Stdio MCP and the HTTP bridge

Stdio MCP works with applications that launch a local process and communicate over its standard input and output. NetRatel provides both a direct API connection and a bridge to its hosted HTTP MCP service.

Path	What it connects to	Credential purpose
Direct stdio	NetRatel API	API / CLI / stdio MCP
http-bridge	Canonical HTTPS /mcp endpoint	HTTP MCP gateway

Install the tooling

Install the .NET 10 runtime on the consumer’s machine. Download the matching archive and SHA256SUMS from v0.1.2:

• Linux x64: netratel-mcp-stdio-0.1.2-linux-x64.tar.gz
• Windows x64: netratel-mcp-stdio-0.1.2-win-x64.zip

Verify the archive against its checksum, then extract it. The folders are named netratel-mcp-linux-x64 and netratel-mcp-win-x64. Use the same operating-system account that runs your MCP consumer.

Connect directly to the API

From the extracted tooling directory, run:

dotnet ./NetRatel.Mcp.dll setup --transport stdio --profile mcp-operator

On Windows, the equivalent apphost command is:

.\NetRatel.Mcp.exe setup --transport stdio --profile mcp-operator

Enter the NetRatel Web URL. Open the browser approval link, review the intended tenant permissions and expiry, then return to the terminal to save the profile. Setup shows the resolved configuration location and launch instructions.

Add that launch configuration to your consumer. An explicit-file example looks like this; replace both absolute paths with the ones on your machine:

{
  "command": "dotnet",
  "args": ["/absolute/path/netratel-mcp-linux-x64/NetRatel.Mcp.dll"],
  "env": {
    "NETRATEL_MCP_CONFIG": "/absolute/path/to/your-stdio-profile.json",
    "NETRATEL_MCP_INSTANCE": "prod"
  }
}

Use the generated configuration when available. Select prod for the production operator surface; dev selects the development compatibility surface. The process does not infer this choice from the API URL. The stdio server keeps its configuration separate from CLI profiles and does not import ambient CLI credentials.

Use a stdio-only client with HTTP MCP

Complete HTTP MCP hosting first. In the same extracted tooling directory, create a separate HTTP client profile:

dotnet ./NetRatel.Mcp.dll setup --transport http --profile http-operator

Approve the HTTP MCP-purpose credential and canonical resource. Configure your consumer to launch:

{
  "command": "dotnet",
  "args": [
    "/absolute/path/netratel-mcp-linux-x64/NetRatel.Mcp.dll",
    "http-bridge",
    "--profile",
    "http-operator"
  ]
}

A consumer with maintained native Streamable HTTP support can connect directly to /mcp instead of using the bridge.

Verify and troubleshoot

For the direct stdio profile above, run:

dotnet ./NetRatel.Mcp.dll config validate --transport stdio --profile mcp-operator
dotnet ./NetRatel.Mcp.dll doctor --transport stdio --profile mcp-operator

For the HTTP bridge profile, use --transport http --profile http-operator instead. Reconnect the actual consumer after changing its launch entry, then check its reported NetRatel version, authentication status and one permitted tenant read.

Setup is interactive; ordinary stdio startup is not. A consumer must launch the serving process, not the setup command. JSON-RPC is written to stdout and diagnostics to stderr.

If direct stdio rejects a credential, check that it has API purpose. If the bridge rejects one, check HTTP MCP purpose and the exact /mcp resource. These paths do not substitute credentials for each other.

The Windows package also includes a protected launcher for existing DPAPI credentials. Use the Windows migration procedure when retaining an encrypted credential from another launcher.

Tooling configuration reference