mcp-adapter-tool

Declare MCP servers in settings.json and their tools show up alongside tallow’s built-in tools. No proxy, no extra config, no dependencies. Any standard MCP server that speaks STDIO just works.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "filesystem": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem", "/tmp"]
    },
    "github": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-github"],
      "env": { "GITHUB_TOKEN": "ghp_..." }
    }
  }
}

Tools register as mcp__<server>__<tool>. The filesystem server above would expose mcp__filesystem__read_file, mcp__filesystem__write_file, etc. The LLM sees them like any other tool.

How it works

1. On session start, reads mcpServers from settings.json
2. Spawns each server as a child process (STDIO transport)
3. Sends the MCP initialize handshake and tools/list request
4. Registers every discovered tool with tallow
5. Routes tool calls to the right server
6. Kills all servers on session end

Crash handling

If a server process dies mid-session, the adapter attempts one automatic restart on the next tool call. If the restart fails, the server’s tools are marked unavailable and a notification is shown. No retry loops.

/mcp command

Run /mcp to see all configured servers, their connection state, and their tool lists:

filesystem: ● connected (4 tools)
  mcp__filesystem__read_file
    Read the complete contents of a file
  mcp__filesystem__write_file
    Create or overwrite a file
  mcp__filesystem__list_directory
    List directory contents
  mcp__filesystem__search_files
    Search for files matching a pattern
github: ● connected (8 tools)
  mcp__github__create_issue
    Create a new issue in a repository
  ...