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Contributing

Thank you for your interest in contributing! This page explains how to report bugs, suggest features, and submit pull requests.

Reporting Bugs

Use the Bug Report issue template. Include:

  • Steps to reproduce
  • Expected vs. actual behavior
  • Error message or logs
  • Your OS, .NET version, and installation method (global tool, clone & build, or docker)

Capture logs with:

dotnet run --project src/McpServer 2> debug.log

Suggesting Features

Use the Feature Request template. Describe:

  • The problem you want to solve
  • Your proposed solution (or just the problem — a solution is not required)
  • Which tool or area it affects

Development Setup

Prerequisites: .NET 8 SDK

git clone https://github.com/Argha713/dotnet-mcp-server.git
cd dotnet-mcp-server
dotnet build
dotnet test

Run the server locally:

dotnet run --project src/McpServer

Project layout:

src/
  McpServer/                       # Main server (entry point, handler, built-in tools)
  McpServer.Plugin.Abstractions/   # ITool contract NuGet package
  McpServer.Templates/             # dotnet new mcp-tool template package
tests/
  McpServer.Tests/                 # xUnit tests (275+)
examples/
  configs/                         # Ready-to-use appsettings profiles
  SamplePlugin/                    # Reference plugin implementation

Making a Pull Request

  1. Fork the repo and create a branch from master
  2. Use branch naming: feature/short-description or fix/short-description
  3. Make your changes following the code style below
  4. Add or update tests for any logic you change
  5. Run dotnet test — all tests must pass
  6. Open a PR against master and fill in the PR template

Code Style

  • Target framework: .NET 8 / C# 12. No new NuGet dependencies without prior discussion in an issue.
  • Comment format: All code comments must follow this exact format: 
    // Argha - YYYY-MM-DD - explanation of why this exists
  • Never delete code. Comment it out using the format above: 
    // Argha - 2026-02-25 - disabled old validation logic
// if (oldCondition) { ... }
  • No auto-formatters — match the surrounding style
  • No Co-Authored-By: Claude or similar AI attribution in commits

Running Tests

# All tests
dotnet test

# A single test class
dotnet test --filter "FullyQualifiedName~McpServer.Tests.DateTimeToolTests"

# A single test method
dotnet test --filter "FullyQualifiedName~McpServer.Tests.DateTimeToolTests.ExecuteAsync_Now_ShouldReturnCurrentTime"

Test framework: xUnit with FluentAssertions and Moq.

Security Constraints

The following constraints are intentional and must not be weakened without an issue discussion:

Area Constraint
FileSystem Path allowlist; 1 MB read limit
SQL SELECT-only; 17 dangerous keywords blocked; 30s timeout; max 1,000 rows
HTTP Host allowlist with subdomain support; HTTP/HTTPS only; 10K char response limit
Git Read-only operations; path and argument validation
Environment Hardcoded blocklist for sensitive variable names

See the Security Constraints page for the full rationale.

Adding a New Tool

  1. Create a class implementing ITool in src/McpServer/Tools/
  2. Register it in src/McpServer/Program.cs: 
    services.AddSingleton<ITool, MyTool>();
  3. Add tests in tests/McpServer.Tests/
  4. Document it in README.md (features table + usage examples section)

For a drop-in DLL without modifying the core project, see Plugin Development.