MCP Server Guide — Azure VM Explorer

What is MCP?

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard that lets AI assistants call external tools. Azure VM Explorer exposes a public MCP server so assistants like GitHub Copilot (VS Code), Claude Desktop, and others can search, compare, and analyse Azure VM pricing on your behalf — no API key required.

Quick Start

1

VS Code / GitHub Copilot

Add the server to your workspace or user settings. Create or edit .vscode/mcp.json:

{
  "servers": {
    "azure-vm-explorer": {
      "type": "sse",
      "url": "https://azurevmlistbackendapi-gte7hkfcfpgha2c4.spaincentral-01.azurewebsites.net/runtime/webhooks/mcp/sse"
    }
  }
}

Reload the window after saving. Copilot Chat will auto-discover the tools.

2

Claude Desktop

Edit your claude_desktop_config.json and add:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "azure-vm-explorer": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://azurevmlistbackendapi-gte7hkfcfpgha2c4.spaincentral-01.azurewebsites.net/runtime/webhooks/mcp/sse"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Requires Node.js installed. mcp-remote bridges remote HTTP servers to Claude's stdio transport.

3

Azure SRE Agent

The MCP server is compatible with Azure SRE Agent. Point the agent to the Streamable HTTP endpoint:

https://azurevmlistbackendapi-gte7hkfcfpgha2c4.spaincentral-01.azurewebsites.net/runtime/webhooks/mcp/sse

The server uses the Azure Functions MCP Extension with anonymous auth, so no API key is needed.

4

Try It

Ask your assistant something like:

"What are the 3 cheapest Linux VMs in West Europe with at least 4 cores?"
"Compare Standard_D4s_v3 and Standard_D4as_v5 pricing across all regions"
"Find the best VM for a small web server — 2 cores, 8 GB RAM, cheapest 1-year reservation"

Available Tools

`get_vms`

Search and filter VM sizes with pricing. Supports region, CPU architecture, core count, memory, sorting, and pagination.

`find_cheapest_vm`

Find the N cheapest VMs for a price type (PAYG, 1Y RI, 3Y RI) with optional feature constraints.

`compare_vms`

Side-by-side pricing comparison for up to 10 VM sizes across selected regions.

`get_vm_price_history`

Full price history for a specific VM in a specific region.

`list_regions`

Returns all Azure regions available in the database.

`list_currencies`

Returns all ISO 4217 currency codes supported for price conversion.

`list_cpu_architectures`

Returns all CPU architectures (x64, ARM64, etc.) present in the data.

Endpoint & Rate Limits

URL	`https://azurevmlistbackendapi-gte7hkfcfpgha2c4.spaincentral-01.azurewebsites.net/runtime/webhooks/mcp/sse`
Transport	Server-Sent Events (SSE) via Azure Functions MCP Extension
Auth	Public — no key required
Per-IP rate limit	30 requests / minute
Global rate limit	300 requests / minute (per instance)

Manual Test (cURL)

The endpoint uses the MCP Server-Sent Events transport, which keeps a long-lived connection open. A simple GET will print the initial endpoint event and then wait — that is the success signal. Use -N (no buffering) and -m 5 (max time) to disconnect after a few seconds:

curl -N -m 5 https://azurevmlistbackendapi-gte7hkfcfpgha2c4.spaincentral-01.azurewebsites.net/runtime/webhooks/mcp/sse

Expected output (the data: URL is a per-session message endpoint):

event: endpoint
data: message?azmcpcs=...session-token...

Full JSON-RPC tools/call testing requires a proper MCP client (VS Code, Claude Desktop, or mcp-remote) because requests must be POSTed to the session-bound message endpoint while the SSE stream stays open to receive the response.