Summary

Once MCPForge can scaffold projects, the next missing piece is a lightweight validation loop for checking whether a generated or in-progress MCP server actually starts and exposes the expected capabilities.

Why this matters

A local validation command would make MCPForge much more useful than scaffolding alone:

• catches obvious wiring mistakes early
• shortens the feedback loop for tool/resource/prompt registration
• creates a foundation for stronger CI checks later

Proposed scope

• add a local validation command such as mcpforge check
• support at least one initial transport path (stdio is a good default)
• verify server startup and basic handshake behavior
• surface clear pass/fail output in the terminal
• document the expected developer workflow

Acceptance criteria

• developers can run a single command against a local server project
• the command reports clear validation errors when startup or handshake fails
• successful runs confirm the server can be reached and inspected
• README includes a short validation example

Notes

This should stay lightweight at first. A smoke-test runner is enough to unlock real usage before deeper protocol validation is added.