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Forage

by isaac-levine

Discovers, installs, proxies, and remembers MCP tools for AI agents without requiring session restarts.

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Install Forage

Pick your client, then add it in one click or paste the config.

STDIONode.js
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
claude_desktop_config.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "isaac-levine-forage": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "forage-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Settings → Developer → Edit Config, merge this into mcpServers, then fully quit and reopen Claude Desktop.

Automated check passed— started and listed 6 tools correctly (1mo ago).

Overview

isaac-levine/forage MCP server lets an AI agent search MCP registries, install servers as local subprocesses, and use their tools through a proxy. It searches the Official MCP Registry, Smithery, and npm, then exposes installed tools immediately through MCP notifications. Forage stores installed-server state and usage guidance locally so configured tools can start again in later sessions. Reach for it when an agent needs tools that were not configured at session startup.

Use cases

  • Discover MCP servers for a capability an agent does not already have
  • Inspect package metadata before installing an MCP server
  • Install and expose MCP tools during an active session
  • Persist tool instructions for later agent sessions
  • Review or remove locally managed MCP servers

Key features

  • Searches the Official MCP Registry, Smithery, and npm
  • Evaluates package versions, downloads, README summaries, and install commands
  • Starts installed MCP servers as proxied subprocesses
  • Exposes newly installed tools without a restart
  • Persists installed-server state and agent usage instructions
  • Requires confirmation for installation and removal

Tools6

What Forage lets your agent do. Expand a tool for its parameters.

Verified live~871 tokens of context

Security & health

What it can reach and how reliably it runs — from our own checks, not the maintainer’s claims.

ActiveLast checked Today

Recent health check succeeded.

6/6 checks healthy over the last 79d

Supply-chain signal

No high-severity advisories surfaced by our automated scan.

Critical 0High 0Medium 0Low 0

Scanned 8d ago via OSV.dev · forage-mcp (npm)

Adoption & maintenance

Factual signals from GitHub, npm, and our automated checks — not a rating.

GitHub stars19Stargazers on the source repository.
npm downloads323Package downloads in the last 30 days.
Last commit8mo agoMost recent push to the default branch.
Availability100%Our rolling endpoint + install checks that succeeded.
Install checkPassedOur sandbox started it and listed its tools.
Tools exposed6Callable tools this server registers over MCP.
Directory activity8 viewsConfig copies, upvotes, and views on AllMCPs.

How Forage works

What isaac-levine/forage MCP server does

isaac-levine/forage MCP server acts as a discovery and proxy layer for MCP tools. Instead of manually configuring every MCP server before an agent session, an agent can search available servers, inspect a package, request an installation, and then call the installed server's tools through Forage.

Searches cover the Official MCP Registry, Smithery, and npm. The evaluation operation provides package details such as its version, download information, README summary, and installation command. This gives an agent a step between discovery and installation for checking a candidate package.

Forage also records information about installed tools. Its learning operation writes usage instructions to supported agent rule files, including CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, and .cursor/rules/, so later sessions can reuse that guidance.

How it works

After an MCP server is installed, Forage starts it as a child process and connects to it over the MCP stdio transport. It discovers the child server's tools, registers them with namespaced names in the Forage server, and forwards future tool calls to the child process.

Forage sends a tools/list_changed notification after a successful installation. Clients can therefore see newly available tools during the current session rather than waiting for a restart. Installed servers are represented in a local manifest, and Forage attempts to start them again when it launches.

State is stored under ~/.forage/. The manifest contains installed tools, commands, arguments, and auto-start settings. An installation log records install and uninstall activity, while registry search results may be cached.

Setup and configuration

The npm package is forage-mcp. For Claude Code, the documented setup command is:

Terminal
claude mcp add forage -- npx -y forage-mcp
Terminal
npx forage-mcp init --client cursor

Forage is intended to run locally and does not use a remote backend. Registry searches make read-only GET requests to public APIs. Environment variables needed by an installed child server are supplied during installation and are not persisted by Forage.

Tools and capabilities

The MCP interface provides these operations:

  • forage_search searches the supported registries for MCP servers and tools based on a capability description and returns ranked results.
  • forage_evaluate retrieves package information before installation, including version, downloads, README content summary, and an install command.
  • forage_install installs and starts an MCP server as a proxied subprocess. The call must include confirm: true, which prompts the user to approve the installation.
  • forage_learn writes instructions for using an installed tool to supported agent rule files.
  • forage_status lists installed and currently proxied tools, their servers, and installation state.
  • forage_uninstall stops and removes an installed tool, updates the manifest, and cleans up related agent rules. It also requires confirm: true.

Limitations and notes

isaac-levine/forage MCP server currently installs npm-based MCP servers through npx -y; support for pip, Cargo, and Homebrew packages is listed as future work. It cannot install a tool without explicit approval through the confirmation parameter. The project does not store child-server secrets, so those servers must receive their required environment variables at installation time.

The server depends on the target MCP package being available through the supported installation flow. Forage provides discovery and proxying, but the capabilities, configuration requirements, and behavior of each installed server remain specific to that server.

Read the full README View source on GitHub

Reviews

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Frequently Asked Questions about Forage

For Claude Code, run `claude mcp add forage -- npx -y forage-mcp`. For Cursor, run `npx forage-mcp init --client cursor`.

Yes. The README provides `npx forage-mcp init --client cursor` for Cursor setup.

Yes. Installed servers run as proxied subprocesses, and Forage sends a `tools/list_changed` notification so their tools become available in the current session.

Yes. `forage_install` requires `confirm: true`, and the user is prompted to approve the tool call.

Forage stores its state in `~/.forage/`, including a manifest, an install and uninstall log, and cached registry search results.

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