MCP Web Client mcp-client

User guide for running the standalone reference chatbot client for the MCP Server using containerized deployment.

Overview

The mcp-client service provides a standalone reference web chatbot interface on port 3200. It connects to mcp-server via Streamable HTTP transport to execute Model Context Protocol (MCP) tool calls and render MCP-UI topic component previews.

Container Deployment

Run the standalone chatbot client using a single Docker container command:

docker run -d -p 3200:3200 \
  -e MCP_SERVER_URL=http://host.docker.internal:4001/mcp \
  -e CHAT_BOT_PROVIDER=gemini \
  -e GEMINI_API_KEY=your_api_key \
  ghcr.io/jason-fox/ast-mcp-client:latest

Open your web browser to http://<mcp-client>, where <mcp-client> is the host and port the service is running on, defaulting to localhost:3200.

Configuration Options

PORT
HTTP port for the web chatbot server (default: 3200).
MCP_SERVER_URL
Streamable HTTP endpoint of the connected MCP server (default: http://localhost:4001/mcp).
CHAT_BOT_PROVIDER
Active LLM provider (gemini, anthropic, openai, ollama).
SHOW_TOOL_INVOCATIONS
Set to true to display MCP tool call parameters and execution details in chat responses.