DirectClient

DirectClient provides programmatic access to FrontMCP servers without HTTP or stdio transports. Connect directly from your TypeScript/JavaScript code with automatic LLM-aware response formatting.

DirectClient is ideal for SDK integrations, unit testing, AI agent frameworks (LangChain, Vercel AI), and same-process embeddings where network overhead is undesirable.

Transport Comparison

FrontMCP supports multiple ways to connect to MCP servers. Choose based on your use case:

Aspect	DirectClient	Stdio	HTTP (Streamable)
Use Case	SDK access, testing, same-process	CLI tools, desktop clients	Remote servers, web apps
Connection	In-process (no network)	Stdin/stdout pipes	HTTP/HTTPS requests
Process Model	Same process	Separate process	Separate server
Latency	Lowest	Low (IPC overhead)	Higher (network)
Session State	In-memory	Per-process	Persistent (Redis)
Auth	Direct token injection	Environment-based	Bearer tokens, OAuth
Best For	Agent frameworks, tests	Claude Desktop, Cursor	Production APIs

When to Use DirectClient

Building AI agents: Integrate MCP tools directly into LangChain, Vercel AI, or custom agent code
Testing: Write unit/integration tests without spinning up servers
Same-process integrations: Embed MCP capabilities in your application
Performance-critical: Avoid network/IPC overhead for high-throughput scenarios

When to Use Stdio

Desktop MCP clients: Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code extensions
CLI tools: Command-line interfaces that spawn MCP servers
Local development: Quick testing with standard MCP clients

When to Use HTTP Transport

Production deployments: Remote servers, load balancing, scaling
Web applications: Browser-based clients, REST-like access
Multi-tenant systems: Shared servers with authentication
Distributed architectures: Microservices, serverless

Quick Start

Basic Connection

import { connect } from '@frontmcp/sdk/direct';
import { MyServer } from './server';

// Get your FrontMCP scope
const scope = await MyServer.createScope();

// Connect directly
const client = await connect(scope);

// Use the client
const tools = await client.listTools();
const result = await client.callTool('my-tool', { arg: 'value' });

// Clean up
await client.close();

LLM-Specific Connections

For automatic tool/result formatting based on LLM platform:

import {
  connectOpenAI,
  connectClaude,
  connectLangChain,
  connectVercelAI
} from '@frontmcp/sdk/direct';

// OpenAI format (function calling)
const openaiClient = await connectOpenAI(scope, {
  authToken: 'my-token',
  session: { user: { sub: 'user-123' } }
});

// Claude format (tool_use blocks)
const claudeClient = await connectClaude(scope);

// LangChain format
const langchainClient = await connectLangChain(scope);

// Vercel AI format
const vercelClient = await connectVercelAI(scope);

Core Operations

Tool Operations

// List all tools (formatted for detected platform)
const tools = await client.listTools();

// Call a tool
const result = await client.callTool('tool-name', {
  param1: 'value1',
  param2: 123
});

Resource Operations

// List resources
const resources = await client.listResources();

// Read a resource
const content = await client.readResource('file://path/to/resource.txt');

// List resource templates
const templates = await client.listResourceTemplates();

Prompt Operations

// List prompts
const prompts = await client.listPrompts();

// Get a prompt with arguments
const prompt = await client.getPrompt('my-prompt', {
  topic: 'TypeScript'
});

Skills Operations

Skills are modular knowledge packages that teach AI how to perform multi-step tasks.

Search Skills

const result = await client.searchSkills('code review', {
  tags: ['github'],           // Filter by tags
  tools: ['github_get_pr'],   // Filter by required tools
  limit: 10,                  // Max results (1-50)
  requireAllTools: true       // Require all specified tools
});

// Result:
// {
//   skills: [{ id, name, description, score, tags, tools, source }],
//   total: number,
//   hasMore: boolean,
//   guidance: string
// }

Load Skills

const result = await client.loadSkills(['skill-1', 'skill-2'], {
  format: 'full',              // 'full' | 'instructions-only'
  activateSession: true,       // Activate skill session
  policyMode: 'approval'       // 'strict' | 'approval' | 'permissive'
});

// Result:
// {
//   skills: [{
//     id, name, description, instructions,
//     tools: [{ name, purpose, available, inputSchema }],
//     availableTools, missingTools, isComplete, formattedContent
//   }],
//   summary: { totalSkills, totalTools, allToolsAvailable },
//   nextSteps: string
// }

List Skills

const result = await client.listSkills({
  offset: 0,
  limit: 20,
  tags: ['productivity'],
  sortBy: 'priority',         // 'name' | 'priority' | 'createdAt'
  sortOrder: 'desc'
});

// Result:
// {
//   skills: [{ id, name, description, tags, priority }],
//   total: number,
//   hasMore: boolean
// }

Elicitation Handling

Elicitation allows tools to request user input during execution. DirectClient can handle these requests programmatically.

Register Handler

import type { ElicitationHandler } from '@frontmcp/sdk/direct';

const handler: ElicitationHandler = async (request) => {
  // request: { elicitId, message, requestedSchema, mode, expiresAt }

  // Prompt user and return response
  const userInput = await promptUser(request.message);

  return {
    action: 'accept',  // 'accept' | 'cancel' | 'decline'
    content: userInput
  };
};

// Register handler (returns unsubscribe function)
const unsubscribe = client.onElicitation(handler);

// Call a tool that uses elicitation
const result = await client.callTool('delete-file', { path: 'important.txt' });

// Clean up
unsubscribe();

If no handler is registered, elicitation requests are automatically declined.

