short-url

The short-url MCP server enables AI assistants and developer tools to interact with your short-link service through the MCP (Model Context Protocol). By configuring the MCP server, you expose a standard entry point that clients like Claude Desktop or VS Code can reach to generate short links via your backend. The MCP server relies on a running short-url backend (the Express + Redis service) and uses the API origin and an API key for secured access. Once configured, you can invoke short-link creation by sending requests through the MCP channel, and the AI assistant can return and display the resulting short URLs to users.

To use the MCP server, start the MCP server process (via npx short-mcp-server or your chosen deployment method) and ensure the API origin points to your running short-url backend. In Claude Desktop or VS Code, add the short-url MCP entry with the same command and environment variables (API_ORIGIN and API_KEY). The MCP server will then forward requests to your short-url service, enabling features like creating new short links from natural language prompts or editor actions, and retrieving existing short links when needed.

Prerequisites:

• Node.js 16+ installed
• Redis 5+ running locally or accessible
• Access to the repository with the short-url project (Monorepo: packages/short-mcp-server for MCP support)

Installation steps:

1. Install Node.js and Redis if not already available.

2. Clone the repository and install dependencies at the root or in the relevant package workspace:

   npm install

3. Start the MCP server using the recommended MCP package (example with npx):

   npx -y short-mcp-server

4. Ensure the short-url backend is running (Express + Redis) and accessible at the specified API origin (default http://localhost:3001).

5. If you’re deploying, you can also run via Docker/Docker Compose as outlined in the project’s deployment docs (docker compose up -d --build).

Notes:

• Update the API_ORIGIN and API_KEY in your MCP client configuration to point to your live backend and a valid key.
• For local testing, you can start the backend on port 3001 and set API_ORIGIN accordingly.

Tips and common considerations:

• Environment variables API_ORIGIN and API_KEY are required for MCP integration; replace YOUR_API_KEY with a real key when deploying.
• If deploying publicly, ensure the API origin is a reachable domain and consider rotating API keys regularly.
• The MCP server integrates with Claude Desktop and VS Code setups; ensure you configure the same command and environment variables in each tool’s MCP settings.
• If you encounter connectivity issues, verify that Redis is running and accessible from the MCP server process, and that the backend (short-url) is listening on the configured origin/port.
• For Docker deployments, use the recommended docker compose workflow to simplify orchestration and ensure consistent networking between services.