OpenAI MCP Getting Started Example

This project showcases how to use the MCP protocol with OpenAI. It provides a simple example to interact with OpenAI's API seamlessly via an MCP server, host and clients.

MCP server supported features and capabilities

This sample provides an MCP server implementation that supports the following features:

Getting Started

To get started with this project, follow the steps below:

Prerequisites

• Node.js and npm (version 22 or higher)
• An OpenAI compatible endpoint:
  • An OpenAI API key
  • Or, a GitHub token, if you want to use the GitHub models: https://gh.io/models
  • Or, if you are using Azure OpenAI, you need to have an Azure OpenAI resource and the corresponding endpoint.

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/manekinekko/openai-mcp-example.git
   cd openai-mcp-example
   

2. Install the dependencies:

   npm install
   

Configuration

This sample supports the follwowing providers:

• Azure OpenAI,
• OpenAI,
• GitHub Models.

Azure OpenAI

In order to use Keyless authentication, using Azure Managed Identity, you need to provide the AZURE_OPENAI_ENDPOINT environment variable in the .env file:

AZURE_OPENAI_ENDPOINT="https://<ai-foundry-openai-project>.openai.azure.com"
MODEL="gpt-4.1"

# Optional: If you want to use the API key authentication.
#AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY=your_azure_openai_api_key

And make sure to using the Azure CLI to log in to your Azure account and follow the instructions to selection your subscription:

az login

OpenAI

To use the OpenAI API, you need to set your OPENAI_API_KEY key in the .env file:

OPENAI_API_KEY=your_openai_api_key
MODEL="gpt-4.1"

GitHub Models

To use the GitHub models, you need to set your GITHUB_TOKEN and GITHUB_MODEL in the .env file:

GITHUB_TOKEN=your_github_token
GITHUB_MODEL="openai/gpt-4.1"

Usage

1. Run the MCP server:

   npm run server
   

2. Run the MCP host in a separate terminal:

   npm run host
   

You should see a response like the following:

Authentication method: Azure OpenAI Entra ID (keyless)

MCP Host Started!
Connected to the following servers:
* math-server: http://localhost:4321/sse
Available tools:
- calculate_sum: Calculate the sum of two numbers
- calculate_product: Calculate the product of two numbers
- calculate_difference: Calculate the difference of two numbers
- calculate_division: Calculate the division of two numbers

Query: what is 40+2?
Agent:
[Thinking] Using tool "calculate_sum" with args "{\"a\":40,\"b\":2}"
[Thinking] Tool calculate_sum result: The sum of 40 and 2 is 42.
[Thinking] The result of 40 + 2 is 42.

Agent:
The result of 40 + 2 is 42.

Query:

Debugging and inspection

You can use the DEBUG environment variable to enable verbose logging for the OpenAI SDK:

DEBUG=true npm run host

In order to inspect the MCP servers, run the following command in a separate terminal, and follow the instructions:

npm run inspect

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.