ExternalApiMcpServer

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that exposes read-only tools for the Ferretly External API. AI assistants (Claude, GitHub Copilot, etc.) can use these tools to query subject data, background check results, and screening status directly.

Write operations — creating subjects, initiating background checks, updating webhooks, or refreshing API keys — are intentionally not exposed.

Prerequisites

• .NET 8 SDK
• A valid Ferretly External API key

Configuration

Edit appsettings.json before running:

{
  "ApiKey": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE",
  "BaseUrl": "https://api.ferretly.com"
}

Note: Do not commit a real API key to source control. Use the .NET user secrets store for local development:

dotnet user-secrets set "ApiKey" "your-real-key"

Running the server

dotnet run

The server communicates over stdio (standard input/output), which is the MCP standard transport. It does not open a network port.

Publishing a self-contained binary

To produce a single executable that does not require the .NET runtime to be installed:

dotnet publish -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained true -p:PublishSingleFile=true -o publish/

Replace win-x64 with the target runtime identifier for your platform (e.g. linux-x64, osx-x64, osx-arm64).

The output directory will contain ExternalApiMcpServer.exe (Windows) or ExternalApiMcpServer (Linux/macOS) alongside a copy of appsettings.json. Edit appsettings.json in the output directory with your API key before distributing or running.

Wiring up to Claude Code

Add the server to your Claude Code MCP configuration. In .claude/settings.json (or the workspace settings), add:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ferretly": {
      "command": "dotnet",
      "args": ["run", "--project", "path/to/DataAPI/ExternalApiMcpServer/ExternalApiMcpServer.csproj"]
    }
  }
}

Or point to the published binary:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ferretly": {
      "command": "path/to/ExternalApiMcpServer.exe"
    }
  }
}

Available tools