website-and-documentation/content/en/docs/edgeconnect/edge-connect-mcp.md

title	linkTitle	weight	description
Edge Connect MCP Server	MCP Server	40	Model Context Protocol server enabling AI-assisted EdgeConnect management

Overview

The Edge Connect MCP Server enables AI assistants like Claude to directly interact with EdgeConnect through the Model Context Protocol (MCP). This allows natural language requests to manage applications and instances, with AI agents autonomously executing API operations on your behalf.

MCP is an open protocol that connects AI systems to data sources and tools. In agentic coding workflows, AI assistants can plan, execute, and verify infrastructure operations through conversational interfaces while maintaining full visibility and control.

Key Features

• Natural language control: Manage EdgeConnect resources through conversational AI interactions
• Full API coverage: Supports all App and AppInstance operations (create, list, show, update, delete, refresh)
• Rich visualizations: Interactive dashboards and detail views via MCP-UI. Tools return both JSON and HTML responses — clients like Goose render the HTML dashboards, while others use the JSON data.
• Multiple integration modes: Local stdio for desktop apps, remote HTTP/SSE for web clients
• Production-ready security: OAuth 2.1 authorization with JWT validation and PKCE for remote deployments
• Graceful fallbacks: Returns structured JSON when UI resources aren't supported

Purpose in EDP

Manual infrastructure operations don't scale, but writing automation scripts for every task is costly. The Edge Connect MCP Server bridges this gap by enabling AI assistants to act as automation agents — understanding natural language requests, planning operations, and executing them through the EdgeConnect API.

This expands EdgeConnect accessibility beyond developers comfortable with CLIs and APIs, enabling infrastructure management through conversation while maintaining the precision and repeatability of programmatic control. For teams already using AI coding assistants, it integrates EdgeConnect operations directly into their development workflow.

Repository

Code: https://edp.buildth.ing/DevFW-CICD/edge-connect-mcp

Releases: https://edp.buildth.ing/DevFW-CICD/edge-connect-mcp/releases

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• EdgeConnect access credentials (username/password or bearer token)
• For Claude Desktop: macOS or Windows with Claude Desktop installed
• For Claude Code: Claude CLI installed
• For remote deployment: Server infrastructure and optional OAuth provider

Quick Start

1. Download the binary from releases or build from source:

   go build -o edge-connect-mcp
   

2. Configure for Claude Desktop by editing the config file:

   macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

   Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "edge-connect": {
         "command": "/path/to/edge-connect-mcp",
         "env": {
           "EDGE_CONNECT_BASE_URL": "https://hub.apps.edge.platform.mg3.mdb.osc.live",
           "EDGE_CONNECT_AUTH_TYPE": "credentials",
           "EDGE_CONNECT_USERNAME": "your-username",
           "EDGE_CONNECT_PASSWORD": "your-password",
           "EDGE_CONNECT_DEFAULT_REGION": "EU"
         }
       }
     }
   }
   

3. Restart Claude Desktop and verify the MCP server appears in the tools menu

Verification

Ask Claude: "List my EdgeConnect applications in the EU region." If the MCP server is configured correctly, Claude will retrieve and display your applications.

Usage Examples

Conversational Operations

The MCP server enables natural interactions like:

• "Show me all running application instances"
• "Create a new app called nginx-test using the nginx:latest image"
• "Deploy my-app version 2.0 to the Munich cloudlet"
• "Delete all instances of old-app"

Claude interprets these requests, selects appropriate tools, and executes the operations while explaining each step.

Integration with Claude Code CLI

Configure the MCP server using the Claude CLI:

# Add MCP server
claude mcp add edge-connect

# Configure
claude mcp edit edge-connect --set command=/path/to/edge-connect-mcp
claude mcp edit edge-connect --set-env EDGE_CONNECT_BASE_URL=https://hub.apps.edge.platform.mg3.mdb.osc.live
claude mcp edit edge-connect --set-env EDGE_CONNECT_AUTH_TYPE=credentials
claude mcp edit edge-connect --set-env EDGE_CONNECT_USERNAME=your-username
claude mcp edit edge-connect --set-env EDGE_CONNECT_PASSWORD=your-password

# Test
claude mcp test edge-connect

Remote Deployment

For team access or web-based clients, run in remote mode with OAuth 2.1:

# Edge Connect configuration
export EDGE_CONNECT_BASE_URL="https://hub.apps.edge.platform.mg3.mdb.osc.live"
export EDGE_CONNECT_AUTH_TYPE="credentials"
export EDGE_CONNECT_USERNAME="your-username"
export EDGE_CONNECT_PASSWORD="your-password"

# MCP server configuration
export MCP_SERVER_MODE="remote"
export MCP_REMOTE_HOST="0.0.0.0"
export MCP_REMOTE_PORT="8080"

# OAuth 2.1 configuration
export OAUTH_ENABLED="true"
export OAUTH_RESOURCE_URI="https://mcp.example.com"
export OAUTH_AUTH_SERVERS="https://auth.example.com"
export OAUTH_ISSUER="https://auth.example.com"
export OAUTH_JWKS_URL="https://auth.example.com/.well-known/jwks.json"

./edge-connect-mcp -mode remote

Web clients connect via http://your-server:8080/mcp using OAuth bearer tokens.

