Policy MCP Server

Introduction

The Policy MCP Server is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) compliant Azure Functions application that exposes policy management capabilities as standardized MCP tools. This server enables AI models and clients to discover, list, and retrieve policy details through the MCP protocol.

Key Features

• MCP Protocol Compliance - Fully implements MCP 2024-11-05 specification
• Policy Management - Manage and query policies with full metadata
• Tool Discovery - Clients can discover available tools and their schemas
• Error Handling - Robust error handling with JSON-RPC error codes
• Container-Ready - Docker support for easy deployment
• Azure Functions - Hosted on Azure Functions runtime for scalability

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Getting Started

Prerequisites

• .NET 10.0 SDK - Download
• Azure Functions Core Tools - npm install -g azure-functions-core-tools@4
• Docker (optional) - For containerized deployment
• Postman (optional) - For testing API endpoints

Installation

1. Clone the repository

   git clone <repository-url>
   cd ai-mcp-container-app

2. Navigate to the project

   cd source/PolicyMcpServer

3. Install dependencies

   dotnet restore

Software Dependencies

• Microsoft.Azure.Functions.Worker v2.51.0
• Microsoft.Azure.Functions.Worker.Extensions.Http.AspNetCore v2.1.0
• Microsoft.Azure.Functions.Worker.ApplicationInsights v2.50.0
• .NET 10.0 runtime

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Build and Run

Local Development

Build the project:

cd source/PolicyMcpServer
dotnet build

Run the server locally:

func start

The server will start at: http://localhost:7071

Docker

Build Docker image:

docker build -t policy-mcp-server:latest .

Run in Docker:

docker run -p 8080:80 policy-mcp-server:latest

Access at: http://localhost:8080

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Testing

Quick Start with Postman

1. Import the collection:

   • Open Postman
   • Click Import → Select Test/PolicyMCP-Postman-Collection.json

2. Set the base URL variable:

   • Go to Collections tab → Policy MCP Server
   • Edit base_url variable (default: http://localhost:7071)

3. Run the requests in order:

   • MCP Initialize
   • List Available Tools
   • List All Policies
   • Get Policy Details
   • Error Handling Test

Discovering the Server - Get Manifest

Clients can discover the server's capabilities by fetching the manifest first:

curl -X GET http://localhost:7071/api/mcp/manifest \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json"

Expected Response:

{
  "mcpVersion": "2024-11-05",
  "name": "PolicyMcpServer",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "Policy Management Model Context Protocol Server",
  "author": "Your Organization",
  "license": "MIT",
  "tools": [
    {
      "name": "listPolicies",
      "description": "Returns a list of all policies with basic metadata.",
      "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": {} }
    },
    {
      "name": "getPolicyDetails",
      "description": "Returns full metadata for a single policy by ID.",
      "inputSchema": {
        "type": "object",
        "properties": { "policyId": { "type": "string" } },
        "required": ["policyId"]
      }
    }
  ],
  "endpoints": {
    "initialize": "/api/mcp/initialize",
    "invoke": "/api/mcp/invoke",
    "tools": "/api/mcp/tools",
    "manifest": "/api/mcp/manifest"
  }
}

The manifest provides:

• Server information - Name, version, and description
• Tool definitions - All available tools with input schemas
• Endpoint information - Routes to all MCP endpoints

Clients use this manifest to discover what tools are available before calling the initialize endpoint.

Manual Testing with cURL

1. Initialize MCP Connection

curl -X POST http://localhost:7071/api/mcp/initialize \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "id": "1",
    "method": "initialize",
    "params": {
      "protocolVersion": "2024-11-05",
      "clientInfo": { "name": "TestClient", "version": "1.0.0" }
    }
  }'

Expected Response:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": "1",
  "result": {
    "protocolVersion": "2024-11-05",
    "capabilities": { "tools": { "listChanged": false } },
    "serverInfo": { "name": "PolicyMcpServer", "version": "1.0.0" }
  }
}

2. List Available Tools

curl -X GET http://localhost:7071/api/mcp/tools \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json"

Expected Response:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": "1",
  "result": [
    {
      "name": "listPolicies",
      "description": "Returns a list of all policies with basic metadata.",
      "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": {} }
    },
    {
      "name": "getPolicyDetails",
      "description": "Returns full metadata for a single policy by ID.",
      "inputSchema": {
        "type": "object",
        "properties": {
          "policyId": { "type": "string", "description": "The ID of the policy" }
        },
        "required": ["policyId"]
      }
    }
  ]
}

