Feature Request: Make configs servers usable in commands

[jinzishuai]

Feature Request: Make configs servers usable in commands

Summary

The mcp configs system currently only manages configuration files for IDEs (Claude Desktop, VS Code, Cursor, etc.) but doesn't allow using these configured servers when running mcp commands. This creates a confusing user experience where servers with rich configuration (URLs, multiple headers, environment variables) cannot be referenced when running commands.

Current Behavior

When you configure a server using mcp configs set:

# Configure a server with multiple headers
mcp configs set claude-desktop my-api https://api.example.com/mcp \
  --headers "Authorization=Bearer token,X-API-Key=abc123,X-Custom-Header=value"

# View the configuration (works ✅)
mcp configs view claude-desktop

You cannot use this configuration when running commands:

# ❌ This doesn't work - no way to reference the configured server
mcp tools claude-desktop:my-api

# ❌ You have to manually specify everything again, but...
mcp tools https://api.example.com/mcp --auth-header "Bearer token"
# ...this only supports ONE header, not the multiple headers stored in config

Problems

1. configs system is disconnected from command execution - The loadConfigsFile() and related functions in configs.go are never called by tools.go, call.go, resources.go, etc.

2. No way to pass multiple headers at runtime - The --auth-header flag only sets the Authorization header. Many APIs require multiple headers (e.g., X-API-Key, X-Org-ID, etc.)

3. Code inconsistency - scanMCPServersConfig() ignores the type field from config files, always defaulting to "sse" for URL-based servers (lines 841-845 in configs.go):

   // Determine type based on whether URL is present
   serverType := ""
   if url != "" {
       serverType = "sse"  // ❌ Hardcoded, ignores config
   }

   Compare to scanVSCodeConfig() which correctly reads it (line 726):

   serverType, _ := serverConfig["type"].(string)  // ✅ Reads from config

Expected Behavior

Users should be able to reference configured servers when running commands:

# Option 1: Reference by alias:servername
mcp tools claude-desktop:my-api

# Option 2: Reference by alias (if only one server configured)
mcp tools langflow-dev

# Option 3: List servers from an alias
mcp tools --list-alias claude-desktop

When a configured server is referenced:

• Use the stored URL
• Apply ALL headers from the config (not just Authorization)
• Apply environment variables if specified
• Use the configured transport type (http/sse)

Proposed Solution

1. Add server resolution to CreateClientFunc in utils.go

// Check if the first argument is a config reference (alias:server)
if len(args) == 1 && strings.Contains(args[0], ":") {
    parts := strings.SplitN(args[0], ":", 2)
    aliasName := parts[0]
    serverName := parts[1]
    
    // Load server config from alias
    configs, err := loadConfigsFile()
    if err == nil {
        if aliasConfig, ok := configs.Aliases[aliasName]; ok {
            servers, err := getServersFromConfig(aliasConfig.Path, aliasConfig.JSONPath, aliasConfig.Source)
            if err == nil {
                if serverConfig, ok := servers[serverName]; ok {
                    // Use serverConfig.URL, serverConfig.Headers, serverConfig.Env, etc.
                    return createClientFromConfig(serverConfig)
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

2. Fix scanMCPServersConfig to read type field

// Extract common properties
serverType, _ := serverConfig["type"].(string)  // Add this line
command, _ := serverConfig["command"].(string)
url, _ := serverConfig["url"].(string)

// Remove the hardcoded logic:
// serverType := ""
// if url != "" {
//     serverType = "sse"
// }

3. Support multiple headers in client creation

When creating HTTP/SSE clients, merge headers from config with any runtime headers.

Benefits

1. Consistency - Configure once, use everywhere
2. Multiple headers support - No need for workarounds
3. Better UX - Aligns user expectations (why else would you configure servers?)
4. Reduces repetition - No need to pass long URLs and auth tokens every time

Workarounds (Current)

Currently there is no workaround to pass multiple headers.

Related Code

• cmd/mcptools/commands/configs.go - Configuration management (not used by other commands)
• cmd/mcptools/commands/utils.go - CreateClientFunc() (only checks alias system)
• pkg/alias/alias.go - Separate alias system (doesn't support headers)

Environment

• Version: Current main branch
• Go version: 1.24.1
• OS: macOS (but affects all platforms)