MCP tools not showing: diagnose a Toolfound connection

Run the safe diagnostic

From this repository, run the diagnostic script. It sends only initialize and tools/list. It does not call a listed tool, submit a product, send email, or require a key.

bash scripts/diagnose-toolfound-mcp.sh

A healthy result reports protocol 2025-06-18, server toolfound, and a non-zero tool count. On October 2, 2026, the public endpoint returned 23 tools. Treat that count as observed evidence, not a permanent contract.

Check the address and transport

The full Toolfound MCP server address is https://toolfound.com/api/mcp. It uses MCP Streamable HTTP. Configure that URL as a remote HTTP MCP server; do not enter it as a local stdio command, append /sse, or use the human documentation page https://toolfound.com/mcp as the endpoint.

A browser GET is only a self-description. MCP requests are JSON-RPC messages sent with HTTP POST. A successful GET therefore does not establish that tool discovery works.

Test protocol negotiation

This request uses protocol version 2025-06-18, the version the live server negotiated when checked on October 2, 2026. The response may be JSON or an SSE event: message containing a data: JSON object, so inspect the body rather than assuming one framing.

curl -sS 'https://toolfound.com/api/mcp' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'Accept: application/json, text/event-stream' \
  --data '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"initialize","params":{"protocolVersion":"2025-06-18","capabilities":{},"clientInfo":{"name":"toolfound-diagnostic","version":"1.0.0"}}}'

Look for a JSON-RPC result containing protocolVersion and serverInfo.name. An HTML page usually means the address, proxy, or redirect is wrong. HTTP 401 or 403 on this request points to a client, proxy, or gateway policy because Toolfound's public initialization does not require an API key.

List tools without calling them

tools/list discovers schemas; it does not execute any tool. The live Toolfound endpoint currently accepts this stateless request directly:

curl -sS 'https://toolfound.com/api/mcp' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'Accept: application/json, text/event-stream' \
  --data '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":2,"method":"tools/list","params":{}}'

A healthy body contains result.tools. Confirm familiar read tools such as toolfound_search_tools and toolfound_get_product. If curl lists tools but your client does not, the endpoint is working and the remaining problem is in client configuration, capability handling, or cached discovery state.

Fix client-side discovery

1. Remove duplicate Toolfound entries so the client has one server name and one exact URL.
2. Confirm the client supports remote Streamable HTTP, not only local stdio servers or the older HTTP+SSE transport.
3. Restart or explicitly reconnect the MCP server after editing configuration. Many clients cache the tool list for a session.
4. Open the client's MCP logs and compare its POST URL, status, response content type, and JSON-RPC error with the curl checks above.
5. If a corporate proxy rewrites or blocks event streams, allow POST requests and text/event-stream responses for toolfound.com.

If initialization succeeds but tools/list fails, preserve the redacted JSON-RPC error and HTTP status. Do not paste cookies, verification tokens, email links, or authorization headers into support messages.

Do not confuse public discovery with mutating flows

Initialization and tool listing are public. Toolfound's catalogue discovery tools are also public. The same full endpoint advertises mutating tools, but listing a schema is not authorization to call it.

Submission, claiming, verification, and relaunch flows have their own ownership and confirmation rules. Diagnose visibility with tools/list; do not test connectivity by calling a write tool with a real email, product, or verification token.

Limits and primary sources

• The observed protocol version and tool count can change as the server evolves.
• A successful command proves reachability and protocol behavior from your current network, not compatibility with every MCP client.
• The shell diagnostic requires curl and Node.js 18 or newer and writes only temporary files that it removes on exit.

• Model Context Protocol: lifecycle
• Model Context Protocol: transports
• Model Context Protocol: tools
• Toolfound MCP setup
• Toolfound MCP endpoint

For client-specific setup, see Toolfound MCP setup. For a judgment-focused discovery workflow, read using MCP for tool discovery.