CLI broken since v0.17.0: ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND for cli/package.json

[morluto]

Bug

The CLI (--cli mode) is completely broken from v0.17.0 through v0.22.0 (latest). Every npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector@0.17+ --cli ... invocation fails immediately with ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND.

Error

Error [ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND]: Cannot find module '/root/.npm/_npx/<hash>/node_modules/@modelcontextprotocol/inspector/cli/package.json' imported from '/root/.npm/_npx/<hash>/node_modules/@modelcontextprotocol/inspector/cli/build/index.js'
Did you mean to import "../../../../../../../../package.json"?

Root cause

cli/build/index.js (added in v0.17.0) contains:

import packageJson from "../package.json" with { type: "json" };

This resolves to cli/package.json, but the published package's files field is:

"files": ["client/bin", "client/dist", "server/build", "cli/build"]

cli/package.json is not in the files array, so it's not included in the published npm tarball. The import fails at startup.

Versions tested

Version	Status
0.16.8	✅ Works (no package.json import in cli/build/index.js)
0.17.0	❌ Broken (import packageJson from "../package.json" added)
0.18.0	❌ Broken
0.19.0	❌ Broken
0.20.0	❌ Broken
0.21.0	❌ Broken
0.21.2	❌ Broken
0.22.0	❌ Broken

Reproduction

# Works (v0.16.8):
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector@0.16.8 --cli https://example.com/mcp --transport http --method tools/list

# Fails (v0.17.0+):
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector@0.17.0 --cli https://example.com/mcp --transport http --method tools/list

Fix options

Option A (smallest diff): Add "cli/package.json" to the files array in the root package.json:

"files": ["client/bin", "client/dist", "server/build", "cli/build", "cli/package.json"]

Option B: Change the import to reference the root package.json:

import packageJson from "../../package.json" with { type: "json" };

Option A is preferable because it doesn't change the import path and keeps the cli/ directory self-contained.

Environment

• Node.js v22.22.1
• npm 10.9.4
• Linux x86_64
• Tested via npx (clean cache, no global install)