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Meta-mcp MCP server guide

Overview​

The meta-mcp server acts as an intelligent intermediary between AI clients and multiple MCP servers. It provides tool discovery, unified access to multiple MCP servers through a single endpoint, and intelligent routing of requests to appropriate MCP tools.

Status

The meta-mcp server is currently experimental. If you try it out, please share your feedback on the Stacklok Discord community.

Key features include:

  • Tool discovery: Uses hybrid search (semantic + keyword) to find the right tools for your tasks
  • Unified access: Single endpoint to access all your MCP servers without managing multiple connections
  • Tool management: Seamlessly manage large numbers of MCP tools across different servers
  • Intelligent routing: Automatically routes requests to the appropriate MCP server based on tool requirements

This approach helps you avoid problems associated with context overload and tool confusion by narrowing down the toolset to only those relevant for a given task. It also simplifies client configurations by providing a single access point to multiple MCP servers.

The meta-mcp workflow:

  1. Your AI client sends the request to meta-mcp
  2. Meta-mcp uses hybrid search (semantic + keyword) to find relevant tools across all connected MCP servers
  3. Meta-mcp server returns the short list of matching tools to the client
  4. Client selects one tool from the short list and uses meta-mcp to call that tool
  5. Results are returned from meta-mcp to the client

Metadata​

Expand to view the MCP server's metadata
Server metadata
Name: meta-mcp
Type: container
Description: MCP server that acts as an intelligent intermediary between AI clients and multiple MCP servers
Tier: Official
Status: Active
Transport: streamable-http
Image: ghcr.io/stackloklabs/meta-mcp:latest
Has Provenance: Yes

Permissions:
  Network:
Repository URL: https://github.com/StacklokLabs/meta-mcp
Popularity: 0 stars, 0 pulls
Last Updated: 2025-09-15T08:11:53Z

Tools:
  - find_tool
  - call_tool

Tags:
  mcp, proxy, gateway, intelligent

Example Command:
  thv run meta-mcp

Usage​

The meta-mcp server is specifically designed to work with ToolHive groups. The recommended setup is to run meta-mcp in its own dedicated group (e.g., "meta") and have other MCP servers in a separate group (e.g., "default"). This keeps client configurations clean and allows meta-mcp to discover and route to tools across all connected MCP servers.

Clients using meta-mcp should be configured to connect only to the meta group. The meta-mcp server discovers and routes requests to tools in the default group.

Prerequisites

You need both the ToolHive CLI and UI to use the meta-mcp server because it depends on the UI's API server for tool discovery and management.

  • ToolHive UI (version >= 0.6.0) must be running during setup and operation
  • ToolHive CLI (version >= 0.3.1)

Step 1: Create a dedicated group and run meta-mcp

# Create the meta group
thv group create meta

# Run meta-mcp in the dedicated group
thv run --group meta meta-mcp

Step 2: Configure your AI client for the meta group

# Register your AI client with the meta group
thv client setup

# Verify the configuration
thv client list-registered
note

If your client was previously registered with the default group, unregister it. For example, to unregister Cursor:

thv client remove cursor --group default

Step 3: Add MCP servers to the default group

# Add MCP servers that you want to access through meta-mcp
thv run github
thv run fetch
thv run time

# Verify the configuration - meta-mcp should be in 'meta' group, others in 'default'
thv list

Sample prompts​

Once meta-mcp is configured and running, you can use the same prompts you would normally use with individual MCP servers. The meta-mcp server automatically discovers and routes to appropriate tools.

Using the example MCP servers above, here are some sample prompts:

  • "Get the details of GitHub issue 1911 from the stacklok/toolhive repo"
  • "List recent PRs from the stacklok/toolhive repo"
  • "Fetch the latest news articles about AI"
  • "What is the current time in Tokyo?"

Available tools​

The meta-mcp server provides two tools of its own for tool discovery and execution.

find_tool​

Discovers available tools that match your requirements using hybrid search (semantic + keyword).

Parameters:

  • tool_description: Description of the task or capability needed (e.g., "web search", "analyze CSV file")
  • tool_keywords: Space-separated keywords of the task or capability needed (e.g., "list issues github", "SQL query postgres")

call_tool​

Executes a specific tool with provided parameters after discovery.

Parameters:

  • server_name: Name of the MCP server providing the tool
  • tool_name: Name of the tool to execute
  • parameters: Dictionary of arguments required by the tool
  • Use descriptive group names: Keep meta-mcp in a dedicated group to maintain clean client configurations
  • Regular updates: Keep both ToolHive and meta-mcp updated for the latest features and compatibility
Best Practice

Start with a small set of MCP servers in the default group and gradually add more as you become familiar with meta-mcp's tool discovery capabilities. This makes it easier to understand which tools are being used for different tasks.