Add Streamable HTTP transport for Azure Container Apps deployment by BenGWeeks · Pull Request #2 · knowall-ai/mcp-business-central

BenGWeeks · 2025-10-25T16:18:13Z

Overview

This PR implements Streamable HTTP transport to enable Azure Container Apps deployment and Smithery hosting, replacing the deprecated SSE transport approach.

Closes #1

Changes

🆙 Upgraded Dependencies

@modelcontextprotocol/sdk: 0.6.0 → 1.20.2
- Access to StreamableHTTPServerTransport
- Modern Streamable HTTP transport (not deprecated SSE)
express: Added for HTTP server
@types/express: Added for TypeScript support

✨ New Features

`src/http-server.ts` - HTTP Server Entry Point

Express server with Streamable HTTP transport
Single /mcp endpoint supporting:
- POST - JSON-RPC messages
- GET - SSE streams for notifications
- DELETE - Session termination
Session management with cryptographically secure UUIDs
Graceful shutdown handling
Health check endpoint at /health

`src/server.ts` - Shared Server Logic

Extracted common MCP server setup
Reusable by both STDIO and HTTP transports
All tool registrations in one place

🔄 Updated Components

`src/business-central-client.ts`

Before: AzureCliCredential only
After: DefaultAzureCredential
- Auto-tries: Environment vars → Managed Identity → Azure CLI
- Works locally (dev) and in cloud (production)

`src/index.ts` (STDIO Entry Point)

Refactored to use shared createMCPServer()
Reduced from 300+ lines to 35 lines
Maintains exact same functionality

`Dockerfile`

Multi-stage build for optimization
Before: STDIO server (won't work in Azure)
After: HTTP server on port 3000
Proper Node.js Alpine base

`smithery.yaml`

Before: type: stdio (deprecated by Smithery)
After: type: http with /mcp endpoint

`README.md`

Added "Azure Container Apps Deployment" section
Updated authentication section for DefaultAzureCredential
Documented both STDIO and HTTP modes
Container deployment examples

Backward Compatibility ✅

No breaking changes - existing users are unaffected:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "business-central": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "cmd",
      "args": ["/c", "npx", "-y", "@knowall-ai/mcp-business-central"],
      "env": {
        "BC_URL_SERVER": "...",
        "BC_COMPANY": "..."
      }
    }
  }
}

The npx entry point (build/index.js) remains unchanged and uses STDIO transport.

New Capabilities 🚀

1. Azure Container Apps Deployment

# Build and deploy
docker build -t myregistry.azurecr.io/bc-mcp:latest .
docker push myregistry.azurecr.io/bc-mcp:latest

az containerapp create   --name bc-mcp-server   --image myregistry.azurecr.io/bc-mcp:latest   --target-port 3000   --system-assigned

2. Local HTTP Testing

npm run build
npm run start:http
# Server at http://localhost:3000/mcp

3. Smithery Deployment

HTTP transport configuration now allows Smithery to host the server.

Testing

TypeScript compilation succeeds
STDIO mode builds correctly
HTTP mode builds correctly
Backward compatibility maintained (npx still works)
HTTP server manual testing (needs Azure credentials)
Smithery deployment verification
Azure Container Apps deployment verification

Technical Details

Transport Architecture

STDIO Transport (src/index.js):

User → npx → StdioServerTransport → createMCPServer() → BusinessCentralClient

HTTP Transport (src/http-server.js):

User → HTTP Request → StreamableHTTPServerTransport → createMCPServer() → BusinessCentralClient

Both use the same server logic, ensuring consistent behavior.

Authentication Flow

Local Development:

Try environment variables (service principal)
Try Managed Identity (fails locally)
Use Azure CLI (succeeds for local dev)

Azure Container Apps:

Try environment variables (none set)
Use Managed Identity (succeeds in Azure)
Azure CLI not available (skipped)

References

Checklist

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

Co-Authored-By: Claude noreply@anthropic.com

Implements modern Streamable HTTP transport (MCP v1.20.2) to enable: - Azure Container Apps deployment - Azure AI Foundry integration - Smithery hosted deployment Key changes: - Upgrade @modelcontextprotocol/sdk from 0.6.0 to 1.20.2 - Add StreamableHTTPServerTransport in src/http-server.ts - Extract shared server logic to src/server.ts - Switch to DefaultAzureCredential for flexible auth (Managed Identity + Azure CLI) - Update Dockerfile for HTTP server deployment - Update smithery.yaml to HTTP transport - Add Azure Container Apps deployment docs to README Maintains backward compatibility: - STDIO mode (npx) continues to work as before - Both transports share the same server implementation Closes #1 🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code) Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>

Copilot

Pull Request Overview

This PR implements Streamable HTTP transport to enable Azure Container Apps and Smithery deployments, replacing the deprecated SSE approach while maintaining full backward compatibility with existing STDIO mode.

Key Changes:

Upgraded @modelcontextprotocol/sdk from 0.6.0 to 1.20.2 for modern HTTP transport support
Added Express-based HTTP server with session management alongside existing STDIO mode
Switched from AzureCliCredential to DefaultAzureCredential for flexible authentication across local and cloud environments

Reviewed Changes

Copilot reviewed 8 out of 9 changed files in this pull request and generated no comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
src/server.ts	New shared server factory function containing all MCP tool registrations, used by both STDIO and HTTP transports
src/index.ts	Refactored STDIO entry point to use shared server logic, reduced from 300+ to 28 lines
src/http-server.ts	New HTTP server with Express, session management, and StreamableHTTPServerTransport
src/business-central-client.ts	Changed from AzureCliCredential to DefaultAzureCredential for multi-environment auth support
smithery.yaml	Updated from stdio to http transport configuration with /mcp endpoint
package.json	Version bump to 0.2.0, SDK upgrade, added express dependencies and start:http script
README.md	Added Azure Container Apps deployment section, authentication methods documentation
Dockerfile	Multi-stage build optimized for HTTP server deployment instead of STDIO

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BenGWeeks · 2025-10-25T16:28:06Z

This Streamable HTTP transport implementation is now being used as a reference for adding the same capability to the mcp-neo4j-agent-memory repository. See knowall-ai/mcp-neo4j-agent-memory#4 for details.

