });
await client.connect(transport);
console.log(JSON.stringify(await client.listTools(), null, 2));
await client.close();

Run that script and redirect its JSON output to tools-list.json. If your server paginates, use the SDK's cursor loop or the Inspector so the file contains every tool.

Recipe 3: let Agent Scan look locally

On a developer machine, the pinned discovery command reads supported local MCP configuration files and reports what it can find. It does not execute tools:

npx -y @backbond/agent-scan@0.6.3 scan

Discovery is a starting point, not a substitute for the exact tools/list response. For a file you already exported, run the pre-attachment check directly:

npx -y @backbond/agent-scan@0.6.3 vet-tools --stdin < tools-list.json

Keep credentials, access tokens, server URLs, prompts, traces, and unrelated configuration out of the file. The browser preview accepts up to 256 KiB and 200 tools; larger or different formats can use the pinned local CLI.