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Enable MCP Server for Assistance

Use epgw service --enableMcp to start an Model Context Protocol (MCP) server at /mcp. This allows MCP-capable clients, including AI assistant tools that support MCP, to connect to Eggplant Gateway and control test infrastructure programmatically. For full command options, see epgw service in the CLI Reference.

Prerequisite

Eggplant Functional (EPF) must be installed with a developer license applied on the same machine as Eggplant Gateway. At startup, Eggplant Gateway verifies MCP licensing by checking for EPF availability and license access. If EPF is unavailable, Eggplant Gateway will not launch with an error.

Starting the Service with MCP Enabled​

Windows:

epgw.exe service --enableMcp

macOS or Linux:

./epgw service --enableMcp

With an explicit listen address (default port is 5000):

./epgw service --enableMcp --url http://0.0.0.0:5000

The --url flag is only needed when the default port conflicts with another service or when binding to a specific network interface.

Confirming the Service is Up​

Look for this line in the terminal output before making any MCP tool calls:

Now listening on: http://localhost:5000

Verifying the MCP Endpoint​

curl http://localhost:5000/mcp/sse?sessionId=test

A successful response opens an SSE stream. An HTTP 404 response means --enableMcp was not passed or the service failed to register the MCP endpoint.

Connecting from VS Code​

Create or update .vscode/mcp.json in your project root:

{
  "servers": {
    "eggplant-gateway": {
      "type": "streamableHttp",
      "url": "http://localhost:5000/mcp"
    }
  }
}

VS Code MCP-capable extensions will discover the Eggplant Gateway tools automatically once the service is running.

Licensing Failure​

If Eggplant Functional (EPF) is not installed, cannot be reached, or cannot acquire a license, Eggplant Gateway logs an error and terminates on startup. In this case, the MCP endpoint is not available. Review your EPF licensing configuration and entitlement in Eggplant Functional licensing, then restart the service with --enableMcp.

Running without --enableMcp​

Omitting --enableMcp starts the service in standard PCS mode. The /mcp endpoint is not registered and the behavior is unchanged from previous releases. See Persistent Connection Service (PCS) for standard usage.

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