🌿 Forage
Self-improving tool discovery for AI agents.
Install one MCP server. Your agent finds the rest.
npm · GitHub · Contributing
Forage is an MCP server that lets AI agents discover, install, and learn to use new tools — automatically. When an agent hits a wall, it forages for the right tool, installs it, and teaches itself how to use it. No restarts. No manual config. The agent gets permanently smarter.
Why?
AI coding agents are limited to whatever tools they're configured with at session start. Need to query a database? Deploy to Vercel? Search Slack? The agent apologizes and you manually install the right MCP server.
Forage closes that loop:
Agent encounters a task it can't do
→ forage_search("query postgres database")
→ forage_install("@modelcontextprotocol/server-postgres")
→ Tools available IMMEDIATELY (no restart)
→ forage_learn() saves instructions to CLAUDE.md
→ Next session: auto-starts, agent already knows how to use it
Quick Start
Claude Code
claude mcp add forage -- npx -y forage-mcp
Cursor
npx forage-mcp init --client cursor
That's it. Start a new session and Forage is ready.
| Tool | Description |
|---|
forage_search | Search for MCP servers across the Official MCP Registry, Smithery, and npm |
forage_evaluate | Get details on a package — downloads, README, install command |
forage_install | Install and start an MCP server as a proxied subprocess (requires user approval) |
forage_learn | Write usage instructions to CLAUDE.md / AGENTS.md / .cursor/rules/ |
forage_status | List all installed and running tools |
forage_uninstall | Remove a tool and clean up rules |
How It Works
Forage is a gateway/proxy MCP server:
- You install Forage once — it's the only MCP server you configure manually
- Forage discovers tools — searches the Official MCP Registry, Smithery, and npm in parallel
- Forage installs tools — starts them as child processes, wraps their capabilities
- No restart needed — emits
list_changed notifications so the agent picks up new tools instantly
- Knowledge persists —
forage_learn writes to agent rule files, manifest auto-starts tools next session
Architecture
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Claude Code / Cursor / Codex │
│ │
│ "I need to query a Postgres database" │
└──────────────────┬──────────────────────────┘
│ MCP
▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Forage MCP Server │
│ │
│ forage_search ─── Official Registry │
│ forage_install Smithery │
│ forage_learn npm │
│ forage_status │
│ │
│ ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ │
│ │ Postgres MCP│ │ GitHub MCP │ ... │
│ │ (subprocess)│ │ (subprocess)│ │
│ └─────────────┘ └─────────────┘ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘
When you install a tool through Forage:
- Forage runs
npx -y <package> as a child process
- Connects to it via
StdioClientTransport (MCP client)
- Discovers the child server's tools via
listTools
- Re-registers each tool on the Forage server with a namespaced name (
foraged__<server>__<tool>)
- Sends
tools/list_changed notification — the agent sees new tools immediately
- When the agent calls a proxied tool, Forage forwards the call to the child server
Persistence
Forage stores its state in ~/.forage/:
| File | Purpose |
|---|
manifest.json | Installed tools, command/args, auto-start configuration |
install-log.json | Audit trail of all installs and uninstalls |
cache/ | Cached registry search results |
On startup, Forage reads the manifest and auto-starts all previously installed servers. Your agent picks up right where it left off.
CLI
Forage also includes a CLI for humans:
forage search "postgres database"
forage list
forage init
forage init --client cursor
Security
IMPORTANT
Forage cannot install tools without explicit user approval. Every forage_install call requires confirm: true.
- Audit trail — every install/uninstall is logged with timestamps to
~/.forage/install-log.json
- No remote backend — everything runs locally. Registry searches are read-only GET requests to public APIs.
- No secrets stored — environment variables for child servers are passed at install time, not persisted.
Development
git clone https://github.com/isaac-levine/forage.git
cd forage
npm install
npm run build
Test locally with Claude Code:
claude mcp add forage-dev -- node /path/to/forage/dist/server.js
See CONTRIBUTING.md for more details.
Roadmap
Features
Distribution
License
MIT