MCP Zephyr Scale Cloud Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Zephyr Scale Cloud, enabling AI assistants to interact with test management capabilities.

Table of Contents

• Features

  • ✅ Currently Implemented

  • 🚧 Planned Features

• Installation

  • Install using pipx (Recommended)

  • Alternative: Install using Poetry

  • Verify Installation

• Integration with Cursor

  • Configuration Options

  • Environment Variable Fallback

  • Getting Zephyr API Token

  • About Zephyr Scale Cloud API

• Development

• Recent Improvements

  • 🚀 Major Updates

  • 🔧 Technical Improvements

• Architecture

  • Project Structure

  • Key Concepts

• Advanced Features

  • 🚀 Server Lifespan Management

• Testing

  • 🧪 Test Structure

  • 🚀 Running Tests

  • 📊 Test Coverage

  • 🔧 CI/CD

• MCP Tools

  • Currently Available

  • 🩺 Health & Connectivity

  • ⭐ Priority Management

  • 📊 Status Management

  • 📁 Folder Management

  • 📝 Test Step Management

  • 📄 Test Script Management

  • 📋 Test Case Management

  • 🔗 Test Case Links

  • 🔄 Test Cycle Management

  • 🔗 Test Cycle Links

  • 📋 Test Plan Management

  • 🔗 Test Plan Links

• Usage Guides

  • 📊 Status Operations Guide

  • 📁 Folder Operations Guide

  • 🔧 Test Case Management Guide

• Troubleshooting

  • Installation Issues

  • Configuration Issues

• License

Related MCP server: Xray MCP Server

Features

Currently Implemented:

• 🩺 API Health Monitoring - Check connectivity and authentication status

• ⭐ Priority Management - Create, read, update priorities across projects

• 📊 Status Management - Manage test execution statuses with type filtering

• 📁 Folder Management - Organize test artifacts with hierarchical folder structure

• 🧪 Test Case Management - Full CRUD operations for test cases with metadata

• 🔄 Test Cycle Management - Full CRUD operations for test cycles with metadata and link management

• 📋 Test Plan Management - Create and retrieve test plans with unique test cycle linking capability

• 📝 Test Steps & Scripts - Manage test step definitions and scripts (plain/BDD)

• 🔗 Test Case, Cycle & Plan Links - Link test artifacts to Jira issues, web resources, and other test entities

• 📋 Advanced Retrieval - Pagination and filtering for test cases, cycles, and plans

• 📚 Version Management - Test case version history and retrieval

• 🔧 Production Ready - Server lifespan management and structured logging

• 🧪 Comprehensive Testing - Unit tests, integration tests, and CI/CD pipeline

• 📝 Type Safety - Pydantic schema validation for all API operations

Planned Features:

Based on the Zephyr Scale Cloud API documentation, the following major categories are planned for implementation:

• 📈 Test Execution Management - Create, read, update test executions and results

• 🌍 Environment Management - Test environment configuration and management

• 👥 Project Management - Project information and configuration

• 🔗 Advanced Link Management - Delete links and enhanced link operations

• 🤖 Automation Integration - Custom, Cucumber, and JUnit test execution automation

• 📊 Issue Link Coverage - Comprehensive Jira issue link coverage tracking

Installation

Install using pipx (Recommended)

The safest and cleanest way to install MCP servers is using pipx, which isolates packages in their own virtual environments.

Install pipx first:

macOS (Homebrew):

brew install pipx

Windows:

# Using pip
python -m pip install --user pipx

# Or using scoop
scoop install pipx

Linux (Ubuntu/Debian):

# Using apt
sudo apt update && sudo apt install pipx

# Or using pip
python3 -m pip install --user pipx

Install the MCP server:

pipx install mcp-zephyr-scale-cloud

Alternative: Install using Poetry

If you're using Poetry for dependency management in your project:

# Add to your project
poetry add mcp-zephyr-scale-cloud

# Or install globally in a new environment
poetry new mcp-zephyr-project
cd mcp-zephyr-project
poetry add mcp-zephyr-scale-cloud
poetry shell

Verify Installation

After installation, verify it works:

python -c "import mcp_zephyr_scale_cloud; print('✅ Successfully installed!')"

