What is Mcp Sidecar

MCP-sidecar is a design pattern implemented on Kubernetes that allows the MCP server to run separately from the application, facilitating communication via standard input/output.

Use cases

Use cases for mcp-sidecar include applications that require interaction with GitHub repositories, such as fetching repository lists or managing GitHub actions through a sidecar architecture.

How to use

To use mcp-sidecar, build your app container using the provided Dockerfile-client-app, optionally build the GitHub MCP Server container, and deploy both on Kubernetes using the mcp-sidecar-deploy.yaml manifest. Finally, test your app to see the integration in action.

Key features

Key features of mcp-sidecar include the ability to run the MCP server in stdio mode, easy integration with Kubernetes, and sample Dockerfiles for building both the MCP server and client applications.

Where to use

MCP-sidecar can be used in cloud-native applications, particularly those running on Kubernetes, where there is a need for efficient communication between microservices or components.

MCP Sidecar Pattern

MCP sidecar pattern on Kubernetes

Your can run MCP server only support stdio mode separetely from your app!

MCP Sidecar concept

Contents

Dockerfile-github-mcp-server

Sample Dockerfile to build GitHub MCP Server container(to add some tools to create FIFO pipe in GitHub MCP Server)

Dockerfile-client-app

Dockerfile for Sample Apps

mcp-sidecar-deploy.yaml

Kubernetes manifest to run a pod of AI app and MCP server sidecar

app.py

Sample python app to get your GitHub Repo list via MCP Server

mcp-proxy.py

Local proxy to bridge stdin/stdout pipe between app container and MCP Server sidecar container

How to run the sample app

1. Build your app container with Dockerfile-client-app
   • cd ~
   • git clone https://github.com/hatasaki/mcp-sidecar.git
   • cd mcp-sidecar
   • docker build --tag your-app-container-image -f Dockerfile-client-app .
   • docker push your-app-container-image
2. Build your GitHub MCP Server container with Dockerfile-github-mcp-server
   This is optional, only required for a MCP server container image without shell or mkfifo such as GitHub MCP Server
   • cd ~
   • git clone https://github.com/github/github-mcp-server.git
   • cd github-mcp-server
   • cp …/mcp-sidecar/Dockerfile-github-mcp-server .
   • docker build --tag your-built-github-mcp-server-image> -f Dockerfile-github-mcp-server .
   • docker push your-built-github-mcp-server-image>
3. Run app on your Kubernetes
   • cd …/mcp-sidecar
   • kubectl create ns mcp
   • kubectl create secret generic github-token --from-literal=token=your GitHub PAT
   • kubectl apply -f MCP-sidecar-deploy.yaml
4. Test your app
   • kubectl get pod -n mcp
   • kubectl exec github-mcp-sidecar-your-pod-name -it – /bin/bash
   • python app.py
     Then, you can see list of your GitHub repos detail

Contributing

This project has adopted the Microsoft Open Source Code of Conduct. For more information see the Code of Conduct FAQ or contact [email protected] with any additional questions or comments.