Note: No shared remote server endpoint is currently deployed. Users must run their own instance locally or on their infrastructure. A shared deployment may be provided in future.

Configuration

Environment Variables

EdgeConnect API (required):

• EDGE_CONNECT_BASE_URL: API endpoint
• EDGE_CONNECT_AUTH_TYPE: Authentication method (token, credentials, or none)
• EDGE_CONNECT_TOKEN: Bearer token (when auth_type=token)
• EDGE_CONNECT_USERNAME: Username (when auth_type=credentials)
• EDGE_CONNECT_PASSWORD: Password (when auth_type=credentials)

Note on Authentication: Username/password credentials are currently required because federated access with short-lived credentials is not yet available. The Platform Team plans to provide federated authentication in the coming months.

Optional:

• EDGE_CONNECT_DEFAULT_REGION: Default region (default: EU)
• EDGE_CONNECT_DEBUG: Enable debug logging (true or 1)

Remote Mode:

• MCP_SERVER_MODE: Server mode (stdio or remote)
• MCP_REMOTE_HOST: Bind address (default: 0.0.0.0)
• MCP_REMOTE_PORT: Port (default: 8080)
• MCP_REMOTE_AUTH_REQUIRED: Enable simple bearer token auth (true or false)
• MCP_REMOTE_AUTH_TOKENS: Comma-separated bearer tokens

OAuth 2.1 (recommended for production remote deployments):

• OAUTH_ENABLED: Enable OAuth (true or false)
• OAUTH_RESOURCE_URI: Protected resource identifier
• OAUTH_AUTH_SERVERS: Authorization server URLs (comma-separated)
• OAUTH_ISSUER: JWT token issuer
• OAUTH_JWKS_URL: JSON Web Key Set endpoint

Command-Line Flags

Flags override environment variables:

• -mode: Server mode (stdio or remote)
• -host: Bind address for remote mode
• -port: Port for remote mode

Available Tools

App Management:

• create_app: Create new application
• show_app: Retrieve application details (with UI visualization)
• list_apps: List applications matching filters (with UI dashboard)
• update_app: Update existing application
• delete_app: Delete application (idempotent)

App Instance Management:

• create_app_instance: Create instance on cloudlet
• show_app_instance: Retrieve instance details
• list_app_instances: List instances matching filters (with UI dashboard)
• update_app_instance: Update instance configuration
• refresh_app_instance: Refresh instance state
• delete_app_instance: Delete instance (idempotent)

MCP-UI Visualization Support

This server implements MCP-UI, returning both structured JSON and rich HTML visualizations in every response. The HTML includes interactive dashboards with status indicators, filtering, and visual organization of infrastructure data.

MCP clients that support UI resources (currently Goose) will automatically render these HTML views. Clients without UI support (like Claude Desktop and Claude Code) receive the JSON data and work normally without the visual enhancements.

Operations with UI support include list_apps, show_app, list_app_instances, and show_app_instance.

Integration Points

• EdgeConnect API: Communicates with EdgeConnect platform for all operations
• EdgeConnect SDK: Built on the Go SDK for authentication and API client implementation
• MCP-UI: All tools return dual-format responses (JSON + HTML). Clients that support UI resources (like Goose) render rich HTML dashboards; others use the JSON data automatically.
• Claude Desktop/Code: Primary integration targets for AI-assisted infrastructure management
• OAuth Providers: Supports Auth0, Amazon Cognito, Keycloak, and other OAuth 2.1-compliant systems

Troubleshooting

MCP Server Not Appearing

Problem: Claude Desktop doesn't show the edge-connect tools

Solution:

• Verify the config file path is correct for your OS
• Check the command path points to the binary
• Restart Claude Desktop after configuration changes
• Check Claude Desktop logs for MCP initialization errors

Authentication Errors

Problem: Operations fail with "authentication failed" or "unauthorized"

Solution:

• Verify credentials in environment variables are correct
• Ensure EDGE_CONNECT_BASE_URL uses HTTPS and has no trailing slash
• Check EDGE_CONNECT_AUTH_TYPE matches your credential type
• Test credentials with the EdgeConnect CLI first

Remote Server Connection Issues

Problem: Can't connect to remote MCP server

Solution:

• Verify server is running: check /health endpoint returns {"status":"healthy"}
• If OAuth is enabled, ensure client has valid JWT bearer token
• Check firewall rules allow connections to the MCP port
• Verify CORS headers if connecting from web clients
• Review server logs for authentication or validation errors

Status

Maturity: Production

Additional Resources

• Model Context Protocol Specification
• MCP-UI Documentation
• EdgeConnect API Documentation
• Claude Desktop
• OAuth 2.1 RFC
• Source Code Repository