@modelcontextprotocol/inspector 2.1.0 → 2.2.0

package/README.md

@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector --cli    # CLI
 npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector --tui    # TUI
 ```
 
+> **Upgrading from v1?** Read the [v1 → v2 migration guide](./docs/v1-to-v2-migration.md) — CLI flags, the new `--config` vs. `--catalog` split, the Node engine bump, and what no longer ships.
+
 > **Repo status.** This is the **v2** line of the Inspector. Active development happens on **`v2/main`** (the develop branch — all v2 PRs target it), which is merged into **`main`** at milestone releases; `main` is the default branch and holds the latest released v2, published to the npm `latest` tag. The legacy **v1** line lives on **`v1/main`** — security fixes only, published straight from that branch to the npm `v1-latest` tag (`npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector@v1-latest`). See [`AGENTS.md`](./AGENTS.md) for branch/board conventions.
 
 ## Project layout
@@ -37,8 +39,8 @@ inspector/
 │   ├── react/        # React hooks over the state stores
 │   └── storage/      # File I/O helpers for the OAuth persist backends
 ├── test-servers/     # Composable MCP test servers + fixtures used by integration tests
-├── scripts/          # Root build/verify tooling (install cascade, smokes, verify-build-gate, verify-format-coverage, pack:verify)
-├── docs/             # Task-oriented guides (server configuration, MCP App review, launcher/config plan)
+├── scripts/          # Root build/verify tooling (install cascade, smokes, verify-build-gate, verify-format-coverage, verify-dep-lockstep, pack:verify)
+├── docs/             # Task-oriented guides (v1→v2 migration, server configuration, MCP App review, launcher/config plan)
 ├── specification/    # Design/build specifications
 ├── AGENTS.md         # Contribution rules for agents AND humans (see below)
 └── README.md         # You are here
@@ -49,6 +51,7 @@ Each client has its own README with client-specific detail:
 
 Task-oriented guides live under [`docs/`](./docs):
 
+- [Migrating from v1 to v2](./docs/v1-to-v2-migration.md) — the v1 → v2 map: CLI flag mapping, `--config` vs. `--catalog` semantics with before/after examples, the Node engine bump (`>=22.7.5` → `>=22.19.0`), env-var renames, and the sub-packages that no longer ship.
 - [MCP server configuration](./docs/mcp-server-configuration.md) — which server(s) the Inspector connects to: `--catalog` vs. `--config`, ad-hoc targets, the `--` separator, the file format and its Inspector-specific per-server fields. Shared by all three clients; the cli and tui READMEs delegate their server-options sections to it.
 - [Reviewing an MCP App](./docs/mcp-app-review.md) — the CLI-first → one-shot-web recipe for automated App-tool review: `--app-info` probe → deep-link navigate → rendered widget, plus OAuth handoff and proxy support.
 - [Launcher and config consolidation](./docs/launcher-config-consolidation-plan.md) — why the launcher runs a client in-process rather than spawning it, and how the shared config processor fits in.
@@ -66,6 +69,8 @@ npm install     # root install; postinstall cascades into every client
 
 The cascade (`scripts/install-clients.mjs`) is dev-only — it exits early when the package is installed as a dependency, and the published tarball ships only each client's `build/`, so end users are unaffected. Set `INSPECTOR_SKIP_CLIENT_INSTALL=1` to skip it.
 
+**Where a dependency is declared.** The MCP SDK packages (`@modelcontextprotocol/client`, `core`, `server`, `server-legacy`, `ext-apps`) live in the **root** `package.json` only — never in a client's. Node resolution walks up, so the root install is on every client's chain, and the root manifest is already what the published tarball resolves against. Declaring them per client installs a second copy that can drift from the root's, which is how two versions of `ext-apps` (and of the transitive v1 `@modelcontextprotocol/sdk`) ended up in the tree before [#1970](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1970) — and a second copy of `client`/`core` is the failure `vitest.shared.mts` carries a `dedupe` workaround for. The same root-only placement holds for anything reached solely through root-owned code with no manifest of its own (`test-servers/src`, `core/`), and `vitest.shared.mts` aliases those to the repo root — `express` and `yaml`, both reached through `test-servers/src`, are the two today. **Whether such a package is a `dependency` or a `devDependency` follows from who consumes it at runtime, not from where it is declared:** anything `core/` imports at runtime must be a root **`dependency`**, because the client builds externalize npm packages and a published install resolves them from the root manifest, where devDependencies are absent. `express` is test-only and is a devDependency; `yaml` currently sits in `dependencies`.
