building-mcp-server-on-cloudflare

# Building MCP Servers on Cloudflare

Your knowledge of the MCP SDK and Cloudflare Workers integration may be outdated. **Prefer retrieval over pre-training** for any MCP server task.

## Retrieval Sources

| Source | How to retrieve | Use for |
|--------|----------------|---------|
| MCP docs | `https://developers.cloudflare.com/agents/mcp/` | Server setup, auth, deployment |
| MCP spec | `https://modelcontextprotocol.io/` | Protocol spec, tool/resource definitions |
| Workers docs | Search tool or `https://developers.cloudflare.com/workers/` | Runtime APIs, bindings, config |

## When to Use

- User wants to build a remote MCP server
- User needs to expose tools via MCP
- User asks about MCP authentication or OAuth
- User wants to deploy MCP to Cloudflare Workers

## Prerequisites

- Cloudflare account with Workers enabled
- Node.js 18+ and npm/pnpm/yarn
- Wrangler CLI (`npm install -g wrangler`)

## Quick Start

### Option 1: Public Server (No Auth)

```bash
npm create cloudflare@latest -- my-mcp-server \
  --template=cloudflare/ai/demos/remote-mcp-authless
cd my-mcp-server
npm start
```

Server runs at `http://localhost:8788/mcp`

### Option 2: Authenticated Server (OAuth)

```bash
npm create cloudflare@latest -- my-mcp-server \
  --template=cloudflare/ai/demos/remote-mcp-github-oauth
cd my-mcp-server
```

Requires OAuth app setup. See [references/oauth-setup.md](references/oauth-setup.md).

## Core Workflow

### Step 1: Define Tools

Tools are functions MCP clients can call. Define them using `server.tool()`:

```typescript
import { McpAgent } from "agents/mcp";
import { z } from "zod";

export class MyMCP extends McpAgent {
  server = new Server({ name: "my-mcp", version: "1.0.0" });

  async init() {
    // Simple tool with parameters
    this.server.tool(
      "add",
      { a: z.number(), b: z.number() },
      async ({ a, b }) => ({
        content: [{ type: "text", text: String(a + b) }],
      })
    );

    // Tool that calls external API
    this.server.tool(
      "get_weather",
      { city: z.string() },
      async ({ city }) => {
        const response = await fetch(`https://api.weather.com/${city}`);
        const data = await response.json();
        return {
          content: [{ type: "text", text: JSON.stringify(data) }],
        };
      }
    );
  }
}
```

### Step 2: Configure Entry Point

**Public server** (`src/index.ts`):

```typescript
import { MyMCP } from "./mcp";

export default {
  fetch(request: Request, env: Env, ctx: ExecutionContext) {
    const url = new URL(request.url);
    if (url.pathname === "/mcp") {
      return MyMCP.serveSSE("/mcp").fetch(request, env, ctx);
    }
    return new Response("MCP Server", { status: 200 });
  },
};

export { MyMCP };
```

**Authenticated server** — See [references/oauth-setup.md](references/oauth-setup.md).

### Step 3: Test Locally

```bash
# Start server
npm start

# In another terminal, test with MCP Inspector
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector@latest
# Open http://localhost:5173, enter http://localhost:8788/mcp
```

### Step 4: Deploy

```bash
npx wrangler deploy
```

Server accessible at `https://[worker-name].[account].workers.dev/mcp`

### Step 5: Connect Clients

**Claude Desktop** (`claude_desktop_config.json`):

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "my-server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["mcp-remote", "https://my-mcp.workers.dev/mcp"]
    }
  }
}
```

Restart Claude Desktop after updating config.

## Tool Patterns

### Return Types

```typescript
// Text response
return { content: [{ type: "text", text: "result" }] };

// Multiple content items
return {
  content: [
    { type: "text", text: "Here's the data:" },
    { type: "text", text: JSON.stringify(data, null, 2) },
  ],
};
```

### Input Validation with Zod

```typescript
this.server.tool(
  "create_user",
  {
    email: z.string().email(),
    name: z.string().min(1).max(100),
    role: z.enum(["admin", "user", "guest"]),
    age: z.number().int().min(0).optional(),
  },
  async (params) => {
    // params are fully typed and validated
  }
);
```

### Accessing Environment/Bindings

```typescript
export class MyMCP extends McpAgent<Env> {
  async init() {
    this.server.tool("query_db", { sql: z.string() }, async ({ sql }) => {
      // Access D1 binding
      const result = await this.env.DB.prepare(sql).all();
      return { content: [{ type: "text", text: JSON.stringify(result) }] };
    });
  }
}
```

## Authentication

For OAuth-protected servers, see [references/oauth-setup.md](references/oauth-setup.md).

Supported providers:
- GitHub
- Google
- Auth0
- Stytch
- WorkOS
- Any OAuth 2.0 compliant provider

## Wrangler Configuration

Minimal `wrangler.toml`:

```toml
name = "my-mcp-server"
main = "src/index.ts"
compatibility_date = "2024-12-01"

[durable_objects]
bindings = [{ name = "MCP", class_name = "MyMCP" }]

[[migrations]]
tag = "v1"
new_classes = ["MyMCP"]
```

With bindings (D1, KV, etc.):

```toml
[[d1_databases]]
binding = "DB"
database_name = "my-db"
database_id = "xxx"

[[kv_namespaces]]
binding = "KV"
id = "xxx"
```

## Common Issues

### "Tool not found" in Client

1. Verify tool name matches exactly (case-sensitive)
2. Ensure `init()` registers tools before connections
3. Check server logs: `wrangler tail`

### Connection Fails

1. Confirm endpoint path is `/mcp`
2. Check CORS if browser-based client
3. Verify Worker is deployed: `wrangler deployments list`

### OAuth Redirect Errors

1. Callback URL must match OAuth app config exactly
2. Check `GITHUB_CLIENT_ID` and `GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET` are set
3. For local dev, use `http://localhost:8788/callback`

## References

- [references/examples.md](references/examples.md) — Official templates and production examples
- [references/oauth-setup.md](references/oauth-setup.md) — OAuth provider configuration
- [references/troubleshooting.md](references/troubleshooting.md) — Error codes and fixes