---
title: HTTP MCP Server
sidebar_position: 0
sidebar_label: Overview
---

import { LuPlug, LuWrench, LuLayoutGrid, LuServer } from 'react-icons/lu';

# HTTP MCP Server

The RocketRide engine has a built-in MCP server — nothing to install, nothing to
run. Connect an AI assistant to it and the assistant can **build, validate, run,
and observe** RocketRide pipelines, manage deployments, and read your account
file store.

## Endpoint

```text
https://api.rocketride.ai/mcp
```

Self-hosted engines serve the same endpoint automatically at
`http://<host>:5565/mcp` as soon as the engine is up (see
[Self-hosting](/connect/mcp/http/self-hosting)).

## Authentication

Clients like Claude and ChatGPT authenticate with OAuth — the first connection
triggers an interactive login, and users without a RocketRide account can sign
up from the same screen. Header-capable clients (Cursor, scripts, CLIs) can
instead send a RocketRide API key: `Authorization: Bearer rr_...`.

Task-scoped keys (`tk_`/`pk_`) are never accepted on this endpoint. Setup steps
for each client are on [Connect a client](/connect/mcp/http/connect).

## What you can do

The server exposes 29 tools, organized by capability — the full parameter-level
reference is on [Tools](/connect/mcp/http/tools):

| Capability | Tools |
| --- | --- |
| [Discover components](/connect/mcp/http/tools#discover-components) | `list_components`, `describe_component`, `resolve_config`, `list_integrations` |
| [Author pipelines](/connect/mcp/http/tools#author-pipelines) | `validate_pipeline`, `describe_pipeline`, `scaffold_node`, `save_template`, `load_template` |
| [Run pipelines](/connect/mcp/http/tools#run-pipelines) | `run_pipeline`, `run_dropper_pipe`, `send_data`, `send_files`, `terminate` |
| [Watch what's running](/connect/mcp/http/tools#watch-whats-running) | `monitor`, `list_running_pipelines` |
| [Read the file store](/connect/mcp/http/tools#read-the-file-store) | `store_read`, `store_list`, `store_stat`, `store_get_url` |
| [Manage deployments](/connect/mcp/http/tools#manage-deployments) | `deploy_add`, `deploy_list`, `deploy_status`, `deploy_remove`, `deploy_update` |
| [Replay past runs](/connect/mcp/http/tools#replay-past-runs) | `log_chapters`, `log_read`, `log_traces`, `log_trace` |

Two things to know when working with the tools:

- **Pipelines travel inline.** No tool accepts a pipeline filepath — a client
  that has a `.pipe` file reads it itself and sends the JSON.
- **Files come in over a separate channel.** `run_dropper_pipe` returns an
  `upload_url` for programmatic uploads and a `dropper_url` — a browser page
  where a person can drag and drop files into the running pipeline.

## Example prompts

> Build and run a pipeline that summarizes the PDFs I upload.

> Which components can I use right now without setting up any credentials?

> Show me what happened in my last run — where did the second document fail?

> Deploy this pipeline to run every night at 2am.

## Security model

- **Inline-only pipelines** — no tool accepts a server-local pipeline path, so
  a caller can never make the engine read pipeline definitions off its own
  disk.
- **Store-scoped reads** — the four `store_*` tools resolve paths through your
  account's file store on the engine, nothing else. (`send_files` is the one
  exception: its paths resolve on the machine the engine runs on — see its
  [reference entry](/connect/mcp/http/tools#send_files).)
- **Credential names, never values** — integration-readiness tools report which
  environment variables are configured; the values never transit MCP.
- **Audience-enforced OAuth** — tokens must be minted for this resource;
  task-scoped keys and PKCE codes are rejected outright.
- **Per-caller identity** — every request acts as the account behind the
  presented credential; tools see that caller's own store, deployments, and
  environment.

## Explore

<div className="rr-card-grid">

<a className="rr-side-card" href="/connect/mcp/http/connect">
  <span className="rr-side-card__head"><LuPlug className="rr-card-icon" /><span className="rr-side-card__title">Connect a client</span></span>
  <span className="rr-side-card__body">Setup for Claude, Claude Code, Cursor, and VS Code; OAuth and API-key auth; transport details.</span>
</a>

<a className="rr-side-card" href="/connect/mcp/http/tools">
  <span className="rr-side-card__head"><LuWrench className="rr-card-icon" /><span className="rr-side-card__title">Tools</span></span>
  <span className="rr-side-card__body">All 29 tools with parameters, return shapes, and the error contract.</span>
</a>

<a className="rr-side-card" href="/connect/mcp/http/resources-and-widgets">
  <span className="rr-side-card__head"><LuLayoutGrid className="rr-card-icon" /><span className="rr-side-card__title">Resources &amp; Widgets</span></span>
  <span className="rr-side-card__body">Live MCP resources and the interactive widgets rendered in MCP Apps hosts.</span>
</a>

<a className="rr-side-card" href="/connect/mcp/http/self-hosting">
  <span className="rr-side-card__head"><LuServer className="rr-card-icon" /><span className="rr-side-card__title">Self-hosting</span></span>
  <span className="rr-side-card__body">OAuth configuration, environment variables, and the dev-mode auth bypass.</span>
</a>

</div>

Looking for the stdio PyPI package (`rocketride-mcp`) that exposes *running
pipelines* as tools instead? That's the
[stdio MCP server](/connect/mcp/stdio).