Guidance for AI agents and human contributors working in this repository.
mcp-server-appwrite is a Model Context Protocol
server for Appwrite. It exposes Appwrite's API to MCP clients as a small set of
operator-style tools, supporting two deployments from one codebase:
- Cloud (hosted HTTP): a Starlette ASGI app that acts as an OAuth 2.1
Resource Server. It validates the client's bearer token and forwards it to the
Appwrite REST API. Served at
mcp.appwrite.io/mcp. - Self-hosted (
stdio): runs locally and authenticates with a project API key (APPWRITE_PROJECT_ID,APPWRITE_API_KEY,APPWRITE_ENDPOINT).
Python ≥ 3.12, packaged with hatchling, managed with uv.
Source lives in src/mcp_server_appwrite/:
| File | Responsibility |
|---|---|
__main__.py / server.py |
Entry point, CLI args, transport selection (--transport stdio|http), service registration, low-level MCP server. |
http_app.py |
Hosted Streamable-HTTP transport: /mcp, RFC 9728 protected-resource metadata, /healthz. |
auth.py |
OAuth 2.1 resource-server layer — bearer-token validation against the project's Appwrite authorization server. |
service.py |
Service base class: introspects an Appwrite SDK service and turns its methods into MCP tool definitions. |
tool_manager.py |
Registry of all services and their generated tools. |
operator.py |
The compact "operator" surface — appwrite_search_tools, appwrite_call_tool, result/resource storage, write confirmation. |
context.py |
appwrite_get_context — workspace summary (project, services, account/org for OAuth). |
docs_search.py |
In-process semantic docs search (appwrite_search_docs) over a prebuilt index. |
data/ |
Committed docs index artifact (docs_index.npz, docs_index_meta.json), shipped in the wheel/image. |
scripts/build_docs_index.py rebuilds the docs index (requires OPENAI_API_KEY).
The server boots in a compact workflow: the client sees up to 4 tools
(appwrite_get_context, appwrite_search_tools, appwrite_call_tool, and
optionally appwrite_search_docs), while the full Appwrite catalog (25 services)
stays internal and is searched at runtime. Mutating hidden tools require
confirm_write=true. Large outputs are stored as MCP resources and returned as a
preview + resource URI.
# Install uv, then sync deps
uv sync # runtime deps
uv sync --group dev # + black, ruff (lint/format)
uv sync --extra integration # + integration-test deps
# Run hosted HTTP transport
MCP_PUBLIC_URL=http://localhost:8000 APPWRITE_ENDPOINT=https://cloud.appwrite.io/v1 \
uv run mcp-server-appwrite --transport http
# Run self-hosted stdio transport
APPWRITE_ENDPOINT=http://localhost:9501/v1 \
APPWRITE_PROJECT_ID=<id> APPWRITE_API_KEY=<key> \
uv run mcp-server-appwrite
# Or via Docker (hosted HTTP/OAuth)
docker compose up --build # compose.yaml; endpoint at http://localhost:8000/mcpRun these locally before opening a PR. They mirror the CI workflow
(.github/workflows/ci.yml), which runs on every pull request and on pushes to
main. All four jobs must pass.
-
Lint (
lintjob)uv sync --group dev uv run --group dev ruff check src tests
Ruff config:
target-version = py312, rulesE,F,W,I(import sorting), withE501(line length) delegated to black. -
Format (
lintjob)uv run --group dev black --check src tests
Run
uv run --group dev black src tests(without--check) to auto-fix. -
Unit tests (
unitjob)uv sync uv run python -m unittest discover -s tests/unit -v
Fast, no external services or credentials required.
-
Docker build (
dockerjob)docker build -t appwrite-mcp:ci .The hosted HTTP image must build cleanly.
-
Integration tests (
integrationjob) — CI runs these only for pushes and for PRs from branches on the same repo (not forks). They create and delete real Appwrite resources, so they need live credentials and are skipped when absent:uv sync --extra integration APPWRITE_PROJECT_ID=<id> APPWRITE_API_KEY=<key> APPWRITE_ENDPOINT=<url> \ uv run --extra integration python -m unittest discover -s tests/integration -v
CI pins Python 3.12 and uv 0.11.22. Match these locally if you hit
version-specific differences.
Rebuilding src/mcp_server_appwrite/data/ requires OPENAI_API_KEY. Re-run the
build script and commit the refreshed artifact:
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-... uv run python scripts/build_docs_index.pypublish.yml— package publishing.staging.yml/production.yml— deployment (publishes images to Docker Hub).
These are not gated on PRs the way ci.yml is, but be mindful when touching the
Dockerfile, pyproject.toml version, or deployment config.
- Keep the exposed tool surface small — new Appwrite capabilities should flow through the operator/catalog mechanism, not become top-level tools.
- New SDK services are registered automatically; you generally don't hand-write tool definitions.
- Match existing style: black formatting, ruff-clean imports, type hints, module
docstrings explaining intent (see
auth.py,http_app.py,docs_search.py). - Add unit tests under
tests/unit/for any non-trivial logic; add integration coverage undertests/integration/when touching real API behavior.