backend-explorer-mcp

The Backend Insight Gateway is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server designed to help frontend developers understand backend code implementations using Cursor AI. This server provides tools to explore ERD, Swagger API documentation, and MongoDB databases.

Available Tools

1. get_erd

Retrieves Entity-Relationship Diagram (ERD) information to understand backend database schema and relationships.

// Usage example
{
  "options": {
    "format": "markdown" // or "json"
  }
}

2. get_swagger

Retrieves Swagger API documentation to explore backend API endpoints, parameters, response schemas, and more.

// Usage example
{
  "options": {
    "format": "markdown", // or "json"
    "path": "/api/users" // Optional: filter for specific path only
  }
}

3. mongodb_explorer

Explore MongoDB database information including collections, schemas, and sample data.

// List collections
{
  "action": "listCollections",
  "options": {
    "format": "markdown" // or "json"
  }
}

// Describe collection schema
{
  "action": "describeCollection",
  "collection": "users",
  "options": {
    "format": "markdown" // or "json"
  }
}

// View sample data
{
  "action": "sampleData",
  "collection": "users",
  "options": {
    "format": "markdown", // or "json"
    "limit": 5 // Number of sample documents to retrieve (default: 10)
  }
}

// Run query
{
  "action": "query",
  "collection": "users",
  "query": "{\"username\": \"johndoe\"}",
  "options": {
    "format": "markdown", // or "json"
    "limit": 5 // Limit results (default: 10)
  }
}

Quick Start

# Install dependencies
pnpm install

# Set up environment variables
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your specific URLs and credentials

# Build the project
pnpm run build

# Start the server
pnpm start

Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the project root with the following variables:

# Backend API URLs
ERD_API_URL=https://your-api.example.com/erd
SWAGGER_API_URL=https://your-api.example.com/swaggerJson

# MongoDB Configuration
MONGODB_API_URL=https://your-api.example.com/api/mongodb
# MONGODB_CONNECTION_STRING=mongodb://username:password@host:port/database

# Server Configuration
PORT=8080
# Set to "sse" or "http" to use HTTP transport instead of stdio
# TRANSPORT_TYPE=sse
# CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGIN=*

Project Structure

backend-explorer-mcp/
├── src/
│   ├── tools/        # MCP tools
│   │   ├── ERDTool.ts
│   │   ├── SwaggerTool.ts
│   │   ├── MongoDBTool.ts
│   │   └── ExampleTool.ts
│   └── index.ts      # Server entry point
├── package.json
└── tsconfig.json

Usage with Cursor

Add the MCP server in Cursor settings:

1. Launch Cursor and go to Preferences
2. Select the MCP tab
3. Click "Add new global MCP server"
4. Configure as follows:

{
  "command": "node",
  "args": ["/absolute/path/to/backend-explorer-mcp/dist/index.js"]
}

Usage with Claude Desktop

Development Environment

Add the following configuration to your Claude Desktop config file:

MacOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "backend-explorer-mcp": {
      "command": "node",
      "args":["/absolute/path/to/backend-explorer-mcp/dist/index.js", "--stdio"]
    }
  }
}

After Deployment

After publishing the package to npm, you can configure it as follows:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "backend-explorer-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["backend-explorer-mcp", "--stdio"]
    }
  }
}

Passing Configuration Parameters

To provide database connection details and other settings, you can pass them as command line arguments:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "backend-explorer-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "backend-explorer-mcp",
        "--stdio",
        "--mongodb-uri=mongodb://username:password@host:port/database",
        "--erd-api-url=https://your-api.example.com/erd",
        "--swagger-api-url=https://your-api.example.com/swaggerJson"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Alternatively, you can use the env section to provide environment variables:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "backend-explorer-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["backend-explorer-mcp", "--stdio"],
      "env": {
        "MONGODB_URI": "mongodb://username:password@host:port/database",
        "ERD_API_URL": "https://your-api.example.com/erd",
        "SWAGGER_API_URL": "https://your-api.example.com/swaggerJson"
      }
    }
  }
}

Building and Testing

1. Modify the tools
2. Run pnpm run build to compile
3. The server will automatically load the tools

Publishing to npm

To publish the package to npm:

# Update version in package.json
pnpm version [patch|minor|major]

# Build the project
pnpm run build

# Publish to npm
pnpm publish

Make sure to set the appropriate access level in your package.json:

{
  "name": "backend-explorer-mcp",
  "publishConfig": {
    "access": "public" // or "restricted" for private packages
  }
}

Learn More

• MCP Framework GitHub
• MCP Framework Documentation
• Model Context Protocol