OpenAPI MCP Generator

Install the generator globally via npm to make the openapi-mcp-generator command available, or use npx to run it without installing.

npm install -g openapi-mcp-generator

Run the generator pointing at your OpenAPI specification file or URL. Specify an output directory where the generated TypeScript MCP server will be written.

openapi-mcp-generator --input path/to/openapi.json --output ./my-mcp-server

Navigate into the generated server directory, install its npm dependencies, and compile the TypeScript to JavaScript.

cd my-mcp-server
npm install
npm run build

Export the credentials your API requires. The variable naming pattern depends on the auth scheme name in your OpenAPI spec. Replace SCHEME_NAME with the actual security scheme name.

# API Key auth:
export API_KEY_SCHEME_NAME="your-api-key"

# Bearer token auth:
export BEARER_TOKEN_SCHEME_NAME="your-bearer-token"

# Basic auth:
export BASIC_USERNAME_SCHEME_NAME="user"
export BASIC_PASSWORD_SCHEME_NAME="pass"

Add the generated MCP server to Claude Desktop's configuration file. Pass the required auth credentials as environment variables.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "my-api": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/my-mcp-server/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "API_KEY_MYSCHEME": "your-api-key-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

To include or exclude specific API endpoints from the generated MCP server, add the x-mcp boolean extension to your OpenAPI spec at the root, path, or operation level. Set to false to exclude an endpoint.

# In your OpenAPI spec YAML:
paths:
  /admin/internal:
    x-mcp: false
    get:
      summary: Internal endpoint excluded from MCP