+
 ## Running during development
 
 For day-to-day web iteration, run Vite directly from the web client (fast HMR, no launcher build needed):
@@ -132,16 +137,27 @@ Each config below is a ready-made server for exercising one feature by hand. Loa
 
 | Config                                    | Demonstrates                                       | Issue                                                                  |
 | ----------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
+| `mcp-app-http.json` **(legacy era)**      | An MCP App (UI resource + app tool) in the Apps tab | [#1859](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1859) |
 | `modern-mrtr-http.json`                   | A single MRTR round-trip                           | —                                                                      |
 | `mrtr-showcase-http.json`                 | Every MRTR preset in one server                    | —                                                                      |
 | `modern-network-http.json`                | Network tab: `Mcp-*` headers + error taxonomy      | [#1628](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1628) |
 | `xmcpheader-modern-http.json`             | Tools tab: `x-mcp-header` mirroring and exclusions | [#1632](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1632) |
 | `pagination-http.json`                    | Page-by-page list fetching                         | [#1721](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1721) |
+| `structured-output-http.json`             | Tools tab: a result's `structuredContent` section  | [#1908](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1908) |
+| `duplicate-tool-names-http.json`          | A `tools/list` that repeats a tool name            | [#1957](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1957) |
 | `advertised-extensions-http.json`         | Tool registration gated on advertised extensions   | [#1739](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1739) |
 | `logging-{legacy,modern}-http.json`       | Logging, both eras                                 | [#1629](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1629) |
 | `subscriptions-{legacy,modern}-http.json` | Resource subscriptions, both eras                  | [#1630](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1630) |
 | `tasks-{legacy,modern}-http.json`         | Tasks, both eras                                   | [#1631](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1631) |
 
+#### MCP Apps
+
+`mcp-app-http.json` serves the `mcp_app_demo` tool (`_meta.ui.resourceUri`) alongside its `mcp_app_demo_widget` UI resource, so the **Apps** tab has a real App to render. It is a plain streamable-HTTP server — connect with the **default (legacy)** protocol era, not Modern.
+
+Open the Apps tab, select `mcp_app_demo`, give it a title and click **Open App**: the widget renders inside the sandbox iframe and exercises the host-side UI protocol surface — host-context render, `size-changed`, `ui/message`, and a log line into the **App logs** panel. Because the widget is served through the sandbox proxy page, this config is also what reproduces [#1859](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1859) (a missing `clients/web/static/sandbox_proxy.html` surfaces here as a "Sandbox not loaded" message in place of the widget) — a failure that only ever appeared in an installed package, never in the repo.
+
+For the scripted version of the same flow (`--app-info` probe → deep link → rendered widget), see [Reviewing an MCP App](./docs/mcp-app-review.md).
+
 #### MRTR
 
 `modern-mrtr-http.json` serves the `mrtr_confirm` tool (preset `mrtr_confirm`, `createMrtrTool`) over the modern leg. Its handler returns `inputRequired(...)` embedding a form elicitation, so invoking it produces a real round-trip: `input_required` → the client fulfils the embedded elicitation and retries with a new id → `complete`.
@@ -197,6 +213,20 @@ Under SDK v2 a `tools/call` rejecting with `-32602` renders as a distinct error
 
 Turn on **"Fetch Lists One Page at a Time"** (Server Settings — the `paginatedLists` setting, or the **Paginated** switch in a list sidebar) and the lists load page 1 only (4 items) with a **Load next page** control and an _N pages loaded_ status. Each click fetches the next 4 and appends them; Refresh resets to page 1. With the switch off (the default), the same lists auto-aggregate all three pages on connect.
