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david3xu

Azure Dev Server

by david3xu
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TypeScript
Hybrid

⚠️ DEPRECATED — This repository has been consolidated into the datacore monorepo at packages/dev-server. This repo is archived and no longer maintained. All future development happens in the monorepo.

azure-dev-server

Remote MCP server that gives Claude Desktop full filesystem and shell access over HTTPS — a cloud-hosted Desktop Commander running on Azure Container Apps.

What it does

Exposes 8 MCP tools so Claude Desktop can read, write, edit, search, and run commands on a remote machine:

Tool

Description

ping

Health check

read_file

Read a file with line numbers

write_file

Write or append to a file

edit_file

Surgical find-and-replace (single occurrence)

search_files

Grep across a directory with optional file pattern

list_directory

List files/dirs with recursion depth

run_command

Execute a shell command, returns stdout/stderr

get_file_info

File metadata (size, type, modified time)

Related MCP server: vulcan-file-ops

Why it exists

Claude Desktop's built-in Desktop Commander only works locally. This project gives Claude Desktop the same capabilities on a remote Azure machine — useful when the workspace lives in the cloud or needs to be shared across devices.

Quickstart (local)

git clone https://github.com/david3xu/azure-dev-server.git
cd azure-dev-server
pnpm install
pnpm run build
MCP_API_KEY=your-key WORKSPACE=/path/to/your/workspace pnpm start

Health check:

curl http://localhost:3001/health

Connect to the live instance

The server runs at:

https://ca-dev-server.purplegrass-77b8c839.australiaeast.azurecontainerapps.io

Cursor

Add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "azure-dev": {
      "url": "https://ca-dev-server.purplegrass-77b8c839.australiaeast.azurecontainerapps.io/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "x-api-key": "<your-api-key>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Reload the window (Cmd+Shift+P → "Reload Window") — the 8 tools appear in the MCP panel.

VSCode + GitHub Copilot

Add to .vscode/mcp.json (per workspace) or user settings.json:

{
  "mcp": {
    "servers": {
      "azure-dev": {
        "type": "http",
        "url": "https://ca-dev-server.purplegrass-77b8c839.australiaeast.azurecontainerapps.io/mcp",
        "headers": {
          "x-api-key": "<your-api-key>"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop only supports stdio transport, so use mcp-remote as an HTTP bridge.

Create ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/azure-dev-mcp-bridge.sh:

#!/bin/zsh
set -euo pipefail

exec /opt/homebrew/bin/npx -y mcp-remote \
  "https://ca-dev-server.purplegrass-77b8c839.australiaeast.azurecontainerapps.io/mcp" \
  --transport http-first \
  --header "x-api-key:<your-api-key>"

Then add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "azure-dev": {
      "command": "/bin/zsh",
      "args": ["/Users/<you>/Library/Application Support/Claude/azure-dev-mcp-bridge.sh"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop (Cmd+Q, reopen).

Terminal (interactive shell inside the container)

Requires Azure CLI.

Step 1 — Add the alias to your shell profile (once):

echo "alias azure-dev-shell='az containerapp exec \\
  --name ca-dev-server \\
  --resource-group rg-datacore \\
  --command bash'" >> ~/.zshrc

Step 2 — Load it in your current terminal:

source ~/.zshrc

Step 3 — Connect:

azure-dev-shell

You will see INFO: Successfully connected to container: 'ca-dev-server' and a shell prompt.

Tips inside the container:

  • clear is not available — use Ctrl+L instead

  • The prompt may show sh-5.2# — run bash to switch to a full Bash session

  • /workspace is the Azure Files mount — files written here persist across restarts

  • Exit with Ctrl+D

Verify the connection

After connecting via any client, run these tools in order:

  1. ping — should return "alive — workspace: /workspace"

  2. list_directory with path: "/" — lists the workspace root

  3. write_file then read_file — confirms read/write access

Environment variables

Variable

Required

Default

Description

MCP_API_KEY

Yes

dev-key-change-me

API key sent in x-api-key header

WORKSPACE

No

process.cwd()

Root directory for all file operations

PORT

No

3001

HTTP port

Deploy to Azure Container Apps

Requires Azure CLI. No local Docker needed — image is built in the cloud:

# One-time setup
az group create --name rg-datacore --location australiaeast
az acr create --name acrdevserver --resource-group rg-datacore --sku Basic --admin-enabled true
az containerapp env create --name cae-dev-server --resource-group rg-datacore --location australiaeast

# Build + deploy
az acr build --registry acrdevserver --image azure-dev-server:latest --file Dockerfile .

ACR_PASS=$(az acr credential show --name acrdevserver --query "passwords[0].value" -o tsv)
az containerapp create \
  --name ca-dev-server \
  --resource-group rg-datacore \
  --environment cae-dev-server \
  --image acrdevserver.azurecr.io/azure-dev-server:latest \
  --registry-server acrdevserver.azurecr.io \
  --registry-username acrdevserver \
  --registry-password "$ACR_PASS" \
  --target-port 3001 --ingress external \
  --min-replicas 1 --max-replicas 3 \
  --cpu 0.5 --memory 1.0Gi \
  --env-vars "MCP_API_KEY=<your-key>" "NODE_ENV=production" "PORT=3001" "WORKSPACE=/workspace"

Re-deploy after code changes:

az acr build --registry acrdevserver --image azure-dev-server:latest --file Dockerfile .
az containerapp update --name ca-dev-server --resource-group rg-datacore \
  --image acrdevserver.azurecr.io/azure-dev-server:latest

Development

pnpm run check      # format + lint + type-check + build + test (all layers)
pnpm run test       # tests only
pnpm run format     # auto-format src/ and tests/

All 7 constraint layers active: CI → pre-commit hook → ESLint → TypeScript strict → tests → Prettier → Zod schemas.

Tech stack

License

MIT

This server cannot be deployed

One endpoint for every MCP toolRayrun runs every MCP server behind one URL and holds the credentials. Each call is decided per client, tool, and argument, then recorded.ray.runAd

Maintenance

ActivityInactive
ResponsivenessNo issues

Resources

Related MCP Connectors

Related MCP Servers