@vurb/yaml

Declarative MCP Server Engine — define tools, resources, and prompts in vurb.yaml. The docker-compose for MCP servers.

What is this?

Write a single vurb.yaml file and get a fully compliant MCP server — with tools, resources, prompts — zero TypeScript required.

# vurb.yaml
version: "1.0"

server:
  name: "github-tools"

connections:
  github:
    type: rest
    base_url: "https://api.github.com"
    auth:
      type: bearer
      token: "${SECRETS.GITHUB_TOKEN}"

secrets:
  GITHUB_TOKEN:
    label: "GitHub Personal Access Token"
    type: api_key
    required: true
    sensitive: true

tools:
  - name: search_repos
    description: "Search GitHub repositories"
    instruction: "Use for finding open-source projects by topic or keyword."
    rules:
      - "Max 10 results per query"
    parameters:
      query: { type: string, required: true, description: "Search query" }
    execute:
      connection: github
      method: GET
      path: "/search/repositories"
      query: { q: "{{query}}", per_page: "10" }
    response:
      extract: ["items[].{full_name, description, stargazers_count, html_url}"]

vurb yaml dev             # → MCP server running on stdio
vurb yaml validate        # → validates your manifest

Installation

npm install @vurb/yaml

CLI

# Validate a manifest
vurb yaml validate
vurb yaml validate ./path/to/vurb.yaml

# Start a local dev server (stdio)
vurb yaml dev

# Start with Streamable HTTP transport
vurb yaml dev --transport http --port 3001

Programmatic API

import { loadYamlServer, createYamlMcpServer } from '@vurb/yaml';
import { readFileSync } from 'fs';

// 1. Parse, validate, and compile the YAML
const compiled = await loadYamlServer(
    readFileSync('vurb.yaml', 'utf-8'),
);

// 2. Create a real MCP server
const { server, close } = await createYamlMcpServer(compiled, {
    transport: 'stdio',  // or 'http'
});

Specification

Server

version: "1.0"

server:
  name: "my-server"
  description: "What this server does"
  capabilities:
    tools: true
    resources: true
    prompts: true
  instructions: |
    System-level instructions for the AI agent.

Secrets

Environment variables resolved at runtime via process.env[KEY].

secrets:
  API_KEY:
    label: "API Key"
    type: api_key       # api_key | oauth_token | email | password | custom
    required: true
    sensitive: true      # masked in logs

Connections

Named HTTP clients with auth and headers.

connections:
  api:
    type: rest
    base_url: "https://api.example.com/v1"
    auth:
      type: bearer          # bearer | basic | custom
      token: "${SECRETS.API_KEY}"
    headers:
      Accept: "application/json"

Tools — The Trichotomy

Every tool has three semantic layers:

| Field | Purpose | MCP Mapping | |---|---|---| | description | Short summary | tools/list → description | | instruction | Detailed how-to-use | Mapped to custom_description | | rules | Hard constraints | Mapped to system_rules[] |

tools:
  - name: create_ticket
    description: "Creates a Jira ticket"
    instruction: |
      Use when the user needs IT access, equipment, or VPN setup.
      Create one ticket per request type.
    rules:
      - "Never create duplicate tickets"
      - "Priority 'highest' only for C-level executives"
    tag: tickets
    annotations:
      readOnlyHint: false
    parameters:
      title: { type: string, required: true }
      priority:
        type: string
        enum: [low, medium, high]
        default: medium
    execute:
      connection: jira
      method: POST
      path: "/issue"
      body:
        fields:
          summary: "{{title}}"
          priority: { name: "{{priority}}" }
    response:
      extract: ["id", "key"]

Resources

resources:
  - name: "Company Manual"
    uri: "docs://manual"
    mime_type: "text/markdown"
    execute:
      type: static
      content: "# Manual\nWelcome."

  - name: "Live Data"
    uri: "data://metrics"
    execute:
      type: connection
      connection: api
      method: GET
      path: "/metrics"

Prompts

prompts:
  - name: "welcome_email"
    description: "Generates a welcome email"
    arguments:
      name: { type: string, required: true }
      role: { type: string, required: true }
    messages:
      - role: user
        content: "Write a welcome email for {{name}} ({{role}})."

Settings (Vinkius Cloud only)

These are parsed but not enforced by the open-source engine. They activate when deployed to Vinkius Cloud.

settings:
  dlp:
    enabled: true
    patterns: ["*.cpf", "*.salary"]
  finops:
    enabled: true
    max_array_items: 25
  circuit_breaker:
    threshold: 5
    reset_seconds: 60

Architecture

vurb.yaml → Parser → Validator → Compiler → MCP Server
                                     │
                                     ├── ToolCompiler      → tools/list, tools/call
                                     ├── ResourceCompiler   → resources/list, resources/read
                                     ├── PromptCompiler     → prompts/list, prompts/get
                                     └── ResponseTransformer → dot-path extraction

Open-source (@vurb/yaml): Local execution via BasicToolExecutor — plain fetch(), no guards.

Vinkius Cloud: Enterprise execution with DLP redaction, SSRF protection, circuit breakers, FinOps token economy, and encrypted secret vault.

License

Apache 2.0 — see LICENSE.