…mapping - Add runtime: container and build configuration - Add env section to map config values to environment variables - Add exampleConfig for better user experience - Fixes deployment error where BC_URL_SERVER and BC_COMPANY were missing

- Remove manual session tracking (transports Map) - Let StreamableHTTPServerTransport handle sessions via callbacks - Use single transport instance with sessionIdGenerator - Wrap initialization in async main() function - Change to app.all() to handle all HTTP methods (POST, GET, DELETE) This fixes the 'stream is not readable' error by eliminating double session management between our code and the SDK.

- Define test config with dummy Business Central credentials - Add health check endpoint test (GET /health) - Add MCP initialize test (POST /mcp) - Verify HTTP 200 responses and session ID generation - Tests validate the HTTP transport layer works correctly

- Added test request for MCP tools/list endpoint - Verifies tool discovery works without authentication - Helps Smithery scanner properly discover available tools

…ients - Install cors and @types/cors packages - Configure CORS middleware with Access-Control-Allow-Origin: * - Expose mcp-session-id header for browser access - Allow Content-Type, mcp-session-id, and Accept headers in requests - Required for Smithery scanner to access session management 🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code) Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>

Copilot

Pull Request Overview

Copilot reviewed 8 out of 9 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

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Copilot · 2025-10-25T19:55:33Z

src/http-server.ts

+  // Create single transport instance with session management
+  const transport = new StreamableHTTPServerTransport({
+    sessionIdGenerator: () => {
+      const sessionId = `bc-${Date.now()}-${Math.random().toString(36).substring(7)}`;


Session ID generation uses Math.random() which is not cryptographically secure. For session identifiers, use a cryptographically secure random number generator like crypto.randomUUID() or crypto.randomBytes() to prevent session prediction attacks.

Copilot · 2025-10-25T19:55:33Z

src/http-server.ts

+
+  // Configure CORS to expose the mcp-session-id header (required for browser-based clients)
+  app.use(cors({
+    origin: '*',  // Allow all origins (Smithery needs this)


CORS is configured to allow all origins ('*'). While the comment indicates this is for Smithery, allowing all origins can expose the API to unauthorized cross-origin requests. Consider restricting to specific trusted origins or implementing additional authentication layers.

Copilot · 2025-10-25T19:55:34Z

smithery.yaml

+      expectedResponse:
+        statusCode: 200
+        headers:
+          mcp-session-id: ".*"  # Should return a session ID


The regex pattern .* in the test assertion is too permissive and would match empty strings or malformed session IDs. Consider using a more specific pattern that validates the expected session ID format (e.g., bc-\\d+-[a-z0-9]+ to match the format generated in http-server.ts).

Suggested change

mcp-session-id: ".*" # Should return a session ID

mcp-session-id: "bc-\\d+-[a-z0-9]+" # Should return a session ID in expected format

BenGWeeks requested a review from Copilot October 25, 2025 16:21

Copilot AI reviewed Oct 25, 2025

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BenGWeeks mentioned this pull request Oct 25, 2025

Add Streamable HTTP transport for Azure Container Apps and Smithery deployment knowall-ai/mcp-neo4j-agent-memory#4

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6 tasks

smithery bot had a problem deploying to production October 25, 2025 16:37 Failure

smithery bot had a problem deploying to production October 25, 2025 16:44 Failure

BenGWeeks added 2 commits October 25, 2025 17:44

smithery bot requested a deployment to production October 25, 2025 16:59 Pending

smithery bot had a problem deploying to production October 25, 2025 17:13 Failure

Add tools/list test to smithery config for tool discovery

9dc3438

- Added test request for MCP tools/list endpoint - Verifies tool discovery works without authentication - Helps Smithery scanner properly discover available tools

smithery bot requested a deployment to production October 25, 2025 17:31 Pending

smithery bot had a problem deploying to production October 25, 2025 19:14 Failure

BenGWeeks requested a review from Copilot October 25, 2025 19:54

Copilot AI reviewed Oct 25, 2025

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Add Streamable HTTP transport for Azure Container Apps deployment#2

Add Streamable HTTP transport for Azure Container Apps deployment#2
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	mcp-session-id: ".*" # Should return a session ID
	mcp-session-id: "bc-\\d+-[a-z0-9]+" # Should return a session ID in expected format

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BenGWeeks commented Oct 25, 2025

Overview

Changes

🆙 Upgraded Dependencies

✨ New Features

src/http-server.ts - HTTP Server Entry Point

src/server.ts - Shared Server Logic

🔄 Updated Components

src/business-central-client.ts

src/index.ts (STDIO Entry Point)

Dockerfile

smithery.yaml

README.md

Backward Compatibility ✅

New Capabilities 🚀

1. Azure Container Apps Deployment

2. Local HTTP Testing

3. Smithery Deployment

Testing

Technical Details

Transport Architecture

Authentication Flow

References

Checklist

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Pull Request Overview

Reviewed Changes

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`src/http-server.ts` - HTTP Server Entry Point

`src/server.ts` - Shared Server Logic

`src/business-central-client.ts`

`src/index.ts` (STDIO Entry Point)

`Dockerfile`

`smithery.yaml`

`README.md`