MCP Server

Encore provides an MCP server that implements the Model Context Protocol, an open standard that enables large language models (LLMs) to access contextual information about your application. Think of MCP as a standardized interface—like a "USB-C port for AI applications"—that connects your Encore app's data and functionality to any LLM that supports the protocol.

You can connect to Encore's MCP server from any MCP host (such as Claude Desktop, IDEs, or other AI tools) using either Server-Sent Events (SSE) or stdio transport. To set up this connection, simply run:

cd my-encore-app
encore mcp start

  MCP Service is running!

  MCP SSE URL:        http://localhost:9900/sse?app=your-app-id
  MCP stdio Command:  encore mcp run --app=your-app-id

Copy the appropriate URL or command to your MCP host's configuration, and you're ready to give your AI assistants rich context about your application.

Example: Integrating with Cursor

Cursor is one of the most popular AI powered IDE's, and it's simple to use Encore's MCP server together with Cursor.

Simply create the file .cursor/mcp.json with the following settings:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "encore-mcp": {
             "command": "encore",
             "args": ["mcp", "run", "--app=your-app-id"]
        }
    }
}

Learn more in Cursor's MCP docs

Now when using Cursor's Agent mode, you can ask it to do advanced actions, such as:

"Add an endpoint that publishes to a pub/sub topic, call it and verify that the publish is in the traces"

Command Reference

Start

Starts an SSE-based MCP server and displays connection information.

$ encore mcp start [--app=<app-id>]

Run

Establishes an stdio-based MCP session. This command is typically used by MCP hosts to communicate with the server through standard input/output streams.

$ encore mcp run [--app=<app-id>]

Exposed Tools

Encore's MCP server exposes the following tools that provide AI models with detailed context about your application. These tools enable LLMs to understand your application's structure, retrieve relevant information, and take actions within your system.

Database Tools

get_databases: Retrieve metadata about all SQL databases defined in the application, including their schema, tables, and relationships.
query_database: Execute SQL queries against one or more databases in the application.

API Tools

call_endpoint: Make HTTP requests to any API endpoint in the application.
get_services: Retrieve comprehensive information about all services and their endpoints in the application.
get_middleware: Retrieve detailed information about all middleware components in the application.
get_auth_handlers: Retrieve information about all authentication handlers in the application.

Trace Tools

get_traces: Retrieve a list of request traces from the application, including their timing, status, and associated metadata.
get_trace_spans: Retrieve detailed information about one or more traces, including all spans, timing information, and associated metadata.

Source Code Tools

get_metadata: Retrieve the complete application metadata, including service definitions, database schemas, API endpoints, and other infrastructure components.
get_src_files: Retrieve the contents of one or more source files from the application.

PubSub Tools

get_pubsub: Retrieve detailed information about all PubSub topics and their subscriptions in the application.

Storage Tools

get_storage_buckets: Retrieve comprehensive information about all storage buckets in the application.
get_objects: List and retrieve metadata about objects stored in one or more storage buckets.

Cache Tools

get_cache_keyspaces: Retrieve comprehensive information about all cache keyspaces in the application.

Metrics Tools

get_metrics: Retrieve comprehensive information about all metrics defined in the application.

Cron Tools

get_cronjobs: Retrieve detailed information about all scheduled cron jobs in the application.

Secret Tools

get_secrets: Retrieve metadata about all secrets used in the application.

Documentation Tools

search_docs: Search the Encore documentation using Algolia's search engine.
get_docs: Retrieve the full content of specific documentation pages.