Azure API Management Gateway with Entra ID Authentication MCP server

This sample demonstrates how to use Azure API Management as an AI Gateway for MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers, implementing the latest MCP Authorization specification. It allows you to securely expose and manage your MCP servers through Azure's infrastructure.

Installation Requirements

Before deploying, ensure you have the necessary prerequisites:

Register Resource Provider

You must register the Microsoft.App resource provider:

Using Azure CLI:

az provider register --namespace Microsoft.App --wait

Using Azure PowerShell:

Register-AzResourceProvider -ProviderNamespace Microsoft.App
# To check registration status after some time
(Get-AzResourceProvider -ProviderNamespace Microsoft.App).RegistrationState

Deploy to Azure

Use the Azure Developer CLI (azd) to provision all required resources:

azd up

This command will provision:

• Azure API Management service
• Azure Function App with deployment code
• All other required Azure resources

After deployment completes, the command output will display your API Management service name, which you'll need for the next steps.

Using the MCP Server

Setting Up MCP Inspector

To interact with your MCP server, you'll use the MCP Inspector tool:

1. Open a new terminal window and install the MCP Inspector:

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector

2. Open the MCP Inspector web app by CTRL+clicking the URL displayed in the terminal (typically http://127.0.0.1:6274/#resources)

Connecting to Your MCP Server

Once the MCP Inspector is running:

1. In the Inspector UI, set the transport type to SSE
2. Enter your API Management SSE endpoint URL:

https://<apim-servicename-from-azd-output>.azure-api.net/mcp/sse

3. Click Connect to establish a connection to your MCP server

Testing Functionality

After connecting:

1. Click List Tools to see available tools
2. Click on any tool from the list to select it
3. Click Run Tool to execute the selected tool

The MCP Inspector provides a visual interface to test and interact with your MCP server's capabilities through the Azure API Management gateway.

How to add this MCP server to Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > MCP and click "Add new global MCP server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "cursor-rules-mcp": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "cursor-rules-mcp"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explictly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.