 
+#### Structured output
+
+`structured-output-http.json` serves `list_items` (nested `structuredContent` — objects inside arrays inside an object, the shape from [#1908](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1908)), `get_temp` (a flat three-key payload), and `echo` (no `outputSchema` at all). It is a plain streamable-HTTP server — connect with the **default (legacy)** protocol era.
+
+Run `list_items` from the Tools tab: the result panel shows the `content[]` text summary ("Found 2 items.") **and** a collapsible **Structured Output** section rendering the schema-validated payload as pretty-printed, copyable JSON. That section is what v2 was dropping — a tool declaring an `outputSchema` returns its real data there, and the text block usually only summarizes it. Run `echo` to confirm the section is absent when a result carries no `structuredContent`.
+
+#### Duplicate tool names
+
+`duplicate-tool-names-http.json` serves `get_weather`, `get_temp`, `echo`, and `add`, then repeats `get_weather` and `echo` at the end of `tools/list` with the same `name` and a `(duplicate)` title (`duplicateToolNames`). No preset can produce this shape — the SDK's `registerTool` rejects a repeated name — but a real server can and does, and the Inspector has to render it faithfully.
+
+Connect (default legacy era), open the Tools tab, and type `get` into **Search tools**: the list must narrow to exactly the three `get_*` rows. On the broken build it kept a stale `echo` row, because the sidebar keyed rows by `tool.name` alone and the colliding keys orphaned a child during reconciliation ([#1957](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1957)).
+
+The duplicated copies are appended rather than placed beside their twin on purpose. React matches a leading run of same-key children first, so a head-adjacent duplicate happens to line up and the defect hides; separating the pair is what makes it observable — and it is also the realistic shape, two tool sources concatenated.
+
 #### Advertised extensions
 
 `advertised-extensions-http.json` serves `echo` (always) and a `get_weather` tool **gated on the `io.modelcontextprotocol/tasks` extension** (`extensionGatedTools`): the tool is registered but starts disabled, and the server enables it on `notifications/initialized` only when the client declared that extension in its `capabilities.extensions`.
@@ -252,17 +282,18 @@ Individual clients: `build:web`, `build:cli`, `build:tui`, `build:launcher`. The
 
 Each client self-validates from its own folder; the root scripts chain them. There is **no** aggregate root `test` script — use `validate` (fast) or `coverage` (the gate).
 
-| Script                | What it does                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
-| --------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
-| `npm run validate`    | Runs `verify:format-coverage` (asserts every tracked source file is format-gated) first, then `validate:core` (the shared `core/` `format:check` + `lint` gate), then per client: `format:check` + `lint` + **`typecheck`** (cli/tui only) + `build` + fast unit tests. The quick inner-loop check.                                          |
-| `npm run coverage`    | The **per-file ≥90% gate** (lines/statements/functions/branches) under v8 instrumentation, per client. CI-enforced. For web this also runs the integration project and covers the shared `core/` runtime (including `core/json` and `core/client`).       |
-| `npm run smoke`       | End-to-end smokes through the built launcher (`--help` dispatch + prod cli/tui/web), plus a headless-Chromium boot smoke that runs the prod web bundle and asserts a clean first render (no uncaught error — sync exception or unhandled rejection, how a Node built-in reaching the browser bundle manifests).                               |
-| `npm run verify:build-gate` | Runs a real `vite build` with a Node built-in forced into the browser graph and asserts the build **fails** via the #1769 gate (which turns Vite's browser-externalization warning into a hard error). Guards against the warning phrasing drifting in a Vite bump and silently disabling the gate. Part of `npm run ci`.                        |
-| `npm run verify:format-coverage` | Parses the `format:check` globs out of every `package.json` (only those reachable from `validate`), enumerates all tracked source files, and **fails** listing any not covered by a glob — the durable guard for the "every first-party source file is format-gated" invariant (#1792). Runs first in `validate`.                        |
-| `npm run test:scripts` | Table-driven unit tests (`node --test`) for the guard's own pure parsers (`scripts/lib/npm-scripts.mjs` + the exported helpers of `verify-typecheck-coverage.mjs`), one case per rule they encode. Runs in `validate` — and `verify:typecheck-coverage` guards *this* gate in turn (reachable from `validate`, non-empty test set, every test file matched by the `test:scripts` glob), since `node --test` silently skips a file its glob misses and still exits 0. |
-| `npm run verify:typecheck-coverage` | The typecheck-coverage analog of the above (#1791): for each Node client (auto-discovered from disk — enrolled via its `typecheck` script's projects, or for a `tsc -b` client like `clients/web` via its `tsconfig.json` `references`) it runs those projects with `tsc --listFilesOnly`, unions them, and **fails** listing any tracked `.ts`/`.tsx`/`.mts`/`.cts` under the client that lands in no project (so a new top-level config/helper can't silently go untypechecked). It also requires, deny-by-default, the first-party TS no client owns (`test-servers/src`, the root `vitest.shared.mts`, all of `core/`, and any new top-level location) to land in some client project's tsc pass — so a `core` `*.tsx` web's projects don't reach is caught too. Also asserts the gate is wired (each client's typecheck pass — its `typecheck` script, or web's `tsc -b` — is reachable from its `validate`, and the root chain runs each client's `validate`). Runs in `validate`.                        |
-| `npm run ci`          | **Mandatory pre-push command.** `validate` → `coverage` → `verify:build-gate` → `smoke` → Storybook. A true superset of GitHub CI.                                                                                                                        |
-| `npm run pack:verify` | Publish smoke — see [Publishing](#publishing).                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
+| Script                              | What it does                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             |
+| ----------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
+| `npm run validate`                  | Runs the three durable guards first — `verify:format-coverage` (every tracked source file is format-gated), `verify:typecheck-coverage` (every one lands in a tsconfig project), `verify:dep-lockstep` (no dependency the shared sources directly import skews across installs) — then `test:scripts` (the guards' own parser unit tests), then `validate:core` (the shared `core/` `format:check` + `lint` gate), then per client: `format:check` + `lint` + **`typecheck`** (cli/tui/launcher; web typechecks via `tsc -b` inside its `build`) + `build` + fast unit tests. The quick inner-loop check.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                |
+| `npm run coverage`                  | The **per-file ≥90% gate** (lines/statements/functions/branches) under v8 instrumentation, per client. CI-enforced. For web this also runs the integration project and covers the shared `core/` runtime (including `core/json` and `core/client`).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
+| `npm run smoke`                     | End-to-end smokes through the built launcher (`--help` dispatch + prod cli/tui/web), plus two headless-Chromium smokes: a boot smoke that runs the prod web bundle and asserts a clean first render (no uncaught error — sync exception or unhandled rejection, how a Node built-in reaching the browser bundle manifests), and an **MCP Apps** smoke (`smoke:web:app`) that drives connect → open app → `data-app-status="ready"` against a composable App server, covering the sandbox proxy and UI-protocol bridge.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
+| `npm run verify:build-gate`         | Runs a real `vite build` with a Node built-in forced into the browser graph and asserts the build **fails** via the #1769 gate (which turns Vite's browser-externalization warning into a hard error). Guards against the warning phrasing drifting in a Vite bump and silently disabling the gate. Part of `npm run ci`.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                |
+| `npm run verify:format-coverage`    | Parses the `format:check` globs out of every `package.json` (only those reachable from `validate`), enumerates all tracked source files, and **fails** listing any not covered by a glob — the durable guard for the "every first-party source file is format-gated" invariant (#1792). Runs first in `validate`.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        |
+| `npm run test:scripts`              | Table-driven unit tests (`node --test`) for the guard's own pure parsers (`scripts/lib/npm-scripts.mjs` + the exported helpers of `verify-typecheck-coverage.mjs` and `verify-dep-lockstep.mjs`), one case per rule they encode. Runs in `validate` — and `verify:typecheck-coverage` guards *this* gate in turn (reachable from `validate`, non-empty test set, every test file matched by the `test:scripts` glob), since `node --test` silently skips a file its glob misses and still exits 0.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       |