Manual Submission

For async or external elicitation handling:

await client.submitElicitationResult('elicit-123', {
  action: 'accept',
  content: { approved: true, comment: 'Looks good!' }
});

Completion Operations

Request argument completion for prompts or resources:

// Complete for a prompt argument
const result = await client.complete({
  ref: { type: 'ref/prompt', name: 'my-prompt' },
  argument: { name: 'topic', value: 'Type' }
});
// result.completion.values: ['TypeScript', 'Types', 'Typography']

// Complete for a resource argument
const resourceResult = await client.complete({
  ref: { type: 'ref/resource', uri: 'file://{path}' },
  argument: { name: 'path', value: '/src/' }
});

Resource Subscriptions

Subscribe to resource updates for real-time notifications:

// Subscribe to a resource
await client.subscribeResource('file://config.json');

// Register update handler
const unsubscribe = client.onResourceUpdated((uri: string) => {
  console.log(`Resource updated: ${uri}`);
});

// Later: unsubscribe
await client.unsubscribeResource('file://config.json');
unsubscribe();

Logging Control

Set server-side logging level:

// Levels: 'debug' | 'info' | 'notice' | 'warning' | 'error' | 'critical' | 'alert' | 'emergency'
await client.setLogLevel('debug');

Connection Options

interface ConnectOptions {
  // Custom client info for platform detection
  clientInfo?: {
    name: string;
    version: string;
  };

  // Session configuration
  session?: {
    id?: string;  // Custom session ID
    user?: {      // User context
      sub?: string;
      email?: string;
      name?: string;
    };
  };

  // Auth token for protected servers
  authToken?: string;

  // Client capabilities
  capabilities?: {
    roots?: { listChanged?: boolean };
    sampling?: {};
    elicitation?: {};
  };
}

Info Methods

// Get session ID
const sessionId = client.getSessionId();

// Get client info
const clientInfo = client.getClientInfo();
// { name: 'openai-agent', version: '1.0.0' }

// Get server info
const serverInfo = client.getServerInfo();
// { name: 'my-server', version: '1.0.0' }

// Get server capabilities
const capabilities = client.getCapabilities();
// { tools: { listChanged: true }, resources: {...} }

// Get detected platform
const platform = client.getDetectedPlatform();
// 'openai' | 'claude' | 'langchain' | 'vercel-ai' | 'raw'

Platform-Specific Formatting

DirectClient automatically formats tools and results based on the detected platform:

Platform	Tool Format	Result Format
OpenAI	`{ type: 'function', function: {...} }`	Parsed JSON or string
Claude	`{ name, description, input_schema }`	Content array
LangChain	`{ name, description, schema }`	Parsed JSON
Vercel AI	`{ [name]: { description, parameters } }`	Parsed JSON
Raw	MCP native format	MCP CallToolResult

Error Handling

try {
  const result = await client.callTool('my-tool', args);
} catch (error) {
  if (error.code === -32002) {
    // Resource not found
  } else if (error.code === -32602) {
    // Invalid params
  } else if (error.code === -32603) {
    // Internal error
  }
}

Type Exports

All types are exported from @frontmcp/sdk/direct:

import type {
  // Core
  DirectClient,
  ConnectOptions,
  LLMConnectOptions,
  ClientInfo,
  LLMPlatform,

  // Skills
  SearchSkillsOptions,
  SearchSkillsResult,
  LoadSkillsOptions,
  LoadSkillsResult,
  ListSkillsOptions,
  ListSkillsResult,

  // Elicitation
  ElicitationRequest,
  ElicitationResponse,
  ElicitationHandler,

  // Completion
  CompleteOptions,
  CompleteResult,

  // Logging
  McpLogLevel,
} from '@frontmcp/sdk/direct';

Best Practices

Always close the client

const client = await connect(scope);
try {
  // Use client...
} finally {
  await client.close();
}

Use LLM-specific helpers

Use connectOpenAI, connectClaude, etc. for automatic response formatting instead of manual conversion.

Handle elicitation for interactive tools

Check capabilities before using optional features

const caps = client.getCapabilities();
if (caps.resources?.subscribe) {
  await client.subscribeResource(uri);
}

Get Started

FrontMCP

Features

Extensibility

Testing

Guides

Transport Comparison

When to Use DirectClient

When to Use Stdio

When to Use HTTP Transport

Quick Start

Basic Connection

LLM-Specific Connections

Core Operations

Tool Operations

Resource Operations

Prompt Operations

Skills Operations

Search Skills

Load Skills

List Skills

Elicitation Handling

Register Handler

Manual Submission

Completion Operations

Resource Subscriptions

Logging Control

Connection Options

Info Methods

Platform-Specific Formatting

Error Handling

Type Exports

Best Practices

Get Started

FrontMCP

Features

Extensibility

Testing

Guides

​Transport Comparison

​When to Use DirectClient

​When to Use Stdio

​When to Use HTTP Transport

​Quick Start

​Basic Connection

​LLM-Specific Connections

​Core Operations

​Tool Operations

​Resource Operations

​Prompt Operations

​Skills Operations

​Search Skills

​Load Skills

​List Skills

​Elicitation Handling

​Register Handler

​Manual Submission

​Completion Operations

​Resource Subscriptions

​Logging Control

​Connection Options

​Info Methods

​Platform-Specific Formatting

​Error Handling

​Type Exports

​Best Practices

Transport Comparison

When to Use DirectClient

When to Use Stdio

When to Use HTTP Transport

Quick Start

Basic Connection

LLM-Specific Connections

Core Operations

Tool Operations

Resource Operations

Prompt Operations

Skills Operations

Search Skills

Load Skills

List Skills

Elicitation Handling

Register Handler

Manual Submission

Completion Operations

Resource Subscriptions

Logging Control

Connection Options

Info Methods

Platform-Specific Formatting

Error Handling

Type Exports

Best Practices