Hosting

Bun Protocol License

Run MCP servers remotely over HTTP/SSE with on-demand package execution.

mcp-as-a-service fetches MCP packages from npm/PyPI, runs them in isolated Podman containers, and exposes them through a web-friendly gateway so clients do not need local stdio runtimes.

Built with Bun + Hono + TypeScript.

Why This Project

• Centralize MCP runtime execution on infrastructure you control
• Share remote MCP connectivity across many clients
• Start package runtimes only when needed
• Isolate runtimes with Podman security boundaries
• Keep protocol support first-class (2024-11-05)

Best Fit

• Internal MCP gateway for teams
• Hosted MCP runtime for clients that cannot run local processes
• Controlled package execution environment with observability

Quickstart

Prerequisites:

• Bun 1.1+
• Podman (rootless)

Setup:

bun install
bun run build:runtime-images
bun run dev

Production start:

bun run start

Run tests:

bun test

Default port: 8787 (or PORT env var).

First Success in 60 Seconds

1. Start an SSE stream:

curl -N "http://127.0.0.1:8787/package/firecrawl-mcp/sse?firecrawlApiKey=YOUR_KEY"

2. Send a JSON-RPC message:

curl -X POST "http://127.0.0.1:8787/package/firecrawl-mcp/messages?firecrawlApiKey=YOUR_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"initialize","params":{"protocolVersion":"2024-11-05","capabilities":{},"clientInfo":{"name":"test","version":"1.0"}}}'

API Overview

Core:

• GET / service metadata and usage hints
• GET /health health + protocol status
• GET /servers active runtime stats

MCP protocol:

• POST /mcp JSON-RPC 2.0 endpoint
• GET /mcp/capabilities server capabilities/status

HTTP/SSE package bridge:

• GET /package/:packageName/sse stream server events/messages
• POST /package/:packageName/messages send JSON-RPC payloads

Canonical write endpoint is POST /package/:packageName/messages. Removed aliases:

• POST /package/:packageName/respond
• POST /package/:packageName/message

Client Usage Example

Claude Desktop:

claude mcp add firecrawl \
  'https://mcp.llmbase.ai/package/firecrawl-mcp/sse?firecrawlApiKey=YOUR_KEY' \
  -t http

Direct MCP:

curl -X POST https://mcp.llmbase.ai/mcp \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"initialize","params":{"protocolVersion":"2024-11-05","capabilities":{},"clientInfo":{"name":"test","version":"1.0"}}}'

Security and Runtime Model

• Podman-only execution model
• Hardened container defaults (caps dropped, resource limits, isolated network mode)
• Input and argument sanitization
• Parameter-to-env mapping for package configuration
• Automatic cleanup of inactive runtimes

Ubuntu Podman prerequisites:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y podman uidmap slirp4netns fuse-overlayfs apparmor apparmor-utils
podman --version
podman info | grep rootless

Current Limits

• In-memory process registry (state resets on restart)
• maxConcurrentProcesses default: 10
• Container startup latency depends on package install/bootstrap time

Architecture

Client (Claude/Desktop/App)
  -> HTTP/SSE
mcp-as-a-service
  -> JSON-RPC over stdio
Containerized MCP package runtime (npm/pypi)
  -> external APIs/tools/resources

Project Structure

src/
  app/         app wiring and routes
  transport/   HTTP/SSE and MCP protocol controllers
  runtime/     process orchestration, execution plans, stdio framing
  packages/    package parsing and registry detection
  security/    input and environment policies
  shared/      config, logging, errors, and types

Documentation

• docs/API_REFERENCE.md endpoint reference and examples
• docs/DEPLOYMENT.md production deployment runbook
• docs/OPERATIONS.md day-2 operations commands
• docs/MIGRATION.md breaking-change migration notes
• docs/TROUBLESHOOTING.md common failures and fixes
• docs/MCP_COMPLIANCE.md MCP protocol implementation details
• docs/CLOUDFLARE_SETUP.md Cloudflare setup guidance
• CONTRIBUTING.md contribution workflow
• SECURITY.md vulnerability reporting policy
• CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md contributor behavior standards