+| `npm run verify:typecheck-coverage` | The typecheck-coverage analog of the above (#1791): for each Node client (auto-discovered from disk — enrolled via its `typecheck` script's projects, or for a `tsc -b` client like `clients/web` via its `tsconfig.json` `references`) it runs those projects with `tsc --listFilesOnly`, unions them, and **fails** listing any tracked `.ts`/`.tsx`/`.mts`/`.cts` under the client that lands in no project (so a new top-level config/helper can't silently go untypechecked). It also requires, deny-by-default, the first-party TS no client owns (`test-servers/src`, the root `vitest.shared.mts`, all of `core/`, and any new top-level location) to land in some client project's tsc pass — so a `core` `*.tsx` web's projects don't reach is caught too. Also asserts the gate is wired (each client's typecheck pass — its `typecheck` script, or web's `tsc -b` — is reachable from its `validate`, and the root chain runs each client's `validate`). Runs in `validate`. |
+| `npm run verify:dep-lockstep`       | Guards the "one version per install-crossing dependency" invariant (#1896). v2 is not a workspace, so a client's test project compiles the shared first-party TypeScript — `core/`, `test-servers/src`, and the root-owned `vitest.shared.mts`, all of which resolve their dependencies from the **root** install — alongside the client's own sources, putting the same package in one `tsc` program twice. At the same version that's harmless; skewed, TypeScript must relate two structurally-distinct copies of every type, which for a recursive-generic surface is exponential (zod `4.3.6` vs `4.4.3` exhausted the 4GB tsc heap in `clients/web`). Derives its candidate set from what those shared sources import, compares the committed lockfiles' top-level entries, and **fails deny-by-default** on any skew not in the annotated `TOLERATED_SKEW` allowlist — and an allowlisted package is tolerated only *within a major version*. Runs in `validate`.                 |
+| `npm run ci`                        | **Mandatory pre-push command.** `validate` → `coverage` → `verify:build-gate` → `smoke` → Storybook. A true superset of GitHub CI.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       |
+| `npm run pack:verify`               | Publish smoke — see [Publishing](#publishing).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
 
 Per-client scripts exist too (`validate:web`, `coverage:cli`, `smoke:tui`, …), plus root `validate:core` / `format:core` for the shared `core/` package, `format:scripts` for the root `scripts/` tooling, and `format:shared` / `lint:shared` for the root "shared" surface (`test-servers/src/**`, `vitest.shared.mts`, the root `eslint.config.js`). Run `npm run format` before committing — the root `format` fixes `core/`, the root `scripts/`, the shared surface, and every client; `validate` runs the non-fixing `format:check` and fails CI on any unformatted file.
 
@@ -278,6 +309,8 @@ The root `package.json` `"files"` allowlist is the source of truth for the tarba
 
 - **No source maps.** The client bundlers set `sourcemap: false` (`clients/{cli,tui}/tsup.config.ts`, `clients/web/tsup.runner.config.ts`); Vite and the launcher's `tsc` already emit none. Maps are ~half the unpacked size and aren't needed at runtime — debug via `npm run dev` on the source.
 - **`clients/web/build` ships via `clients/web/.npmignore`.** `clients/web/.gitignore` lists `build/`, and npm's packlist honors that nested `.gitignore` over the root `"files"` allowlist — so the prod web-server runner was silently missing from the tarball while `clients/web/dist` slipped through (its `.gitignore` only lists `dist-ssr`). `clients/web/.npmignore` overrides the `.gitignore` for publishing so both `build/` (runner) and `dist/` (SPA) ship. The other clients don't need this — none ship a nested `.gitignore`.
+- **`clients/web/static` ships the MCP Apps sandbox proxy.** `clients/web/static/sandbox_proxy.html` is a committed source file (not a build artifact), read from disk at runtime by `clients/web/server/sandbox-controller.ts` as `<runner dir>/../static/sandbox_proxy.html`. It was missing from the root `"files"` allowlist entirely, so every published build failed the Apps tab with **"Sandbox not loaded"** ([#1859](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1859)) while working fine in the repo. Because the path is resolved _relative to_ `clients/web/build`, the directory must ship at that exact location — `pack:verify` asserts both the tarball entry and the installed-on-disk path.
+- **A dependency that renders React is bundled, not externalized.** An externalized package resolves its own `react` from wherever npm placed **it** in the consumer's tree, which is not necessarily where the bundle resolves ours — npm places a package beside a React satisfying *its* peer range, and those ranges are looser than ours. `ink-form` and `ink-scroll-view` declare `">=18"`, so a project holding React 18 satisfies them and gets them hoisted while the Inspector's React 19 nests underneath: two React copies, and the TUI dies with `TypeError: Cannot read properties of null (reading 'useState')` the moment a tool test form or a scroll view mounts ([#1952](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1952)). Both are therefore inlined by `clients/tui/tsup.config.ts` and are **not** root dependencies: the tarball ships their code inside `clients/tui/build/index.js` rather than having consumers install them. Bundling also pins their transitive deps to what this repo's install resolved (notably `ink-select-input@6` via `overrides`, which npm ignores for a package installed as a dependency). **`ink` is the one exception, on cost:** bundling it works but adds ~1.4 MB (`react-reconciler` and `yoga-layout` come along, plus a `createRequire` banner for the inlined CJS), so it stays external — *not* because its `">=19"` peer makes it safe, which it does not. What keeps that tolerable is the root `react` range: `"^19.0.0"` is deliberately open to the whole major so npm can dedupe our React with whatever React 19 a consumer pins, leaving an external `ink` on the same copy the bundle uses. **Narrowing that range reopens the bug for the renderer itself** — `clients/tui/__tests__/tsupConfig.test.ts` pins it to `ink`'s peer floor, and guards the rest of the split; see the [TUI README](./clients/tui/README.md#bundling-react-rendering-dependencies-must-be-inlined-1952).
 - **A single version number, read from the root `package.json`.** The Inspector ships as one package with one version, so only the **root** `package.json` carries a `version` — the four `clients/*/package.json`s deliberately have none. Every Node client (CLI, TUI, and the web backend) resolves the version through the shared `readInspectorVersion()` reader in `core/node/version.ts`, which walks up to the root manifest (always present in the tarball). No client `package.json` is read at runtime, so none needs to ship. The web **browser** can't read the filesystem; it gets its version from the backend via `GET /api/config` (see [#1639](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1639)).
 
 ### `npm run pack:verify` — publish smoke against the real tarball
@@ -309,14 +342,34 @@ A container image is published to GHCR (`ghcr.io/modelcontextprotocol/inspector`
 
 ```bash
 # run the web UI (reads the auth token from the container logs)
-docker run --rm -p 6274:6274 ghcr.io/modelcontextprotocol/inspector
+docker run --rm -p 127.0.0.1:6274:6274 ghcr.io/modelcontextprotocol/inspector
 
 # or build the image locally
 docker build -t mcp-inspector .
-docker run --rm -p 6274:6274 mcp-inspector
+docker run --rm -p 127.0.0.1:6274:6274 mcp-inspector
+```
+
+**Keep the `127.0.0.1:` prefix on the published port.** A bare `-p 6274:6274` publishes on **every host interface**, putting the Inspector on your local network. The container's `HOST=0.0.0.0` is a separate concern — it governs the _container's_ interfaces, not the host's — so the `DANGEROUSLY_BIND_ALL_INTERFACES` opt-in that guards a wildcard bind outside a container does not cover this. It matters more here than for an ordinary web app: the backend spawns processes on request, `GET /` embeds the API token into the served HTML, and a request arriving with **no** `Origin` header skips the origin allow-list entirely — so for any non-browser client the API token is the only guard. Publishing wider needs a real access-control boundary in front of the Inspector — a reverse proxy that authenticates, an SSH tunnel, a private network. Setting your own `MCP_INSPECTOR_API_TOKEN` does **not** substitute: `GET /` discloses whatever token is in use, so a custom one is harvested exactly as easily as a generated one.
+
+**Keeping the servers you add.** The Inspector saves your server list to `$HOME/.mcp-inspector/mcp.json`, which in the image is `/home/node/.mcp-inspector/mcp.json` — inside the container's writable layer, so `--rm` discards it and every run starts with an empty list. Mount a volume there to keep it:
+
+```bash
+docker run --rm -p 127.0.0.1:6274:6274 \
+  -v mcp-inspector-data:/home/node/.mcp-inspector \
+  ghcr.io/modelcontextprotocol/inspector
+```
+
+The same volume also persists OAuth tokens and stored state, so an authorized server stays authorized across runs. Use `-e MCP_CATALOG_PATH=/some/other/path.json` to put the catalog somewhere else — mount a volume covering whatever directory you point it at. If you **bind-mount a host directory** instead of a named volume (`-v "$PWD/inspector-data:/home/node/.mcp-inspector"`), the directory keeps its host ownership, so on Linux add `--user "$(id -u):$(id -g)"` or `chown` it to uid `1000` — otherwise the non-root `node` user can't write and adding a server fails with `EACCES`.
+
+**Upgrading from an image before this fix?** Earlier images did not create `/home/node/.mcp-inspector`, so Docker created the volume's mount point as `root` and the non-root `node` user couldn't write to it. An **empty** volume repairs itself on the first run of a current image (Docker applies the image directory's ownership to an empty volume), but one that already has files in it keeps its old `root` ownership and still fails with `EACCES`. Fix it once:
+
+```bash
+docker run --rm -u 0 --entrypoint chown \
+  -v mcp-inspector-data:/data ghcr.io/modelcontextprotocol/inspector \
+  -R node:node /data
 ```
 
-The image defaults to `--web` bound to `0.0.0.0:6274` with browser auto-open disabled; override the args to run another mode (`docker run --rm ghcr.io/modelcontextprotocol/inspector --cli …`). Pass `-e MCP_INSPECTOR_API_TOKEN=…` to set a known token (otherwise one is generated and printed in the logs), or `-e DANGEROUSLY_OMIT_AUTH=true` to disable auth. Binding `0.0.0.0` (all network interfaces) is refused by default outside a container — it exposes the process-spawning backend to the local network — so the image opts in explicitly with `DANGEROUSLY_BIND_ALL_INTERFACES=true` (already set in the `Dockerfile`); a bare `HOST=0.0.0.0` without that flag exits with an error. If you **remap the published port** (`-p 8080:6274`), the browser's origin (`http://localhost:8080`) no longer matches the in-container port, so set `-e ALLOWED_ORIGINS=http://localhost:8080,http://127.0.0.1:8080` (or run `-e CLIENT_PORT=8080 -p 8080:8080`) or connects will 403. `ALLOWED_ORIGINS` **replaces** the default list rather than merging, so list every loopback form you'll browse from (see the [web README](./clients/web/README.md#host-binding--the-origin-allow-list)). The image runs as the non-root `node` user and has a `HEALTHCHECK` that probes the web UI — it assumes the default `--web` mode, so add `--no-healthcheck` when running `--cli`/`--tui` (which have no web server).
+The image defaults to `--web` bound to `0.0.0.0:6274` with browser auto-open disabled; override the args to run another mode (`docker run --rm ghcr.io/modelcontextprotocol/inspector --cli …`). Pass `-e MCP_INSPECTOR_API_TOKEN=…` to set a known token (otherwise one is generated and printed in the logs), or `-e DANGEROUSLY_OMIT_AUTH=true` to disable auth. Binding `0.0.0.0` (all network interfaces) is refused by default outside a container — it exposes the process-spawning backend to the local network — so the image opts in explicitly with `DANGEROUSLY_BIND_ALL_INTERFACES=true` (already set in the `Dockerfile`); a bare `HOST=0.0.0.0` without that flag exits with an error. If you **remap the published port** (`-p 127.0.0.1:8080:6274`), the browser's origin (`http://localhost:8080`) no longer matches the in-container port, so set `-e ALLOWED_ORIGINS=http://localhost:8080,http://127.0.0.1:8080` (or run `-e CLIENT_PORT=8080 -p 127.0.0.1:8080:8080`) or connects will 403. `ALLOWED_ORIGINS` **replaces** the default list rather than merging, so list every loopback form you'll browse from (see the [web README](./clients/web/README.md#host-binding--the-origin-allow-list)). The image runs as the non-root `node` user and has a `HEALTHCHECK` that probes the web UI — it assumes the default `--web` mode, so add `--no-healthcheck` when running `--cli`/`--tui` (which have no web server).
 
 ## Contributing — `AGENTS.md` and `CLAUDE.md`