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Installation

There are three ways to install dotnet-mcp-server. Choose the one that fits your setup.

The simplest path. Installs the server as a global CLI command.

Prerequisites: .NET 8 SDK

dotnet tool install -g DotnetMcpServer

Run the interactive setup wizard to create your config file:

dotnet-mcp-server --init

The wizard writes appsettings.json to your user config directory:

OS Config location
Windows %APPDATA%\dotnet-mcp-server\appsettings.json
Linux / macOS ~/.config/dotnet-mcp-server/appsettings.json

Verify everything is wired up correctly:

dotnet-mcp-server --validate

To update later:

dotnet tool update -g DotnetMcpServer

Option B — Clone and Build

For contributors or anyone who wants to run from source.

Prerequisites: .NET 8 SDK, Git

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

Edit the local config file at src/McpServer/appsettings.json:

{
  "FileSystem": {
    "AllowedPaths": [
      "C:\\Users\\YourName\\Documents",
      "C:\\Projects"
    ]
  },
  "Sql": {
    "Connections": {
      "MyDB": {
        "ConnectionString": "Server=localhost;Database=MyDB;Trusted_Connection=True;",
        "Description": "My local database"
      }
    }
  },
  "Http": {
    "AllowedHosts": [
      "api.github.com",
      "jsonplaceholder.typicode.com"
    ]
  }
}

Run the server:

dotnet run --project src/McpServer

When connecting a client in Option B mode, replace "command": "dotnet-mcp-server" with:

"command": "dotnet",
"args": ["run", "--project", "C:\\path\\to\\dotnet-mcp-server\\src\\McpServer"]

Option C — Docker (No .NET Required)

Run the server in a container alongside a demo SQL Server. No .NET SDK needed on your machine.

Prerequisites: Docker Desktop

Step 1: Copy the example config and env files:

cp docker/appsettings.example.json docker/appsettings.json
cp .env.example .env

Step 2: Edit docker/appsettings.json to set your allowed paths, SQL connections, and HTTP hosts. Edit .env to set a strong SQL_SA_PASSWORD.

Step 3: Build and start both services:

docker-compose up --build

Note

The Docker build runs the full test suite. If any test fails, the build is aborted.

For Docker client config, see the Connecting Clients → Claude Desktop section and use the Docker run pattern shown there.

Manual Testing (No Client Needed)

You can test the server from any terminal by sending raw JSON-RPC:

dotnet run --project src/McpServer

Paste these lines one at a time:

{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"initialize","params":{"protocolVersion":"2024-11-05","clientInfo":{"name":"manual-test","version":"1.0"}}}
{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"notifications/initialized"}
{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":2,"method":"tools/list"}
{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":3,"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"datetime","arguments":{"action":"now"}}}

Next Steps