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MCP HTTP-stdio Proxy

A Node.js proxy that enables communication between stdio-based clients and HTTP-based Model Context Protocol servers. It facilitates protocol translation, session management, and authentication to allow remote HTTP servers to function as local stdio servers.

Updated
Feb 11, 2026

MCP HTTP-stdio Proxy

A Node.js implementation of a Model Context Protocol (MCP) proxy that enables communication between stdio-based clients (like Antigravity) and HTTP-based MCP servers (running with streamableHttp).

Overview

This proxy allows you to use remote or HTTP-hosted MCP servers as if they were local stdio servers. It handles the JSON-RPC communication, session management, and optional authentication seamlessly.

graph LR
    Client[Antigravity / Stdio Client] -->|stdio| Proxy[MCP Proxy]
    Proxy -->|HTTP JSON-RPC| Upstream[Upstream MCP Server]

Features

  • Protocol Translation: Bridges MCP over stdio to MCP over HTTP.
  • Session Management:
    • Automatically handles upstream initialization.
    • Persists session IDs in ~/.mcp-session-cache for continuity.
    • Automatic retries on session expiration or "Not Initialized" errors.
  • Dynamic Tool List: Automatically injects an update tool to manually refresh the upstream connection and clear the session cache.
  • Broad Support: Proxies tools, resources, prompts, completions, and logging levels.
  • Authentication: Supports optional authorization headers for secure upstream servers.
  • Timeout Support: Configurable request timeouts.

Installation

  1. Clone or copy the project files.
  2. Install dependencies:
    npm install
    

Configuration

The proxy can be configured using environment variables or a .env file:

VariableDescriptionDefault
UPSTREAM_MCP_URLThe URL of the target HTTP MCP server.http://localhost:8080/mcp
UPSTREAM_AUTHOptional authentication header value (e.g., Bearer ...).(none)
MCP_TIMEOUT_MSTimeout for upstream requests in milliseconds.15000
MCP_SESSION_IDManually specify an initial session ID.(none)

Usage

Direct Execution

You can run the proxy directly and optionally pass the upstream URL as the first argument:

node mcp-proxy.js https://your-remote-mcp-server.com/mcp

Run using npx (from GitHub)

You can run the proxy directly without cloning using npx:

npx -y kiennh/mcp-http-stdio https://your-remote-mcp-server.com/mcp

Run using Docker

The proxy is available as a Docker image:

docker run -i --rm \
  -e UPSTREAM_MCP_URL="https://your-remote-mcp-server.com/mcp" \
  -e UPSTREAM_AUTH="Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" \
  ghcr.io/kiennh/mcp-http-stdio:latest

Integration with Antigravity

To use this proxy with Antigravity, add it to your mcp_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "my-remote-server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "kiennh/mcp-http-stdio", "https://api.example.com/mcp"],
      "env": {
        "UPSTREAM_AUTH": "Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"
      }
    }
  }
}

Custom 'update' Tool

The proxy automatically adds a tool named update to the list of available tools. Calling update will:

  1. Clear the local session cache (~/.mcp-session-cache).
  2. Force a re-initialization of the upstream server on the next request.
  3. This is useful if the upstream server's tools have changed or the session has become desynchronized.

License

ISC

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