Pipedream MCP server for AI agents

Pipedream MCP Server is a reference implementation that allows you to run your own Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for integrating with over 2,800 apps and APIs. While this version is primarily for learning and self-hosting, Pipedream recommends their remote MCP server for production use.

Installation

Prerequisites

Before running the MCP server, you'll need to set up your Pipedream account and credentials:

Sign up for a Pipedream account at pipedream.com
Create a project in Pipedream (where connected accounts will be stored)
Create a Pipedream OAuth client to get your credentials
Set up the required environment variables:

PIPEDREAM_CLIENT_ID=your_client_id
PIPEDREAM_CLIENT_SECRET=your_client_secret
PIPEDREAM_PROJECT_ID=your_project_id
PIPEDREAM_PROJECT_ENVIRONMENT=development

Running the Server via NPX

The simplest way to run the MCP server locally is using NPX:

npx @pipedream/mcp

Self-Hosting Setup

For a more complete development setup:

# Clone the repository and navigate to it
# Copy the example environment file
cp .env.example .env

# Install dependencies
pnpm install

# Start the server with Streamable HTTP Transport
pnpm dev:http

# For debugging (optional)
PD_SDK_DEBUG=true pnpm dev:http

Usage

Server Endpoints

There are two main ways to use the MCP server:

1. App-specific Endpoint

/{external_user_id}/{app}

This endpoint is dedicated to a specific application. For example, if your user with ID "123" wants to connect to Slack:

/123/slack

All tools available for Slack will be accessible at this endpoint.

2. Dynamic Endpoint (Experimental)

/{external_user_id}

This experimental version allows tools to update dynamically and is used to power the tools on Pipedream's chat application.

Testing with the MCP Inspector

You can test your MCP server using the MCP Inspector:

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector

When prompted, use one of these URLs:

For Streamable HTTP Transport: http://localhost:3010/v1/{external_user_id}/{app}
For SSE Transport: http://localhost:3010/{external_user_id}/{app}

Replace {external_user_id} with your user's unique identifier and {app} with the app's name slug.

Understanding Server-Sent Events (SSE)

The SSE server is particularly useful when running MCP servers for your application. The key parameters to understand are:

external_user_id: Your user's unique identifier in your system
app: The app's "name slug" (unique identifier for the app)

For example, if user "123" wants to connect to Slack (app slug: "slack"), your MCP client would make a request to /123/slack.

Advanced Usage: Stdio Transport

For testing with Stdio transport (only tested with the MCP Inspector):

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector bun src/stdio.ts

After running this command, check the logs for the inspector URL, then press "List Tools" to fetch the available MCP tools.

Key Concepts

External User IDs

When running the MCP server for your application, you'll use your own user identifiers. Any requests to a specific user route are coupled to that end user and will use the authentication that Pipedream stores for that user.

App Name Slugs

Each app in Pipedream has a unique "name slug" that identifies it. You can find this in the Authentication section of any Pipedream app. For example, the app slug for Slack is "slack".

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 "pipedream" '{"command":"npx","args":["@pipedream/mcp"]}'

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": {
        "pipedream": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "@pipedream/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 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": {
        "pipedream": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "@pipedream/mcp"
            ]
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect