Proposal: Bringing MCP Apps to the Terminal with Dual HTML/JSON Views for CLI Agents
fka · reddit · 2026-09-09
Developer fka published a proposal to make MCP Apps work inside terminal harnesses like Codex CLI, Claude Code, and Copilot CLI—enabling seat maps, split views, file trees with previews, and colorized diffs.
- Today, MCP elicitation lets a server request structured input, but form schemas can't describe these kinds of interfaces
- The core idea: an MCP app can offer an HTML view plus a separate terminal view described in JSON; the host renders native components and sends user actions back through MCP tools
- A plane seat picker serves as the example: the HTML version shows a visual cabin map, while the terminal version uses a keyboard-controlled seat grid with a details pane—both share the same seat data and server logic, differing only in interaction style
- The post includes screenshots and example JSON for capability negotiation, components, state, and actions
This offers a path to rich interactive UIs in CLI agents that stays compatible with the existing MCP Apps spec.
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