Stop Your AI Assistant From Guessing - Introducing interactive-mcp

You ask your AI assistant to refactor a function. It confidently rewrites half the file, breaking tests and introducing bugs. If only it had asked _which_ optimization you wanted! That simple question could have saved an hour of debugging. We've all been there: the powerful LLM just... _guesses_. ## Why Can't It Just Ask? Standard LLM interactions are often one-way command lines: request in, response out. This model doesn't easily let the AI pause its work and ask _you_, the user on your local machine, for real-time clarification. > You are now part of the MCP tool To bridge this, tools like Cursor use the Model Context Protocol (MCP). MCP allows richer communication between dev tools and AI models, including requests for user interaction. ## Introducing `interactive-mcp`: The Bridge This frustration led me to build `interactive-mcp`: a small, open-source Node.js/TypeScript server that acts as an MCP endpoint for interaction. When an MCP-compatible AI assistant needs your input, it requests it via `interactive-mcp`. My server then presents the prompt or notification directly to you on your machine. ## How It Works: Giving the AI a Voice {% embed https://youtu.be/ebwDZdfgSHo %} `interactive-mcp` exposes several MCP tools: #### 1. `request_user_input` Asks you simple questions directly in a terminal window. The LLM sends a message (and optional predefined answers), `interactive-mcp` shows a command line prompt, and your typed response goes back to the LLM. #### 2. `start/ask/stop_intensive_chat` For multi-step interactions (like configurations): - `start_intensive_chat`: Opens a persistent terminal chat session. - `ask_intensive_chat`: Asks follow-up questions in the _same_ window. - `stop_intensive_chat`: Closes the session. #### 3. `message_complete_notification` Lets the AI send a simple OS notification, useful for confirming when tasks finish. (Powered by [`node-notifier`](https://github.com/mikaelbr/node-notifier) for cross-platform support: Win/Mac/Linux). ## The Benefits Why use `interactive-mcp`? - **💰 Reduced Premium API Calls:** Avoid wasting expensive API calls (e.g., on o3/Claude 3.7 Sonnet via Cursor) generating code based on guesswork. - **✅ Fewer Errors:** Clarification _before_ action means less incorrect code and wasted time. - **⏱️ Faster Cycles:** Quick confirmations beat debugging wrong guesses. - **🎮 Better Collaboration:** Turns one-way instructions into a dialogue, keeping you in control. ## Getting Started Getting started is simple via `npx` (no global install needed). Just configure your MCP client: **Cursor (`mcp.json`):** ```json { "mcpServers": { "interactive": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "interactive-mcp"] } } } ``` **Custom Timeout (Optional):** Prompts default to 30s. Change it via the `-t` or `--timeout` flag (after `--`): ```json // Example: 60 second timeout "args": ["-y", "interactive-mcp", "--", "-t", "60"] ``` Your client can now use the interactive tools! ## Try It Out & Get Involved Ready to make your AI assistant less of a guesser? Give `interactive-mcp` a try! - **GitHub:** [https://github.com/ttommyth/interactive-mcp] (Stars appreciated!) This project is young (just POC), and feedback is crucial: - Does it solve a pain point for you? - Any issues or missing features? Please **open an issue or start a discussion** on GitHub. Contributions welcome! Let's make our AI tools work better _with_ us. Cheers!