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1. Choose how to open Inspector

Every option below opens the MCPJam Inspector. Pick one based on where your MCP server runs.

Web

No install. HTTPS servers only. Share servers with your team.

Terminal

npx @mcpjam/inspector@latest. Requires Node.js. HTTP/S and local STDIO.

macOS

Desktop app (.dmg). No Node.js. HTTP/S and local STDIO.

Windows

Desktop app (.exe installer). No Node.js. HTTP/S and local STDIO.

Docker

Pull from Docker Hub. HTTP/S, plus STDIO servers that run inside the container.
  • Your server has a public HTTPS URL: any option works. The web app needs no install.
  • Your server runs on localhost or over STDIO: use Terminal or the macOS or Windows desktop app. The web app can’t reach it.
  • You want Inspector isolated in a container: use Docker. Reach servers on your machine at http://host.docker.internal:PORT, and note that STDIO commands run inside the container, not on your machine.
See Installation for the full comparison.

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2. Connect a server

On first launch, MCPJam shows a Welcome overlay that guides you through connecting your first server. You can:
  • Enter your own server — paste an HTTPS URL (e.g. https://your-server.example/mcp) or a STDIO command (Terminal, Desktop, and Docker only).
  • Try the Excalidraw demo — a hosted diagramming MCP app, no setup required.
After connecting, MCPJam shows the server name and tool count, then offers an Open Playground button that seeds the chat with the prompt:
Press Send to explore your server’s tools. No API key, ngrok, or ChatGPT/Claude subscription needed.
You should see your server show Connected and its tools listed in the Playground’s left rail.
Use the widget debug icons to open tool input/output, CSP activity, widget state, and JSON-RPC for each result.

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3. Connect your own server

Open the Connect tab in the left sidebar (labelled Servers in some builds). Click Add server.
  • HTTP: Paste a URL ending in /mcp. The web app accepts HTTPS URLs only. Terminal, Desktop, and Docker accept HTTP or HTTPS; from Docker, use host.docker.internal for servers on your machine. Add a bearer token or use the OAuth Debugger if the server requires auth.
  • STDIO (Terminal, Desktop, and Docker): Paste a command such as npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/server-everything. In Docker the command runs inside the container. Not available in the web app. See Hosted App.
Each Connected server is available in the Playground, Tools, Prompts, and Resources. Connect more from the Connect tab anytime.
You should see your server show Connected with a green dot in the Connect tab, and its tools should appear in the Playground’s left rail.

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4. Where to go next

Playground

IDE-style workspace for developing against your MCP servers. Chat with frontier models, invoke tools by hand, render OpenAI Apps SDK and MCP app widgets, and inspect every step via Chat / Trace / Raw. Compare up to 3 models side by side; debug widgets with the emulator (iframe, window.openai, CSP, device frames, locale).

OAuth Debugger

Step through your MCP authorization flow and inspect each stage. Check conformance across protocol versions (03-26, 06-18, 11-25) and client registration paths: Dynamic Client Registration (DCR), client pre-registration, and CIMD.

Projects

Group servers; share configuration with your team

API keys

The three things called “API key” in MCPJam (LLM provider key, MCPJAM_API_KEY, per-server bearer) and when you need each one.

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FAQ

No. MCPJam Inspector runs as a hosted web app, a desktop app, or via npx — none of them require you to install or configure a database. Accounts, sharing, and OAuth token storage on app.mcpjam.com are handled by the hosted backend; the Terminal and Desktop apps store config locally on disk.
All three installs (Web, Desktop, Terminal) show the running version in the Settings tab under About.To see the latest published version on npm, run this. It’s useful for confirming an @latest pull actually moved you forward:
The Desktop and Web apps update on their own. For the Terminal install, the @latest tag in npx @mcpjam/inspector@latest pulls the most recent release every run.
Not directly. MCPJam doesn’t reach into your repo. The closest workflow is Skills: install the MCPJam CLI skill into a project so an agent working in that repo knows how to use MCP tools and call MCPJam against your servers. See Skills.
It depends what you mean. The word covers three different things:
  • OAuth credentials from mcpjam oauth login: ~/.mcpjam/config.json. Override per command with --credentials-out. See CLI OAuth login.
  • Eval results: uploaded to your MCPJam project when MCPJAM_API_KEY is set to an MCPJam API key (sk_…). See Saving Results.
  • Inspector UI changes (server config, client edits): persisted via the Save button in the project view.
Open the account menu at the bottom of the sidebar and pick Sign out. You’ll be returned to the public app as a guest. See Hosted App → Signing out.