mcp-openapix
MCP server that fronts any OpenAPI service behind four generic tools.
An agent finds operations in each deployment's OpenAPI document and calls them; the
server resolves the URL, obtains a bearer token, and builds the request. Discovery is
list_platforms, list_endpoints and describe_endpoint; execution is the generic
proxy call_endpoint.
example / us / items / prod
│ │ │ └── env ......... which deployment URL a call reaches
│ │ └───────── service ..... one backend, one OpenAPI spec
│ └─────────────── region ...... a geographic deployment
└───────────────────── platform .... the product or API family
Requirements
- Python 3.13+ and
uv - A
config.jsondescribing the deployments you hold credentials for
Quick start
Set up your config (see Configuration), then run the server:
# Run directly with uvx (no clone needed)
npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/inspector@latest uvx mcp-openapix
# Or run from source
npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/inspector@latest uv run mcp-openapix
Configuration
config.json MUST live at ~/.config/mcp-openapix/config.json
(%USERPROFILE%\.config\… on Windows). config.example.json is a full template.
{
"headers": { "accept": "application/json" },
"defaults": { "platform": "example", "region": "us", "service": "items", "env": "prod" },
"platforms": {
"example": {
"regions": {
"us": {
"services": {
"token_helper": "us",
"items": {
"desc": "Catalogue and inventory API",
"spec_path": "/swagger/v1/swagger.json",
"canonical_env": "prod",
"envs": {
"prod": { "url": "https://api.example.com/items" },
"dev": { "url": "https://api-dev.example.com/items" }
}
}
}
}
}
}
},
"token_helpers": {
"us": {
"command": "token-helper",
"args": ["issue"]
}
}
}
platforms
A hierarchy of platform → region → services → service → env. Each service declares:
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
spec_path | Required. The OpenAPI JSON endpoint relative to the service URL |
canonical_env | Required when more than one env is configured — the env whose URL the spec is fetched from |
envs | Required. One entry per deployment environment, each carrying a full base url |
desc | Optional. A short description surfaced by list_platforms |
token_helper | Optional. The token helper this level binds to |
The services object may also contain a token_helper default applying to all services
in that region. A service or environment can override it.
token_helpers
Named token helpers, in the same shape as an MCP server entry:
| Field | Required | Default | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
command | yes | — | Resolved on PATH; never run through a shell |
args | no | [] | Passed verbatim |
timeout | no | 60 | Seconds before the helper's process group is killed; at most 300 |
The config names a command and nothing else, so config.json holds no secrets.
The complete helper invocation and output contract is documented in
docs/token-protocol.md.
Which helper a call uses is resolved most-specific-first:
env.token_helper → service.token_helper → services.token_helper
→ region.token_helper → platform.token_helper → defaults.token_helper
If no level declares a helper, the deployment is unauthenticated. Omit
token_helper for public deployments.
headers
Constant headers added to every API call — for APIs that require a tenant, product or locale header:
"headers": { "accept": "application/json", "x-product": "example" }
defaults
Makes every tool argument optional: a call falls back to defaults.platform, .region,
.service, .env, .username and .token_helper when they are omitted.
Top-level options
| Field | Default | Notes |
|---|---|---|
truncate_threshold | 4096 | Response bytes returned inline before truncating to a preview |
response_cache_ttl | 3600 | Seconds a truncated body stays readable at its resource URI |
spec_refresh | {"auto": true, "interval": 7} | Background spec refresh; interval is days and MAY be fractional |
Splitting the config
A stray comma while editing one platform takes down every platform: a parse failure
precedes per-platform validation. The config MAY therefore be split into drop-in files
under config.d/, in the style of an nginx conf.d. The recommended layout keeps
server-wide settings in config.json and gives each platform its own file, named after
it:
~/.config/mcp-openapix/
├── config.json # defaults, headers, token_helpers, top-level options
└── config.d/
├── acme.json # {"platforms": {"acme": …}}
└── public.json # {"platforms": {"public": …}}
A typo then costs one platform, and a platform can be handed over, or removed, as a
single file. Token helpers stay in config.json because they are usually shared across
platforms; a helper only one platform uses MAY live beside it in that platform's file.
The layout is a convention, not a rule:
config.jsonis read first, then every*.jsondirectly inconfig.d/in sorted order. Subdirectories,.bakand editor swap files are ignored; noconfig.d/means no change in behavior.- A drop-in MAY declare anything
config.jsonmay, andconfig.jsonMAY be nearly empty. - Files merge as if pasted into one config in that order: objects merge key by key, and
a later scalar or list replaces the earlier one. A later file can therefore override a
single
envs.prod.urlor onedefaultsfield.
A file that fails to parse costs only what it declares; the rest keep working. A
malformed platform, in any file, MUST NOT stop the others loading, and neither does a
missing token helper it names: its error lists any files that were skipped, since the
helper may be declared in one. list_platforms shows a platform that failed with no
regions and the loader's error, and a skipped file as {"file", "error"}; calling
into a failed platform returns the same message. Defaults that point into a failed
platform are ignored. An invalid setting outside platforms still stops the server, and
the message names the file that set it.
A fix needs a restart. Check the config first, without starting the server; it also lists every value a later file overrode:
uvx mcp-openapix --check-config
Tools
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|---|
list_platforms | Every platform with its regions, services, and envs |
list_endpoints | A service's operations, filtered by query, tag or method |
describe_endpoint | One operation plus the transitive closure of the schemas it references |
call_endpoint | Execute an operation, or a raw method + path absent from the spec |
Operation ids
Many OpenAPI documents omit operationId, so the server synthesizes one as "<METHOD> <path>":
POST /api/items
└─┬─┘ └───┬───┘
method path as the spec declares it
Where a spec does declare an operationId, that value wins.
Specs
Specs are not bundled. Each deployment's document is fetched on demand — an
unauthenticated GET — and cached under
~/.cache/mcp-openapix/{platform}/{region}/{service}.json.
A document MUST declare at least one operation before it is installed, so a deployment
answering 200 with an error body cannot replace a working snapshot with one that
serves nothing.
Cached specs refresh in the background: once at startup, then every
spec_refresh.interval days. Set auto to false to stop it; the manual lever still
works:
uvx mcp-openapix --refresh
MCP resources
| Resource URI | Description |
|---|---|
openapi://responses/{request_id} | Full body of a truncated call_endpoint response |
openapi://curl/{request_id} | Equivalent curl command for a call_endpoint request |
Both expire response_cache_ttl seconds after the call. The curl command may embed
a short-lived token.
Tokens at rest
Tokens are cached in memory and, when expiry metadata is available, under
~/.cache/mcp-openapix/tokens/ (mode 0600) keyed by the token-helper declaration
and username. This lets client sessions share a login without spawning a helper each.
A 401 retires the cached token so the next call obtains a fresh one. To clear them all:
uvx mcp-openapix --logout
MCP host examples
{
"mcpServers": {
"openapi": { "command": "uvx", "args": ["mcp-openapix"] }
}
}
[mcp_servers.openapi]
command = "uvx"
args = ["mcp-openapix"]
Development
uv sync --extra dev
uv run ruff check .
uv run ruff format --check .
uv run pyright
uv run pytest
All four MUST pass; see AGENTS.md. Tests use
respx to mock HTTP and real subprocesses for
token helpers, so no live API access is required.
License
MIT.