MCP Reloader

Hot-reload server for Model Context Protocol (MCP) with dynamic tool loading

javascript

8

GitHub Stars

javascript

Language

6 months ago

First Indexed

2 months ago

Catalog Refreshed

Documentation & install

Readme and setup notes from the catalogue, plus a client-ready config you can copy for your MCP host.

Installation

Add the following to your MCP client configuration file.

Configuration

View docs

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mizchi-mcp-reloader": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "mcp-reloader",
        "--include",
        "examples/echo-server/config.json",
        "--",
        "node",
        "examples/echo-server/server.js"
      ],
      "env": {
        "MCP_HOT_RELOAD_INCLUDE": "config/**/*.json,src/lib/**/*.js"
      }
    }
  }
}

MCP Reloader provides hot-reload tooling for MCP servers, enabling you to develop MCP tools in real time. It watches tool files, dynamically loads changes, and restarts the server when configuration or include patterns require it, so you can write and test tools without manual restarts.

How to use

You run MCP Reloader to start a wrapper around your MCP server. Tools placed in the tools/ directory are loaded dynamically and can be updated on the fly. Use include patterns to watch configuration files and dependencies so the entire server restarts when necessary, while keeping tool code hot-reloaded for immediate testing.

How to install

Prerequisites: You need Node.js and npm installed on your machine. You should also have a working MCP project structure if you plan to wrap an existing server.

# Global installation
npm install -g mcp-reloader

# Or use directly with npx (recommended)
npx mcp-reloader --help

Additional content

Configuration and usage examples shown here illustrate how to wrap an existing MCP server so that tool changes are hot-reloaded while the server itself restarts when configuration files or other watched patterns change.

Example: Wrapping an existing MCP server with hot-reload for tools and a specific include pattern.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "echo_with_reload": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "mcp-reloader",
        "--include",
        "examples/echo-server/config.json",
        "--",
        "node",
        "examples/echo-server/server.js"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Examples of usage with include patterns and wrapped commands

Watch configuration and related files, then start the wrapped server so that changes trigger an automatic restart of the server while tool changes remain hot-reloaded.

# Wrap a server with a config.json watcher
npx mcp-reloader --include "config.json" --include "src/**/*.js" -- python server.py --port 3000

Available tools

list_changed

Notification sent to MCP clients when the tool list has changed, enabling immediate awareness of updated tools

hot_reload_tools

Dynamically loads and reloads JavaScript tools from the tools/ directory without restarting the server

wrap_lsp_server

Wraps an LSP server with hot-reload capabilities so changes to the LSP tooling are reflected in real time