3. List All Policies

curl -X POST http://localhost:7071/api/mcp/invoke \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "id": "2",
    "method": "tools/call",
    "params": { "name": "listPolicies", "arguments": {} }
  }'

Expected Response:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": "2",
  "result": {
    "type": "text",
    "text": "[{\"Id\":\"POL-001\",\"Name\":\"Data Retention Policy\",\"Status\":\"Active\",\"Owner\":\"Compliance\",\"LastReviewed\":\"2025-01-10T00:00:00\"},{\"Id\":\"POL-002\",\"Name\":\"Access Control Policy\",\"Status\":\"Draft\",\"Owner\":\"Security\",\"LastReviewed\":\"2025-02-01T00:00:00\"},{\"Id\":\"POL-003\",\"Name\":\"Incident Response Policy\",\"Status\":\"Active\",\"Owner\":\"CyberOps\",\"LastReviewed\":\"2024-12-15T00:00:00\"}]",
    "isError": false
  }
}

4. Get Policy Details

curl -X POST http://localhost:7071/api/mcp/invoke \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "id": "3",
    "method": "tools/call",
    "params": {
      "name": "getPolicyDetails",
      "arguments": { "policyId": "POL-001" }
    }
  }'

Expected Response:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": "3",
  "result": {
    "type": "text",
    "text": "{\"Id\":\"POL-001\",\"Name\":\"Data Retention Policy\",\"Status\":\"Active\",\"Owner\":\"Compliance\",\"LastReviewed\":\"2025-01-10T00:00:00\"}",
    "isError": false
  }
}

5. Error Handling - Non-Existent Policy

curl -X POST http://localhost:7071/api/mcp/invoke \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "id": "4",
    "method": "tools/call",
    "params": {
      "name": "getPolicyDetails",
      "arguments": { "policyId": "POL-999" }
    }
  }'

Expected Response (Error):

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": "4",
  "result": {
    "type": "text",
    "text": "Policy with ID 'POL-999' not found",
    "isError": true
  }
}

API Endpoints

Endpoint	Method	Purpose	Route
Get Manifest	GET	Discover server capabilities and tools	/api/mcp/manifest
Initialize	POST	Initialize MCP connection	/api/mcp/initialize
List Tools	GET	List all available tools	/api/mcp/tools
Invoke Tool	POST	Call a tool	/api/mcp/invoke

Sample Test Data

The server includes pre-loaded test policies:

ID	Name	Status	Owner
POL-001	Data Retention Policy	Active	Compliance
POL-002	Access Control Policy	Draft	Security
POL-003	Incident Response Policy	Active	CyberOps

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Architecture

PolicyMcpServer/
├── Models/
│   ├── Policy.cs                          # Policy domain model
│   ├── ToolPolicy.cs                      # Tool authorization model
│   ├── ToolConstraints.cs                 # Tool constraint model
│   ├── ToolLogging.cs                     # Tool logging configuration
│   └── MCPProtocol/                       # MCP Protocol models
│       ├── MCPRequest.cs
│       ├── MCPResponse.cs
│       ├── MCPManifest.cs                 # Server manifest model
│       ├── InitializeParams.cs
│       └── ToolDefinition.cs
├── Services/
│   ├── IMcpService.cs                     # MCP service interface
│   └── McpService.cs                      # Tool registration & invocation
├── Functions/
│   ├── GetPolicyDetails.cs                # Legacy HTTP endpoint
│   ├── ListPolicies.cs                    # Legacy HTTP endpoint
│   └── MCP/
│       ├── InitializeMcp.cs               # MCP initialize endpoint
│       ├── InvokeTool.cs                  # MCP invoke endpoint
│       ├── ListTools.cs                   # MCP list tools endpoint
│       └── GetManifest.cs                 # MCP manifest discovery endpoint
├── Program.cs                             # Application startup
├── Dockerfile                             # Docker configuration
├── local.settings.json                    # Local development settings
└── host.json                              # Azure Functions configuration

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Deployment

Azure Container Instances

az acr build --registry <your-registry> --image policy-mcp-server:latest .
az container create \
  --resource-group <your-rg> \
  --name policy-mcp-server \
  --image <your-registry>.azurecr.io/policy-mcp-server:latest \
  --ports 80 \
  --environment-variables AZURE_HTTP_USER_AGENT="policy-mcp-server/1.0"

Azure Functions

func azure functionapp publish <your-function-app-name>

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Contribute

We welcome contributions! Please:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

Guidelines

• Follow C# naming conventions
• Add XML documentation comments
• Include unit tests for new features
• Update README for significant changes

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References

• Model Context Protocol
• Azure Functions Documentation
• JSON-RPC 2.0 Specification