Goodtocode.McpClient

A standardized, resilient client library for Model Context Protocol (MCP) communication in .NET. Designed for developers who need reliable, typed, and transport-agnostic messaging between MCP-compliant AI agents and services.

Features

• Strongly-typed envelope model for all MCP operations
• Transport-agnostic: works with HTTP, gRPC, and other protocols
• Built-in support for result and problem handling
• Continuation and paging for large data sets
• Batch operations for efficient multi-message processing
• Extensible serialization via IMcpSerializer
• Easy integration with .NET DI and HttpClient
• Compatible with custom delegating handlers (e.g., for authentication)

Installation

Install via NuGet:

dotnet add package Goodtocode.McpClient

Usage

1. Register McpClient with IServiceCollection

Use Case 1: Client Credential Flow

You can register your own HttpClient and custom delegating handler (such as from Goodtocode.SecuredHttpClient) for secure, resilient communication:

using Goodtocode.McpClient.Client;
using Goodtocode.SecuredHttpClient; // For token handler
using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;

// Register a secured HttpClient for MCP communication
services.AddClientCredentialHttpClient(
    configuration,
    clientName: "McpSecuredClient",
    baseAddress: new Uri("https://mcp-agent.example.com")
);

services.AddTransient<IMcpClient>(sp =>
{
    var httpClientFactory = sp.GetRequiredService<IHttpClientFactory>();
    var httpClient = httpClientFactory.CreateClient("McpSecuredClient");
    return new McpHttpClient(httpClient);
});

Use Case 2: On-Behalf-Of (OBO) Flow for Downstream API Calls

This flow allows your application to acquire an access token on behalf of a signed-in user and use it to call downstream APIs securely.

using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Authentication.OpenIdConnect;
using Microsoft.Identity.Web;
using Goodtocode.SecuredHttpClient;
using Goodtocode.McpClient.Client;

// Register authentication and OBO token acquisition
services.AddAuthentication(OpenIdConnectDefaults.AuthenticationScheme)
    .AddMicrosoftIdentityWebApp(configuration.GetSection("EntraExternalId"))
    .EnableTokenAcquisitionToCallDownstreamApi()
    .AddInMemoryTokenCaches()
    .AddDownstreamApi("BackendApi", configOptions =>
    {
        configOptions.BaseUrl = configuration["BackendApi:BaseUrl"];
        configOptions.Scopes = [$"api://{configuration["BackendApi:ClientId"]}/.default", "User.Read"];
    });

// Register a secured HttpClient for OBO flow
services.AddAccessTokenHttpClient(options =>
{
    options.ClientName = "McpOboClient";
    options.BaseAddress = new Uri(configuration["BackendApi:BaseUrl"]);
    options.MaxRetry = 5;
});

// Register McpHttpClient using the OBO HttpClient
services.AddTransient<IMcpClient>(sp =>
{
    var httpClientFactory = sp.GetRequiredService<IHttpClientFactory>();
    var httpClient = httpClientFactory.CreateClient("McpOboClient");
    return new McpHttpClient(httpClient);
});

2. Send a Typed MCP Request

using Goodtocode.McpClient.Client;

var mcpClient = serviceProvider.GetRequiredService<IMcpClient>();

var request = new MyRequestType { /* ... */ };
var envelope = await mcpClient.SendAsync<MyRequestType, MyResponseType>(
    operation: "my-operation",
    path: "/api/endpoint",
    request: request
);

if (envelope.HasResult)
{
    var result = envelope.Result;
    // Handle result
}
else if (envelope.HasProblem)
{
    var problem = envelope.Problem;
    // Handle error
}

3. Envelope Model

All MCP responses are wrapped in an Envelope<T>:

public class Envelope<T>
{
    public string Operation { get; }
    public string CorrelationId { get; }
    public DateTimeOffset SentUtc { get; }
    public T? Result { get; }
    public Problem? Problem { get; }
    public Continuation? Continue { get; }
    public IReadOnlyDictionary<string, string>? Metadata { get; }
    public bool HasResult => Result != null && Problem == null;
    public bool HasProblem => Problem != null;
}

4. Paging and Batch Support

• Use PageResult<T> for paged data.
• Use BatchItem<T> for batch operations.

5. Custom Serialization

You can provide your own serializer by implementing IMcpSerializer and passing it to McpHttpClient.

6. Communicating Between MCP Agents

• Standardize all requests and responses using the envelope model.
• Use correlation IDs for traceability.
• Handle problems and errors using the Problem type.
• Use continuation tokens for streaming or paged data.
• Secure communication with delegating handlers (e.g., TokenHandler from Goodtocode.SecuredHttpClient).

Options

• McpSendOptions: Control correlation, idempotency, timeout, and headers.
• IMcpSerializer: Plug in custom serialization (default: System.Text.Json).

License

MIT

Contact

• GitHub Repo
• @goodtocode

Version History