feat: simple MCP server

[joshyam-k]

Intent

Add a simple MCP server with the goal of improving LLM interactions with the rsconnect cli

Resolves https://github.com/posit-dev/connect/issues/33653

Type of Change

• Bug Fix
• New Feature
• Breaking Change

Approach

Compile structured context about each cli command by walking the click decorators at MCP server startup

• implement simple MCP tool that returns full context (description, help, parameters) about a command
• handles nested subcommands (deploy shiny, content build add, etc)

Automated Tests

Added unit tests for command parameter schema discovery

Directions for Reviewers

Manually inspect using

 npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector uvx --from 'git+https://github.com/posit-dev/rsconnect-python.git@jy/mcp-server[mcp]' rsconnect mcp-server

try out for yourself locally using claude:

claude mcp add rsc -- uvx --from 'git+https://github.com/posit-dev/rsconnect-python.git@jy/mcp-server[mcp]' rsconnect mcp-server

Checklist

• I have updated CHANGELOG.md to cover notable changes.
• I have updated all related GitHub issues to reflect their current state.

[github-actions]

PR Preview Action v1.6.2
Preview removed because the pull request was closed.
2025-10-30 21:31 UTC

[github-actions]

☂️ Python Coverage

current status: ✅

Overall Coverage

Lines	Covered	Coverage	Threshold	Status
5257	4001	76%	0%	🟢

New Files

File	Coverage	Status
rsconnect/mcp_deploy_context.py	0%	🟢
TOTAL	0%	🟢

Modified Files

File	Coverage	Status
rsconnect/main.py	67%	🟢
TOTAL	67%	🟢

updated for commit: 5413bf9 by action🐍

[mconflitti-pbc]

Can you please add info about this feature in the readme, docs, etc?

[mconflitti-pbc]

Looks good and works! Approved but would recommend adding the necessary docs. Good work!

[joshyam-k]

Can you please add info about this feature in the readme, docs, etc?

@mconflitti-pbc Do you think we need to list the various ways to add this to some of the popular LLM clients? (i.e claude code, vscode, cursor). While useful, I worry about this being susceptible to going stale quickly.

Here's the current state of the docs for the command: https://posit-dev.github.io/rsconnect-python/pr-preview/pr-712/commands/mcp-server/

[mconflitti-pbc]

Can you please add info about this feature in the readme, docs, etc?

@mconflitti-pbc Do you think we need to list the various ways to add this to some of the popular LLM clients? (i.e claude code, vscode, cursor). While useful, I worry about this being susceptible to going stale quickly.

Maybe just link out to the docs on how to do that for the most popular tools: codex, claude, vs code