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Documentation Prelude Topology Engine 1.0.0

Prelude MCP server

Install and configure the Prelude MCP server to expose Prelude TE's REST API to AI tools that speak the Model Context Protocol.

The Prelude MCP server is a separate, stateless service that exposes Prelude TE's REST API over the Model Context Protocol. You run it alongside your Prelude TE instance and point your AI tool's MCP client at it.

The same MCP server can expose multiple Prelude products at once — Prelude TE and Prelude Collector share a single binary. This page covers the TE-specific configuration.

Running the server

The server ships as an OCI image at registry.arolo-solutions.com/prelude/prelude-mcp. A minimal run looks like this:

docker run -d --name prelude-mcp \
  -p 4050:4050 \
  -e PRELUDE_TE_URL=https://te.example.com \
  -e PRELUDE_TE_ENABLED=true \
  registry.arolo-solutions.com/prelude/prelude-mcp:latest serve

The serve command starts an HTTP transport on port 4050 with two endpoints:

  • /mcp — Streamable HTTP transport (the modern default).
  • /sse and /message — legacy SSE transport for clients that still need it.

Environment variables

Variable Meaning
PRELUDE_TE_ENABLED true to expose Prelude TE tools. Defaults to off.
PRELUDE_TE_URL Base URL of your Prelude TE instance (e.g. https://te.example.com).
PRELUDE_TE_TOKEN Default Bearer token used when the AI tool does not pass one per request. Optional.

The same PRELUDE_<PRODUCT>_* pattern applies for the other Prelude products the MCP server can expose.

Authentication

The MCP server forwards requests to Prelude TE with a Bearer token. Two ways the token reaches the server:

  1. Per-request header — the AI tool's MCP client sends a token in the request to the MCP server, which forwards it to Prelude TE on its behalf. This is the recommended setup: nothing is stored on the MCP server, and you can issue a per-user or per-session token.
  2. PRELUDE_TE_TOKEN — a default token configured on the MCP server itself. Used only when the per-request token is missing. Avoid in production; convenient for a single-user lab.

Tokens are the same Bearer tokens you create in My tokens in the Prelude TE UI (or with prelude-te user token).

Wiring an AI tool

The MCP configuration on the AI tool side points at the URL the server exposes. The exact format depends on the tool, but the shape is always:

  • Transport: HTTP (Streamable HTTP at /mcp, or SSE at /sse).
  • URL: the address of your MCP server (e.g. http://prelude-mcp.example.com:4050/mcp).
  • Token: your Prelude TE Bearer token, passed in the header the client lets you set.

Once configured, the assistant sees the te_* tools and can use them on your behalf. See Available tools for the full list.

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