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The Inspector is built-in local development tooling. mcp-use installs its prebuilt package, and mcp-use dev mounts it on the development listener at /mcp/inspector.

Auto-Mounting with mcp-use

When using a generated mcp-use project, run npm run dev. The CLI loads the Inspector supplied by mcp-use, serves its bundled UI locally, and opens /mcp/inspector. No extra dependency or CDN is involved. Production stays Inspector-free by default; use mcp-use start --with-inspector to mount it on the built server’s existing listener.

Example

Generated and existing projects receive the Inspector through mcp-use. Add @mcp-use/inspector directly only when overriding the framework-supplied version or mounting it without mcp-use.
Then run mcp-use dev; the Inspector is available at http://localhost:3000/mcp/inspector. Use --no-inspector for a headless development run. To inspect the production build locally, build once and opt in when starting it:
This changes neither the build output nor its manifest. Treat a production Inspector as an internal tool: it can invoke MCP tools and proxy OAuth flows.

Manual Integration

For custom development servers, mountInspector() from @mcp-use/inspector provides the complete local Inspector: packaged UI, proxy, OAuth BFF, and callbacks. It can register on Hono/Express or return a framework-neutral Fetch handler.

Hono Integration

Mount the Inspector on a Hono application:

Path Customization

basePath defaults to /mcp, so the Inspector lives at /mcp/inspector. Set basePath: '' for /inspector, or use another MCP prefix.

Hono with Custom Path

Configuration Options

mountInspector Options

Pass options only when the default mount behavior is not enough.

Protect mounted Inspector routes

The Inspector can call tools, read resources, and inspect prompts on any connected server. Keep it in local development. If a custom integration exposes it on a network, disable loopback proxying and put it behind the same access controls as other internal tools. Each mounted Inspector also applies process-local limits of 120 proxy/OAuth requests and 600 asset requests per minute. Exhausted routes return 429 Too Many Requests with Retry-After; these limits complement, rather than replace, network-edge authentication and rate limiting.