Hoot MCP Server

🦉 Hoot

MCP Testing Tool — Like Postman, but for the Model Context Protocol.

Test, debug, and explore MCP servers with a beautiful interface. No AI chat needed.

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/e3add38e-9636-4f40-99d8-f4a2b8f0f056

⚠️ Beta Software — Hoot is in active development. Found a bug? Open an issue. Want to contribute? PRs welcome!

Quick Start

🌐 Try instantly (no install):

👉 hoot.run — Opens in your browser, ready to test.

Or run locally:

npx -y @portkey-ai/hoot

Opens on localhost:8009. One command, zero config.

Features

Core Testing

• Connect to any MCP server — HTTP and SSE transport support
• Auto-detection — Just paste a URL, Hoot figures out the rest
• Execute tools — Test tools with parameters and view responses
• Copy-paste friendly — Everything is clipboard-ready

Authentication & Security

• OAuth 2.1 with automatic discovery and compliance testing (docs)
• JWT-based sessions — Secure local authentication
• Rate limiting & audit logs — Built-in security features
• Localhost-only by default — Safe for local development

Smart Features

• Intelligent tool filtering — Context-aware tool selection powered by AI
• Chat interface — Test tools conversationally with LLM assistance
• Keyboard shortcuts — Lightning-fast navigation (docs)
• 8 beautiful themes — Light & dark modes for every preference (docs)

Sharing & Collaboration

• 🦉 "Try in Hoot" links — Share servers with a single URL (docs)
• Persistent state — Your servers and tools stay configured between sessions

How It Works

Hoot runs a Node.js backend that acts as the MCP client, eliminating CORS issues when connecting to MCP servers from your browser.

Browser (React) → Backend (Node.js/Express) → MCP Servers

Architecture highlights:

• No CORS headaches — Backend handles all MCP connections
• Persistent OAuth tokens — Stored securely in SQLite (~/.hoot/hoot-mcp.db)
• Session-based auth — JWT tokens for secure frontend-backend communication
• Edge-ready — Deploy to Cloudflare Workers for global hosting (guide)

Data Persistence

On hoot.run:

• Server configs & tools — Saved in browser localStorage
• OAuth tokens — Managed by the hosted backend
• Chat history — Preserved in localStorage

On local (npx/npm):

• Server configs & tools — Saved in browser localStorage
• OAuth tokens — Stored in ~/.hoot/hoot-mcp.db (persists across npx runs)
• Chat history — Preserved in localStorage

Your servers stay configured between sessions!

Development

Run from source:

git clone https://github.com/Portkey-AI/hoot
cd hoot
npm install
npm run dev:full

• Backend runs on localhost:8008
• Frontend runs on localhost:8009

Available scripts:

• npm run dev:full — Run both frontend and backend
• npm run backend — Backend only
• npm run dev — Frontend only
• npm run build — Build for npm distribution
• npm run build:cloudflare — Build for Cloudflare Workers

Debugging

Hoot includes a client-side logger accessible from the browser console:

hootLogger.download()  // Download logs as JSON
hootLogger.clear()     // Clear logs

Backend logs are written to backend.log. See logging docs for details.

Documentation

• Quick Start Guide — Get up and running in 5 minutes
• Try in Hoot — Share servers with one-click links
• Authentication — OAuth 2.1 and API key setup
• Themes — Customize your interface
• Keyboard Shortcuts — Work faster
• Architecture — How Hoot is built
• Security — Security features and best practices
• Cloudflare Deployment — Deploy to the edge

📚 Full Documentation

Why Hoot?

Feature	Hoot	Manual curl/testing
OAuth 2.1 support	✅ Automatic discovery & flow	❌ Manual token management
Transport auto-detection	✅ HTTP/SSE auto-detected	❌ Manual configuration
Visual interface	✅ Beautiful UI	❌ Terminal only
Tool filtering	✅ AI-powered context-aware	❌ None
Session persistence	✅ Configs & tokens saved	❌ Reauth every time
Share configurations	✅ One-click "Try in Hoot" links	❌ Copy-paste configs

FAQ

<details> <summary><strong>Does Hoot work with all MCP servers?</strong></summary>

Yes! Hoot supports both HTTP and SSE transports, OAuth 2.1, and API key authentication. We auto-detect server configurations to make connection as seamless as possible.

</details> <details> <summary><strong>Is my data secure?</strong></summary>

Yes. Hoot runs entirely on your local machine. OAuth tokens are stored in a local SQLite database (~/.hoot/hoot-mcp.db), and all communication happens over localhost. No data is sent to external servers.

</details> <details> <summary><strong>Can I use Hoot in production?</strong></summary>

Hoot is designed for development and testing. For production deployments, you can deploy Hoot to Cloudflare Workers for your team. See our deployment guide.

</details> <details> <summary><strong>How do I test servers that require OAuth?</strong></summary>

Just add the server URL. Hoot automatically detects OAuth requirements and guides you through the authorization flow. Tokens are stored securely and refreshed automatically.

</details> <details> <summary><strong>Can I test multiple servers at once?</strong></summary>

Absolutely! Connect to as many servers as you need. Hoot manages all connections simultaneously and lets you switch between them instantly.

</details> <details> <summary><strong>Does Hoot support resources and prompts?</strong></summary>

Not yet, but they're coming soon! Currently, Hoot focuses on tool testing. Resources and prompts are on our roadmap.

</details>

Roadmap

We're working towards full MCP specification support. Coming soon:

• Resources — MCP resource listing and reading
• Prompts — MCP prompt testing and execution
• Electron desktop app — Native app with stdio transport support
• Collaborative workspaces — Share server configs with teams

Want to contribute? Check out CONTRIBUTING.md or open an issue with feature requests!

Technology Stack

• Frontend — React 19, TypeScript, Vite, Zustand
• Backend — Node.js, Express, MCP SDK
• Database — SQLite (better-sqlite3)
• Deployment — npm, Cloudflare Workers + Durable Objects
• AI — Workers AI for semantic tool filtering

Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Ways to contribute:

• 🐛 Report bugs and issues
• 💡 Suggest new features
• 📝 Improve documentation
• 🔧 Submit pull requests

License

MIT License — see LICENSE for details.

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Built by Portkey — Making AI development easier, one tool at a time.

Made this because we were tired of curl-ing MCP servers. Hope it helps! 🦉