---
title: "Kit check mcp-or-cli | Agent Ready Checklist"
description: "Kit check mcp-or-cli: MCP server or CLI discoverable. The command that runs it, the evidence it prints and what it cannot prove."
canonical: https://agentreadychecklist.com/kit/mcp-or-cli
site: "Agent Ready Checklist"
last_updated: 2026-11-05
section: "Kit"
---

# Kit check mcp-or-cli | Agent Ready Checklist

> Kit check mcp-or-cli: MCP server or CLI discoverable. The command that runs it, the evidence it prints and what it cannot prove.

Source: https://agentreadychecklist.com/kit/mcp-or-cli
Site: Agent Ready Checklist
Last reviewed: 2026-11-05
Agent endpoints: https://agentreadychecklist.com/llms.txt (index), https://agentreadychecklist.com/openapi.json (API), https://agentreadychecklist.com/mcp (MCP server), https://agentreadychecklist.com/ask (search)
Access: https://agentreadychecklist.com/auth.md (no key). Pricing: https://agentreadychecklist.com/pricing.md (free).

# Kit check: MCP server or CLI discoverable

The mcp-or-cli check of the Verify Kit: Fetches /.well-known/mcp/server-card.json and /.well-known/mcp.json, POSTs an MCP initialize to /mcp, and, if the reader names a CLI package, checks the npm registry for it. It maps to AR-ACT-10, AR-ACT-03, AR-ACT-04, AR-ACT-06. Run it alone with --only=mcp-or-cli. On the pass fixture it reports: server card names "Fixture MCP".

## Run it

```bash
curl -fsSL https://agentreadychecklist.com/kit/verify.sh | bash -s -- https://example.com --only=mcp-or-cli
```

```bash
node verify.mjs https://example.com --only=mcp-or-cli
```

## What it tests

Fetches /.well-known/mcp/server-card.json and /.well-known/mcp.json, POSTs an MCP initialize to /mcp, and, if the reader names a CLI package, checks the npm registry for it. PASS on any one.

## What it cannot prove

Cannot judge whether the tools are useful or whether OAuth completes; a POST to /mcp is the one non-GET call and is skipped with --get-only.

## Requirements it maps to

-   [AR-ACT-10](https://agentreadychecklist.com/checklist/ar-act-10/)An MCP server or a CLI
-   [AR-ACT-03](https://agentreadychecklist.com/checklist/ar-act-03/)MCP over Streamable HTTP
-   [AR-ACT-04](https://agentreadychecklist.com/checklist/ar-act-04/)MCP server card
-   [AR-ACT-06](https://agentreadychecklist.com/checklist/ar-act-06/)SDKs and a CLI

## Evidence on the fixtures

The pass fixture

PASS server card names "Fixture MCP"

The js-only fixture

FAIL server card 200, mcp.json 200, POST /mcp 404

The 403 fixture

FAIL server card 403, mcp.json 403, POST /mcp 403

## The one-line sketch

The shipped script is more careful than this sketch, which shows the idea in one line of shell.

```bash
curl -s "$ORIGIN/.well-known/mcp/server-card.json" | jq -e .serverInfo.name; curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" -X POST "$ORIGIN/mcp" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -H "Accept: application/json, text/event-stream" -d @init.json; [ -n "$CLI" ] && curl -s "https://registry.npmjs.org/$CLI/latest" | jq -r .version
```

## Sources

-   [modelcontextprotocol.io](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/)read 2026-11-04

Last reviewed 2026-11-05. AgentReady v2.0, read 2026-11-04.