mcp-rfc

This MCP server provides tools to fetch, search, and extract data from RFC documents hosted on ietf.org. It supports fetching RFCs by number, searching RFCs by keyword, and retrieving specific sections from RFCs. The server attempts to parse RFCs in HTML format first for structured data, and gracefully falls back to TXT when HTML is unavailable or insufficient. Tools are exposed through the MCP interface: get_rfc to retrieve a full RFC document, search_rfcs to find RFCs matching a query, and get_rfc_section to pull a particular section from an RFC. Resources like rfc://{number} and rfc://search/{query} give convenient lookup paths for integration into other workflows.

Prerequisites:

• Node.js and npm installed on your system
• Basic familiarity with MCP server configuration

1. Install Node.js (if not already installed)

• Visit https://nodejs.org/ and install the LTS version for your platform

2. Verify npm/npx are available

• Run: node -v and npm -v to ensure they are installed

3. Configure the MCP server using the provided settings example

• Create or update your MCP settings file to include the following configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rfc-server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@mjpitz/mcp-rfc"],
      "disabled": false,
      "autoApprove": []
    }
  }
}

4. Start using the server via your MCP runner or client tooling

• If you are using the same project environment, you can launch via your MCP workflow which will invoke the npx command to run the @mjpitz/mcp-rfc package.
• Example invocation in MCP-enabled pipelines will depend on your orchestrator.

Notes and tips:

• The server provides three primary tools: get_rfc, search_rfcs, and get_rfc_section. Use get_rfc with a numeric string for the RFC number and an optional format (full, metadata, sections).
• Use search_rfcs with a query string and an optional limit to control result count.
• get_rfc_section requires the RFC number and the section title or number to retrieve a specific portion.
• RFC parsing supports both HTML and TXT formats, preferring HTML for structure when available, but will fall back to TXT when necessary.
• If you encounter network or IETF site fetch issues, verify your environment can access ietf.org, and check any proxy or firewall settings. Environment variables for advanced configurations are not required by default but can be added if the MCP wrapper supports them in your deployment.
• Ensure your MCP runner has the necessary permissions to execute npx and install the package on first run.