Azure Cloud Manager MCP server

Azure MCP Server implements the Model Context Protocol (MCP) specification to create a seamless connection between AI agents and Azure services. You can use it alone or with the GitHub Copilot for Azure extension in VS Code to give AI agents the ability to interact with your Azure resources.

Installation in VS Code (Recommended)

Prerequisites

1. Install VS Code (stable or Insiders release):
   • Stable release
   • Insiders release
2. Install required extensions:
   • GitHub Copilot
   • GitHub Copilot Chat
3. Install Node.js 20 or later
   • Ensure node and npm are in your path

Installation Steps

1. Open VS Code in an empty folder
2. Choose and install one of the available Azure MCP Servers (see options below)
3. Open GitHub Copilot in VS Code and switch to Agent mode
4. Click refresh on the tools list

Available Azure MCP Servers

You can install either the complete server with all tools or individual service-specific servers:

• All Azure Tools: Installs all Azure tools in a single MCP server
• Individual Services: Install specific services like App Configuration, Cosmos DB, Key Vault, Storage, etc.

Each service is available in two versions:

• Standard version with full functionality
• Read-only version with restricted permissions

Getting Started

1. Open GitHub Copilot in VS Code and switch to Agent mode
2. You should see the Azure MCP Server in the list of tools
3. Try a prompt that tells the agent to use the Azure MCP Server, such as "List my Azure Storage containers"
4. The agent will use the Azure MCP Server tools to complete your query

Example Usage Scenarios

Explore Your Azure Resources

• "List my Azure storage accounts"
• "Show me all my Cosmos DB databases"
• "What indexes do I have in my Azure AI Search service 'mysvc'?"
• "List my resource groups"
• "Show me the tables in my Storage account"

Query & Analyze

• "Query my Log Analytics workspace"
• "Let's search this index for 'my search query'"

Manage Configuration

• "List my App Configuration stores"
• "Show my key-value pairs in App Config"

Upgrading to the Latest Version

If you installed the server with npx and used @azure/mcp@latest, npx will automatically check for updates each time the server starts.

If you installed using npm install -g @azure/mcp, you'll need to manually update with npm update -g @azure/mcp.

Authentication

The Azure MCP Server uses the Azure Identity library for .NET to authenticate to Microsoft Entra ID. It follows the DefaultAzureCredential flow, which tries multiple authentication methods in sequence.

Troubleshooting

For help with common issues and logging, refer to the Troubleshooting guide.

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "Azure-Server" '{"command":"npx","args":["-y","@azure/mcp@latest","server","start"]}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For 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 > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

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

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "Azure Server": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "@azure/mcp@latest",
                "server",
                "start"
            ]
        }
    }
}

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 explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "Azure Server": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "@azure/mcp@latest",
                "server",
                "start"
            ]
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect