gxnext CLI

gxnext CLI is a component of GeneXus for Agents that acts as an intermediary layer between an agentic CLI (for example, CODA CLI, Claude Code CLI, Codex CLI, or other CLIs compatible with LLMs or agents) and the GeneXus MCP Server.

You submit natural language requests to an agentic CLI, which executes gxnext commands, and gxnext CLI handles the communication with the GeneXus MCP Server.

Why an agentic CLI should communicate with gxnext CLI instead of MCP server directly

1. No configuration required in the agentic CLI. To use the MCP server directly, the server must be registered in each client (URL, transport, and so on). With gxnext, the agentic CLI simply executes a terminal command—no MCP configuration is required. In fact, it works with any agentic CLI capable of running commands, even if it does not support MCP.

2. Fits the way coding agents operate. coda-cli, Claude and similar agents are already built around the idea of "run a command and read its output." gxnext CLI allows GeneXus to behave like any other CLI tool in its toolbox (such as git or npm) in its native mode. Using MCP directly requires the agent to act as an MCP client and manage the connection.

3. Avoids MCP session fragility. The MCP transport relies on long-lived SSE sessions that the client must keep alive. In practice, this introduces several challenges: the GET request times out after approximately five minutes of inactivity, etc. By contrast, gxnext performs a single request per command and then exits—there is no persistent connection to maintain and no reconnection or resume that the agent must implement correctly.

4. Simplifies KB context resolution. The MCP server determines the KB based on the session's cwd (through roots/list or the currentDirectory argument), using several mechanisms implemented. On the other hand, gxnext runs within the working directory and resolves this on each invocation, without requiring the agent to negotiate roots or maintain a session.

5. Keeps the agentic CLI context lightweight. If the agentic CLI connects directly to MCP, all tools and their schemas become part of the agent's tool list, consuming tokens and adding noise. With gxnext, the agentic CLI sees only one thing (gxnext CLI) and discovers commands on demand (gxnext list-tools, gxnext --help) only when needed. This reduces context consumption and keeps the tool list cleaner.

6. Deterministic and composable. gxnext provides clear exit codes (0 = OK, 1 = error, 130 = interrupted) and a parseable final line (RESULT: or --json). An agentic CLI (or a script, or Continuous Integration) can chain operations, capture output, and validate results using standard tools.