SAP Note Search MCP Server

Part of the sap-mcp-servers monorepo (npm workspaces) — published to npm independently as sap-note-search-mcp with build provenance.

MCP server for searching and retrieving SAP Notes / KB articles with full metadata extraction

[!CAUTION] This MCP Server uses private APIs from SAP behind authentication. Please check whether the use violates SAP's ToS. The author assumes no liability for this. Because of this i do not guarantee that the server will always work.

This Model Context Protocol (MCP) server gives AI coding assistants (Cursor, Claude Desktop, VS Code, etc.) direct access to SAP Notes and Knowledge Base articles. It authenticates with SAP via username/password or SAP Passport certificate and uses Playwright browser automation to retrieve actual note content.

Live Preview in Cursor

Features

• Two MCP tools — search (find notes) and fetch (retrieve full content + metadata)
• Enriched metadata — validity ranges, support packages, references, prerequisites, side effects, correction summaries, attachments
• Optional correction details — fetch(includeCorrections=true) retrieves detailed ABAP correction instructions (affected objects, per-correction prerequisites) via an additional OData call
• Two auth methods — username/password (recommended) or SAP Passport certificate
• MFA/2FA support — manual code entry in headful mode
• Smart caching — session cookies cached locally (configurable TTL)
• Docker support — pre-built image with all Playwright dependencies

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ — Download here
• SAP S-User — with access to SAP Support Portal / me.sap.com
• An MCP client — Cursor, Claude Desktop, VS Code with Copilot, etc.

Installation

This package lives in the sap-mcp-servers monorepo — clone and build from the repo root:

git clone https://github.com/marianfoo/sap-mcp-servers.git
cd sap-mcp-servers
npm install          # installs all workspaces + links @marianfoo/sap-mcp-auth locally
npm run build        # builds auth first, then the servers → this one lands in packages/notes/dist

Build just this package with npm run build -w sap-note-search-mcp (after auth is built).

Authentication

The server supports two methods. Choose whichever is easier for you.

Option 1: Username / Password (Recommended)

The simplest approach — no certificate management required.

[email protected]
SAP_PASSWORD=your_sap_password

Or pass credentials directly in your MCP client config (no .env file needed):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sap-notes": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/mcp-sap-notes/dist/mcp-server.js"],
      "env": {
        "SAP_USERNAME": "[email protected]",
        "SAP_PASSWORD": "your_sap_password"
      }
    }
  }
}

Option 2: SAP Passport Certificate

Uses a .pfx client certificate for TLS-level authentication.

1. Download your certificate from SAP Passport
2. Place the .pfx file in certs/:

   mkdir -p certs
   cp ~/Downloads/sap.pfx certs/

3. Configure:

   PFX_PATH=./certs/sap.pfx
   PFX_PASSPHRASE=your_certificate_passphrase

Auto Mode (Default)

When AUTH_METHOD=auto (the default), the server picks the first available method:

1. Password — if SAP_USERNAME + SAP_PASSWORD are set
2. Certificate — if PFX_PATH + PFX_PASSPHRASE are set
3. Error — if neither is configured

You can force a method with AUTH_METHOD=password or AUTH_METHOD=certificate.

MFA / 2FA

If your SAP account uses two-factor authentication:

HEADFUL=true       # show the browser window so you can enter the code
MFA_TIMEOUT=120000 # wait up to 2 minutes for code entry (ms)

The server detects TOTP, passcode, and verification pages automatically and waits for you to complete the challenge.

Token Caching

After successful login, session cookies are cached to token-cache.json (default TTL: 12 hours, configurable via MAX_JWT_AGE_H). Delete the file to force re-authentication.

Connect to your MCP Client

Cursor / Claude Desktop

Add to your MCP settings (settings.json or claude_desktop_config.json):

With username/password (recommended):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sap-notes": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/full/path/to/mcp-sap-notes/dist/mcp-server.js"],
      "env": {
        "SAP_USERNAME": "[email protected]",
        "SAP_PASSWORD": "your_sap_password"
      }
    }
  }
}

With certificate (via .env file):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sap-notes": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/full/path/to/mcp-sap-notes/dist/mcp-server.js"]
    }
  }
}

Note: Replace the path with your actual absolute path. On Windows use C:\\Users\\you\\..., on macOS/Linux use /Users/you/....

After adding the config, restart your MCP client. The tools will appear in the AI assistant.

Available Tools

search

Search SAP Notes by keyword, error code, component, or note number.

| Parameter | Type | Required | Default | Description | |-----------|------|----------|---------|-------------| | q | string | Yes | — | Search query (2-200 chars) | | lang | EN | DE | No | EN | Language |

Examples:

Search for SAP Notes about "OData gateway error 415"
Find SAP Note 2744792

fetch

Retrieve full content and enriched metadata for a specific SAP Note.

| Parameter | Type | Required | Default | Description | |-----------|------|----------|---------|-------------| | id | string | Yes | — | Note ID (alphanumeric) | | lang | EN | DE | No | EN | Language | | includeCorrections | boolean | No | false | Fetch detailed ABAP correction instructions via OData |

Returns (beyond the basic content):

• Software component validity ranges
• Support packages and patches
• Cross-references (to/from other notes)
• Prerequisites, side effects
• Correction instruction summaries and counts
• Manual activity instructions
• Attachments and SNOTE download URL
• (with includeCorrections=true) Detailed correction entries with affected ABAP objects (TADIR) and per-correction prerequisites

Examples:

Get the full content of SAP Note 2744792
Show me note 3481252 with correction details

Docker

A Dockerfile is included with all Playwright/Chromium dependencies pre-installed:

docker build -t mcp-sap-notes .
docker run -it \
  -e SAP_USERNAME="[email protected]" \
  -e SAP_PASSWORD="your_sap_password" \
  mcp-sap-notes

Configuration Reference

Environment Variables

| Variable | Required | Default | Description | |----------|----------|---------|-------------| | SAP_USERNAME | * | — | SAP login username (email) | | SAP_PASSWORD | * | — | SAP login password | | PFX_PATH | * | — | Path to SAP Passport .pfx certificate | | PFX_PASSPHRASE | * | — | Certificate passphrase | | AUTH_METHOD | No | auto | auto, password, or certificate | | MFA_TIMEOUT | No | 120000 | 2FA wait timeout in ms | | MAX_JWT_AGE_H | No | 12 | Token cache lifetime in hours | | HEADFUL | No | false | Show browser window (for debugging / 2FA) | | LOG_LEVEL | No | info | debug, info, warn, error | | HTTP_PORT | No | 3123 | Port for HTTP MCP transport | | ACCESS_TOKEN | No | — | Bearer token for HTTP server auth |

* At least one auth pair is required: either SAP_USERNAME + SAP_PASSWORD or PFX_PATH + PFX_PASSPHRASE.

HTTP Server

An HTTP/SSE transport is also available for remote or multi-client setups:

npm run serve:http          # start HTTP server
npm run serve:http:debug    # with debug logging

Protect with a bearer token:

ACCESS_TOKEN=your-secret-token

Clients must then include Authorization: Bearer your-secret-token in every request.

Testing & Development

npm run test:auth         # test authentication flow
npm run test:api          # test SAP Notes API
npm run test:mcp          # test full MCP server
npm run test              # run all tests

Debug mode:

HEADFUL=true LOG_LEVEL=debug npm run test:auth

Project Structure

mcp-sap-notes/
├── src/
│   ├── mcp-server.ts          # Main MCP server (stdio transport)
│   ├── http-mcp-server.ts     # HTTP/SSE MCP transport
│   ├── auth.ts                # SAP authentication (password + certificate)
│   ├── sap-notes-api.ts       # SAP Notes API client + OData corrections
│   ├── html-utils.ts          # HTML-to-text parsing
│   ├── schemas/
│   │   └── sap-notes.ts       # Zod schemas + tool descriptions
│   ├── types.ts               # TypeScript definitions
│   └── logger.ts              # Logging
├── docs/
│   ├── tools.md               # Detailed tool reference
│   ├── authentication.md      # Auth deep dive
│   ├── architecture.md        # Architecture overview
│   └── setup.md               # Setup guide
├── test/                      # Test scripts
├── dist/                      # Compiled JS
├── certs/                     # Certificate directory
├── Dockerfile                 # Docker image
├── env.example                # Environment template
└── README.md

Troubleshooting

Authentication

| Symptom | Fix | |---------|-----| | "Could not find username field" | SAP login page may have changed — try HEADFUL=true to inspect | | "Authentication timed out" | Check connectivity; increase MFA_TIMEOUT if using 2FA | | "Certificate load failed" | Verify .pfx path + passphrase; check expiry |

Browser

| Symptom | Fix | |---------|-----| | "Browser launch failed" | Run npx playwright install chromium | | Hangs during auth | Use HEADFUL=true to see what's happening |

MCP Client

| Symptom | Fix | |---------|-----| | Tools not showing | Restart client; verify absolute path in config | | "MCP server failed to start" | Check npm run build succeeded; check deps with npm install |

See docs/authentication.md for detailed troubleshooting.

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature
3. Commit your changes: git commit -m 'Add amazing feature'
4. Push to the branch: git push origin feature/amazing-feature
5. Open a Pull Request

License

Apache 2.0