api200

API 200 provides an MCP server named api200 that you can run via the npx package api200-mcp. This MCP server acts as a gateway and integration layer for managing third-party APIs, offering features such as authentication management, request caching, automatic retries, mock responses, response transformation, fallbacks, and custom headers. With the MCP setup, you can configure and interact with endpoints through your MCP client (e.g., Claude Desktop or other MCP clients) to manage, test, and monitor API integrations in a unified way. The included documentation and tooling facilitate importing endpoints from OpenAPI and Postman, as well as observing endpoint statistics and logs through the MCP interface.

To use it, you’ll typically provide your API key via environment variables (e.g., USER_KEY) when configuring the MCP tool in your client. The api200 MCP server will handle routing, authentication, caching, and retries per endpoint, while exposing your integrated endpoints in a consistent, observable manner. If you’re self-hosting, you can run the MCP via npx api200-mcp@latest and supply the required credentials to enable secure access to your configured APIs.

Prerequisites:

• Node.js and npm
• npx (comes with npm)
• Optional: Docker and Docker Compose if you prefer the self-hosted setup described in the project README

Installation (using the MCP from npm registry):

# Install/run the API200 MCP server via npx
npx api200-mcp@latest

If you want to configure the MCP with a specific key (as shown in the README):

# Example invoking with environment variable support (adjust to your shell)
export USER_KEY=your-api-key-here
npx api200-mcp@latest

Self-hosted setup (alternative, based on the project’s self-hosted instructions):

# Clone the repository and install dependencies
git clone https://github.com/API-200/api200-selfhosted
cd api200-selfhosted
npm i

# Run setup script (localhost with admin privileges)
sudo node setup.js
# Or for non-localhost:
node setup.js

# Start services
docker-compose up -d

Accessing the installation:

• Frontend: http://<your-hostname-or-ip>:3000
• API Handler: http://<your-hostname-or-ip>:8080

Tips and common considerations:

• Use a strong USER_KEY and keep it secret; treat it like a password for your MCP.
• If using the self-hosted route, ensure Docker, Docker Compose, and Node.js/npm are properly installed and that port exposure (3000, 8080) matches your environment.
• When running locally, note the potential need to modify hosts (e.g., 127.0.0.1 kong) for localhost setups as mentioned in the docs.
• The API200 MCP supports importing endpoints from OpenAPI and Postman; take advantage of this to quickly bootstrap your gateway configuration.
• Keep your MCP package up to date to benefit from security patches and feature improvements.