Integration with Cursor

After installing the package, add the following to your Cursor configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zephyr-scale-cloud": {
      "command": "mcp-zephyr-scale-cloud",
      "env": {
        "ZEPHYR_SCALE_API_TOKEN": "your-zephyr-api-token",
        "ZEPHYR_SCALE_BASE_URL": "https://api.zephyrscale.smartbear.com/v2",
        "ZEPHYR_SCALE_DEFAULT_PROJECT_KEY": "YOURPROJ"
      }
    }
  }
}

Configuration Options:

• ZEPHYR_SCALE_API_TOKEN: Your Zephyr Scale API token (required)

• ZEPHYR_SCALE_BASE_URL: API base URL (optional, defaults to https://api.zephyrscale.smartbear.com/v2)

• ZEPHYR_SCALE_DEFAULT_PROJECT_KEY: Default project key for tools that support it (optional)

Environment Variable Fallback

Many tools now support automatic project key resolution. If you have access to multiple projects, you can set ZEPHYR_SCALE_DEFAULT_PROJECT_KEY to avoid specifying the project key in every tool call. Tools like get_test_cases, get_folders, and others will automatically use this default when no explicit project key is provided.

Getting Zephyr API Token:

1. In JIRA, go to Apps → Zephyr Scale → API Access Tokens

2. Click Create access token

3. Copy the generated token and use it as your ZEPHYR_SCALE_API_TOKEN

For detailed instructions, see: API Access Tokens Management

About Zephyr Scale Cloud API

This package interfaces with the Zephyr Scale Cloud REST API, which provides comprehensive test management capabilities within Jira. The API allows you to:

• Import and manage test data from any framework or tool

• Store test execution results from automated testing

• Integrate with CI/CD pipelines for seamless test reporting

• Access test cases, cycles, plans, and execution data

Key API Information:

• Base URL: https://api.zephyrscale.smartbear.com/v2/

• Authentication: JWT Bearer token

• Protocol: HTTP-based REST API

• Supported operations: GET, POST, PUT requests for data retrieval and submission

The MCP Zephyr Scale Cloud package provides 38 tools that wrap these API endpoints, making them easily accessible through AI assistants and automation workflows.

API Resources:

• REST API Overview

• Complete API Documentation

Development

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/basterboy/mcp-zephyr-scale-cloud.git
cd mcp-zephyr-scale-cloud

2. Install dependencies:

poetry install --with dev

3. Run tests:

# Run all tests
make test

# Or specific test types
make test-unit          # Unit tests only
make test-integration   # Integration tests only  
make test-fast         # Fast tests (no coverage)
make test-coverage     # Tests with detailed coverage

# Or use Poetry directly
poetry run pytest

4. Run code quality checks:

# Run all quality checks
make lint

# Or individual tools
poetry run black .      # Code formatting
poetry run isort .      # Import sorting
poetry run ruff check . # Linting
poetry run mypy src/    # Type checking

5. Auto-fix code issues:

make format  # Fix formatting and imports

Recent Improvements

Major Updates:

• Test Case Management: Full CRUD operations for test cases with advanced metadata support

• Performance Optimization: Added comprehensive pagination guidance with max_results=1000 recommendations

• Link Management: Test case linking to Jira issues and web resources

• Version Control: Test case version history and retrieval capabilities

• Environment Integration: Automatic project key resolution from environment variables

• Enhanced Error Handling: Improved validation and user-friendly error messages

Technical Improvements:

• Schema Simplification: Streamlined update operations using Pydantic model_dump()

• Validation Enhancement: Comprehensive input validation with helpful error guidance

• Code Quality: Extensive refactoring for maintainability and performance

• Test Coverage: Expanded test suite covering all new functionality

Architecture

This project implements an MCP Server that connects AI assistants to Zephyr Scale Cloud:

