mcp-sequentialthinking-tools

MCP.Pizza Chef: spences10

Think of it as a numbered scratchpad the assistant writes into while it works. Each step is recorded, and steps can be revised, branched, or cleared, with the whole history readable afterwards. Despite what older descriptions suggest, it does not find or pick tools for you: it only checks that any tool names the assistant proposes appear on a list you supply. It is free, needs no account, and installs by pasting a few lines into your app's settings.

Coding
Other

Use This MCP server To

Watch how my assistant broke a big task into steps Ask it to revise step three and try again Compare two different plans for the same problem Keep a running plan across a long working session Clear the plan history and start fresh

README

mcp-sequentialthinking-tools

built with vite+ tested with vitest

A lightweight MCP server for recording sequential reasoning steps. It is a scratchpad with history, branching, revision metadata, and optional validation for model-authored tool plans.

It does not discover your other MCP tools and it does not choose tools for the model. If you pass available_tools and recommended_tools, the server validates that the recommended names exist and stores the step.

Why use it?

Use this when a task benefits from explicit, inspectable reasoning:

  • breaking a messy problem into steps;
  • revising or branching a plan;
  • keeping a small reasoning history by session;
  • validating tool-plan names against a supplied tool list;
  • clearing or inspecting reasoning history during a long agent run.

Do not use it for trivial requests. It adds overhead.

Tools

sequentialthinking_tools

Records one thought.

Required parameters:

  • thought — current reasoning step
  • thought_number — current step number
  • total_thoughts — current estimate; automatically raised if lower than thought_number
  • next_thought_needed — whether another thought is needed

Optional parameters:

  • session_id — history bucket; defaults to default
  • is_revision, revises_thought
  • branch_from_thought, branch_id
  • needs_more_thoughts
  • available_tools — array of tool names or { name, description } objects
  • recommended_tools — model-authored recommendations to validate/store
  • remaining_steps — short list of upcoming steps

Example:

{
	"session_id": "svelte-debug",
	"thought": "First inspect the route files, then run the failing check.",
	"thought_number": 1,
	"total_thoughts": 3,
	"next_thought_needed": true,
	"available_tools": ["read", "bash"],
	"recommended_tools": [
		{
			"tool_name": "read",
			"confidence": 0.9,
			"rationale": "Need to inspect the relevant files before editing.",
			"priority": 1
		}
	]
}

If recommended_tools contains a name not present in available_tools, the call returns isError: true and does not store the thought.

Security posture

The server treats thought text, tool descriptions, rationales, and remaining-step text as untrusted input. Prompt-injection-like text is scanned and redacted before it is stored or returned in history. Calls with redactions include security_warnings showing which fields matched.

This is defensive filtering, not a guarantee that arbitrary adversarial text is safe. Do not put secrets in thoughts or tool descriptions.

get_thinking_history

Returns stored thoughts for a session.

Parameters:

  • session_id — defaults to default
  • branch_id — optional branch filter
  • limit — max records to return; default 50, max 500

clear_thinking_history

Clears one session or every session.

Parameters:

  • session_id — defaults to default
  • all_sessions — clear all history buckets

Prompt

sequential-thinking-guidance

A short prompt that tells the model how to use this server honestly: as a scratchpad and validator, not as an external reasoning engine.

Configuration

Claude Desktop / compatible MCP clients

{
	"mcpServers": {
		"mcp-sequentialthinking-tools": {
			"command": "npx",
			"args": ["-y", "mcp-sequentialthinking-tools"],
			"env": {
				"MAX_HISTORY_SIZE": "1000"
			}
		}
	}
}

MAX_HISTORY_SIZE is per session and defaults to 1000.

The server uses tmcp and includes a small stdio transport that accepts both standard Content-Length framed MCP messages and newline-delimited JSON used by older tmcp tooling.

Development

pnpm install
pnpm test
pnpm build
pnpm check

This project uses vite-plus for build, test, format, and lint orchestration.

Publishing

pnpm changeset
pnpm changeset version
pnpm release

License

MIT License — see LICENSE.

Acknowledgments

mcp-sequentialthinking-tools FAQ

Does it choose the best tools for me?
No. Despite the name, it records steps and only checks proposed tool names against a list you provide.
Do I need an account or key?
No. It runs on your own machine and costs nothing.
Which apps does it work in?
Claude Desktop and other apps that support MCP servers.
How hard is the setup?
Easy. Paste a few lines into your app's config file and restart it.
Can I use this to plan a complicated task?
Yes — it is built for messy problems where you want every step written down and open to revision.
Is it worth using for quick questions?
No. The author says it adds overhead and should be skipped for simple requests.
Is the text I put in it kept safe?
Step text is scanned and suspicious instructions are stripped out, but never put passwords or secrets in it.