---
schema: rendered-html/v1
title: "Inspecting Servers - FastMCP"
source_url: https://gofastmcp.com/cli/inspecting
generated_at: 2026-06-11T19:40:45.840818+00:00
---




[FastMCP home page![light logo](images/gofastmcp__com__cli__inspecting__wordmark.avif)![dark logo](images/gofastmcp__com__cli__inspecting__wordmark-white.avif)](gofastmcp__com.md)







CLI

Inspecting Servers





















  - [Overview](gofastmcp__com__cli__overview.md)
  - [Running](gofastmcp__com__cli__running.md)
  - [Install MCPs](gofastmcp__com__cli__install-mcp.md)
  - [Inspecting](/cli/inspecting)
  - [Client](gofastmcp__com__cli__client.md)
  - [Generate CLI](gofastmcp__com__cli__generate-cli.md)
  - [Auth](gofastmcp__com__cli__auth.md)


- [JSON Output](#json-output)
- [Options](#options)
- [Entrypoints](#entrypoints)

CLI

# Inspecting Servers


View a server’s components and metadata


New in version `2.9.0`
`fastmcp inspect` loads a server and reports what it contains — its tools, resources, prompts, version, and metadata. The default output is a human-readable summary:

fastmcp inspect server.py

Server: MyServer
Instructions: A helpful MCP server
Version: 1.0.0

Components:
  Tools: 5
  Prompts: 2
  Resources: 3
  Templates: 1

Environment:
  FastMCP: 2.0.0
  MCP: 1.0.0

Use --format [fastmcp|mcp] for complete JSON output

## [​](#json-output) JSON Output

For programmatic use, two JSON formats are available:
**FastMCP format** (`--format fastmcp`) includes everything FastMCP knows about the server — tool tags, enabled status, output schemas, annotations, and custom metadata. Field names use `snake_case`. This is the format for debugging and introspecting FastMCP servers.
**MCP protocol format** (`--format mcp`) shows exactly what MCP clients see through the protocol — only standard MCP fields, `camelCase` names, no FastMCP-specific extensions. This is the format for verifying client compatibility and debugging what clients actually receive.

# Full FastMCP metadata to stdout
fastmcp inspect server.py --format fastmcp

# MCP protocol view saved to file
fastmcp inspect server.py --format mcp -o manifest.json

## [​](#options) Options

| Option | Flag | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Format | `--format`, `-f` | `fastmcp` or `mcp` (required when using `-o`) |
| Output File | `--output`, `-o` | Save to file instead of stdout |

## [​](#entrypoints) Entrypoints

The `inspect` command supports the same local entrypoints as [`fastmcp run`](gofastmcp__com__cli__running.md): inferred instances, explicit entrypoints, factory functions, and `fastmcp.json` configs.

fastmcp inspect server.py                  # inferred instance
fastmcp inspect server.py:my_server        # explicit entrypoint
fastmcp inspect server.py:create_server    # factory function
fastmcp inspect fastmcp.json               # config file

`inspect` only works with local files and `fastmcp.json` — it doesn’t connect to remote URLs or standard MCP config files.

[Install MCP Servers

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