AI Assistant (Claude) 
    ↓ (MCP Protocol)
MCP Server (server.py) 
    ↓ (HTTP Requests)
Zephyr Scale Cloud API

Project Structure

src/mcp_zephyr_scale_cloud/
├── server.py              # MCP Server - exposes tools to AI assistants
├── config.py              # Configuration management
├── schemas/               # Pydantic schemas for data validation
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── base.py           # Base schemas and common types
│   ├── common.py         # Shared entity schemas
│   ├── priority.py       # Priority-specific schemas
│   ├── status.py         # Status-specific schemas
│   ├── folder.py         # Folder-specific schemas
│   ├── test_case.py      # Test case schemas with pagination support
│   ├── test_script.py    # Test script schemas
│   ├── test_step.py      # Test step schemas
│   └── version.py        # Version-specific schemas
├── utils/                 # Utility functions
│   ├── __init__.py
│   └── validation.py     # Input validation utilities
└── clients/
    ├── __init__.py
    └── zephyr_client.py   # Schema-based HTTP Client

Key Concepts

• MCP Server (server.py): Handles the Model Context Protocol, exposes tools/resources to AI assistants with advanced lifespan management

• HTTP Client (clients/zephyr_client.py): Schema-based client making type-safe REST API calls to Zephyr Scale Cloud

• Pydantic Schemas (schemas/): Data validation and serialization using Pydantic models

• Validation Utils (utils/validation.py): Input validation with comprehensive error handling

• Configuration (config.py): Manages API tokens and settings

• Server Lifespan: Startup validation, API connectivity testing, and graceful shutdown management

Advanced Features

Server Lifespan Management

This MCP server implements advanced server lifespan management for robust production deployment:

• Startup Validation: Validates configuration and tests API connectivity before accepting requests

• Fast Failure: Reports configuration errors immediately on startup

• Health Monitoring: Automatically tests Zephyr Scale API accessibility during initialization

• Graceful Shutdown: Properly cleans up resources when the server stops

• Structured Logging: Uses Python's logging module with proper log levels for production environments

Benefits:

• 🔧 Better Developer Experience: Clear error messages if API token is missing

• 🚨 Production Ready: Fails fast instead of silently accepting broken configurations

• 📊 Monitoring: Easy to detect configuration and connectivity issues

• 🧹 Resource Management: Proper cleanup prevents resource leaks

Testing

This project includes comprehensive testing to ensure reliability:

Test Structure

tests/
├── test_basic.py           # Basic functionality tests
├── unit/                   # Unit tests for individual components
│   ├── test_config.py      # Configuration tests
│   ├── test_schemas.py     # Pydantic schema tests
│   ├── test_validation.py  # Validation utility tests
│   └── test_zephyr_client.py # HTTP client tests
├── integration/            # Integration tests
│   └── test_mcp_server.py  # MCP server integration tests
└── conftest.py            # Shared test fixtures

Running Tests

# Quick test run
make test-fast

# Full test suite with coverage
make test

# Continuous testing during development
poetry run pytest tests/ --tb=short -x

# Test specific functionality
poetry run pytest tests/test_basic.py -v

Test Coverage

• Unit Tests: Test individual components in isolation

• Integration Tests: Test MCP server functionality end-to-end

• Schema Tests: Validate Pydantic models and API contracts

• Validation Tests: Ensure input validation works correctly

CI/CD

Tests run automatically on:

• GitHub Actions: On push/PR to main branch

• Multiple Python versions: 3.10, 3.11, 3.12

• Code quality checks: Formatting, linting, type checking

MCP Tools

This server provides 32 MCP tools for Zephyr Scale Cloud integration:

Currently Available:

Health & Connectivity

• healthcheck - Check Zephyr Scale Cloud API connectivity and authentication status

Priority Management

• get_priorities - Get all priorities with optional project filtering

• get_priority - Get details of a specific priority by ID

• create_priority - Create a new priority in a project

• update_priority - Update an existing priority

Status Management

• get_statuses - Get all statuses with optional project and type filtering

• get_status - Get details of a specific status by ID

• create_status - Create a new status in a project

• update_status - Update an existing status

Folder Management

• get_folders - Get all folders with optional project and type filtering

• get_folder - Get details of a specific folder by ID

• create_folder - Create a new folder in a project

Test Step Management

• get_test_steps - Retrieve test steps for a specific test case with pagination support

• create_test_steps - Create test steps for a test case with APPEND/OVERWRITE modes

Test Script Management

• get_test_script - Retrieve test script for a specific test case

• create_test_script - Create or update test script with plain text or BDD format

Test Case Management

• get_test_case - Get detailed test case information including metadata, status, priority, and content

• get_test_cases - Retrieve test cases with advanced offset-based pagination and filtering

• create_test_case - Create new test cases with comprehensive metadata support

• update_test_case - Update existing test cases with validation and error handling

• get_test_case_versions - Retrieve version history for test cases

• get_test_case_version - Get specific version of a test case

• get_links - Get all links (issues + web links) associated with a test case

Test Case Links

• create_issue_link - Link test cases to Jira issues for traceability

• create_web_link - Add web links to test cases for documentation

Test Cycle Management

• get_test_cycles - Retrieve test cycles with advanced offset-based pagination and filtering

• get_test_cycle - Get detailed test cycle information including metadata, dates, and links

• create_test_cycle - Create new test cycles with comprehensive metadata support

• update_test_cycle - Update existing test cycles with validation and error handling

• get_test_cycle_links - Get all links (issues + web links) associated with a test cycle

Test Cycle Links

• create_test_cycle_issue_link - Link test cycles to Jira issues for traceability

• create_test_cycle_web_link - Add web links to test cycles for documentation

Test Plan Management

• get_test_plans - Retrieve test plans with offset-based pagination

• get_test_plan - Get detailed test plan information including all associated links

• create_test_plan - Create new test plans with metadata and organizational support

Test Plan Links

• create_test_plan_issue_link - Link test plans to Jira issues for traceability

• create_test_plan_web_link - Add web links to test plans (description required)

• create_test_plan_test_cycle_link - Link test plans to test cycles (unique bidirectional feature)

Usage Guides

Status Operations Guide

Status operations allow you to manage test execution statuses in Zephyr Scale Cloud. Each status can be associated with different entity types:

Status Types:

• TEST_CASE - For test case statuses

• TEST_PLAN - For test plan statuses

• TEST_CYCLE - For test cycle statuses

• TEST_EXECUTION - For test execution statuses

Example Usage:

# Get all statuses for a specific project and type
statuses = await get_statuses(
    project_key="MYPROJ",
    status_type="TEST_EXECUTION",
    max_results=100
)

# Create a new test execution status
new_status = await create_status(
    project_key="MYPROJ",
    name="In Review",
    status_type="TEST_EXECUTION",
    description="Test is under review",
    color="#FFA500"
)

# Update an existing status
updated = await update_status(
    status_id=123,
    project_id=456,
    name="Reviewed",
    index=5,
    description="Test has been reviewed and approved"
)

Status Properties:

• Name: Human-readable status name (max 255 chars)

• Type: One of the four status types listed above

• Description: Optional detailed description (max 255 chars)

• Color: Optional hex color code (e.g., '#FF0000')

• Index: Position/order in status lists

• Default: Whether this is the default status for the type

• Archived: Whether the status is archived

Folder Operations Guide

Folder operations allow you to organize and manage test artifacts in Zephyr Scale Cloud. Folders provide hierarchical structure for test cases, test plans, and test cycles.

Folder Types:

• TEST_CASE - For organizing test cases

• TEST_PLAN - For organizing test plans

• TEST_CYCLE - For organizing test cycles

Example Usage:

# Get all folders for a specific project and type
folders = await get_folders(
    project_key="MYPROJ",
    folder_type="TEST_CASE",
    max_results=100
)

# Create a new root folder
root_folder = await create_folder(
    name="Smoke Tests",
    project_key="MYPROJ",
    folder_type="TEST_CASE"
    # parent_id is None for root folders
)

# Create a child folder
child_folder = await create_folder(
    name="Login Tests",
    project_key="MYPROJ", 
    folder_type="TEST_CASE",
    parent_id=123  # ID of the parent folder
)

# Get details of a specific folder
folder_details = await get_folder(folder_id=456)

Folder Properties:

• Name: Human-readable folder name (1-255 chars)

• Type: One of the three folder types listed above

• Project Key: Jira project key where the folder belongs

• Parent ID: ID of parent folder (null for root folders)

• Index: Position/order within the parent folder

• ID: Unique identifier assigned by Zephyr Scale

Folder Hierarchy:

• Folders can be nested to create hierarchical organization

• Root folders have parent_id = null

• Child folders reference their parent via parent_id

• Each folder type maintains its own hierarchy within a project

Test Case Management Guide

The test case management tools provide comprehensive CRUD operations for managing test cases in Zephyr Scale Cloud.

Key Features:

• Full CRUD Operations: Create, read, update, and retrieve test cases

• Advanced Pagination: Efficient offset-based pagination with performance optimizations

• Version Management: Access to test case version history

• Link Management: Connect test cases to Jira issues and web resources

• Rich Metadata: Support for priorities, statuses, folders, components, and custom fields

• Environment Integration: Automatic project key resolution from environment variables

Pagination Performance Tips:

• Use max_results=1000 for fastest bulk data retrieval

• Follow offset-based pagination: start_at = current_start_at + max_results

• Ensure start_at is a multiple of max_results (API requirement)

• Check len(values) < max_results to detect the last page

Example Usage:

# Get test cases with maximum performance
test_cases = await get_test_cases(
    project_key="MYPROJ",
    max_results=1000,  # Maximum for best performance
    start_at=0
)

# Create a comprehensive test case
new_test_case = await create_test_case(
    name="Login functionality test",
    project_key="MYPROJ",
    objective="Verify user can log in successfully",
    priority_name="High",
    status_name="Draft",
    folder_id=123,
    labels=["smoke", "authentication"]
)

# Update test case with validation
updated = await update_test_case(
    test_case_key="MYPROJ-T123",
    name="Updated login test",
    priority_id=456,
    status_id=789
)

# Link to Jira issue for traceability
link_result = await create_issue_link(
    test_case_key="MYPROJ-T123",
    issue_id=456789
)

Troubleshooting

Installation Issues

pipx not found

Install pipx first using the platform-specific instructions in the Installation section above.

"externally-managed-environment" Error

This error occurs when trying to use pip directly. Solution:

• Use pipx instead: pipx install mcp-zephyr-scale-cloud (recommended)

• Or use Poetry: Follow the Poetry installation instructions above

"No matching distribution found" Error

• Ensure you have Python 3.10 or higher: python3 --version

• Update pipx: pipx upgrade-all

• Try with explicit Python version: python3.10 -m pipx install mcp-zephyr-scale-cloud

"command not found: mcp-zephyr-scale-cloud"

• With pipx: Check installation with pipx list

• PATH issue: Run pipx ensurepath to add pipx bin directory to PATH

• With Poetry: Ensure you're in the Poetry shell with poetry shell

pipx PATH warnings

If you see warnings about PATH not being set:

# Add pipx to PATH
pipx ensurepath

# Restart your shell or run:
source ~/.bashrc  # Linux
source ~/.zshrc   # macOS with zsh

Configuration Issues

"Configuration Error: Missing API token"

• Set environment variable: export ZEPHYR_SCALE_API_TOKEN="your-token"

• Or configure in Cursor settings (see Integration section above)

• Verify token in JIRA: Apps → Zephyr Scale → API Access Tokens

"401 Unauthorized" or "403 Forbidden"

• Check your API token is valid and active

• Verify project permissions in JIRA

• Ensure correct base URL for your region

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.