Skip to main content

Setting Up MCP Servers for OpenAPI endpoints

What is MCP?​

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is a protocol used by AI agents to access information. Here, it transforms your existing OpenAPI specifications into tools that AI agents like GitHub Copilot can use. This integration allows AI agents to directly interact with your API endpoints, making them more powerful by enabling them to fetch real-time data, perform operations, and work with your specific services.

By converting your API definitions to the MCP server, you give AI agents the ability to understand and use your API's capabilities programmatically, just like a human developer would.

Setup via automated script (Preferred)​

You can set up mcp server for the openapi specification just by running this in the project root:

node scripts/setup-mcp.ts

And all set! Now, you can call for any tool inside of your AI Agent Mode. If needed in Edit mode, you can add the tool by clicking on Add Context > Tools and prompt the tool.

Instructions for manual installation​

Install openapi-mcp-generator​

Install the OpenAPI MCP generator using pnpm:

pnpm install openapi-mcp-generator

Generating MCP Server​

To convert your OpenAPI specification into MCP format, do

openapi-mcp-generator --input path/to/openapi.json --output path/to/output/dir

In our case, the command could be

openapi-mcp-generator --input backend/openapi/openapi.json --output mcp

This command:

  • Reads your OpenAPI specification file from backend/openapi/openapi.json
  • Generates MCP definitions in the mcp directory

Note: if you want, you can also make Streamable HTTP or Web(openAI) type servers as well. For this, add --transport=[web/streamable-http] --port=[port] flags

Configuration​

Now, to configure the MCP server with github copilot

  1. Press ctrl + shift + P
  2. Search and click on MCP: Add Server....
  3. Select the type of MCP server you want to connect. In our scenario, it will be an stdio server
  4. Type in pnpm --dir ${workspaceFolder}/mcp start
  5. Type any name you want for this mcp server.o

Settings Check​

Ensure that the setting chat.mcp.enabled is checked in vscode settings. To check, go to File > Preferences > Settings and search for the above setting.

Troubleshooting​

If you encounter issues:

  1. Verify your OpenAPI specification is valid
  2. Check that your MCP server is accessible
  3. Review the settings as mentioned above.