CoreMCP MCP Server
Connect Legacy Databases to AI Agents via Model Context Protocol. Open-source bridge for LLM data analysis.
Documentation
CoreMCP
A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, written in Go, that exposes SQL databases as MCP tools and prompts. It runs as a single static binary, embeds its drivers, and talks either stdio (for local MCP clients like Claude Desktop) or an outbound WebSocket (for remote operation behind NAT).
Currently ships with MSSQL (SQL Server 2000+, Turkish_CI_AS collation aware) and PostgreSQL adapters. Firebird is in progress; MySQL is on the roadmap.
Status
- Stable: MSSQL adapter, PostgreSQL adapter, stdio transport, schema discovery, custom tools, NOLOCK / Turkish normalization middleware, WebSocket connect mode.
- In progress: Firebird adapter (factory currently returns a placeholder error).
- Roadmap: MySQL, HTTP transport, audit log, query result cache.
Defaults
CoreMCP is read-only by default. Omitting readonly in a source config leaves SELECT-only mode active; you have to set readonly: false to enable execute_procedure. Even so, the recommended posture is a dedicated DB user with SELECT (and EXECUTE only on the procedures you intend to expose) — defense in depth rather than relying solely on the server-side guard.
Install
Binary
Download from the Releases page — linux/amd64, linux/arm64, darwin/{amd64,arm64}, windows/amd64.
One-line installer (Linux/macOS):
curl -fsSL https://get.corebasehq.com | sh
Docker
docker pull y11t0/coremcp:latest
Multi-arch image (linux/amd64, linux/arm64).
From source
Requires Go 1.23+.
git clone https://github.com/corebasehq/coremcp.git
cd coremcp
go build -o coremcp ./cmd/coremcp
Configuration
coremcp.yaml in the working directory:
server:
name: "coremcp-agent"
version: "0.1.0"
transport: "stdio"
port: 8080
logging:
level: "info"
format: "json"
sources:
- name: "my_database"
type: "mssql"
dsn: "sqlserver://username:password@localhost:1433?database=mydb&encrypt=disable"
readonly: true
no_lock: true # READ UNCOMMITTED isolation (WITH (NOLOCK) equivalent)
normalize_turkish: true # Turkish character + mojibake normalization
See coremcp.example.yaml for a fuller example.
DSN format
MSSQL:
sqlserver://username:password@host:port?database=dbname&encrypt=disable
PostgreSQL:
postgresql://username:password@host:port/dbname?sslmode=disable
Dummy adapter (for testing without a real DB):
dummy://test
Source options
| Option | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
name | string | — | Unique source identifier |
type | string | — | Adapter type: mssql, postgres (or postgresql), rest, graphql, dummy |
dsn | string | — | Connection string |
readonly | bool | true | SELECT-only at the config level. Set false explicitly to allow execute_procedure. |
no_lock | bool | false | (MSSQL only) Run SELECTs under READ UNCOMMITTED. Equivalent to WITH (NOLOCK) on every table reference. Eliminates shared lock acquisition on busy OLTP. Trade-off: dirty reads possible. |
normalize_turkish | bool | false | (MSSQL only) Two-way middleware. Outgoing: Turkish characters inside SQL string literals are folded to ASCII uppercase before the query is sent ('Hüseyin' → 'HUSEYIN'). Incoming: Windows-1254 / Windows-1252 mojibake in result strings is auto-corrected. Intended for legacy Turkish ERP databases on Turkish_CI_AS. |
Example: MSSQL with NOLOCK
sources:
- name: "oltp_db"
type: "mssql"
dsn: "sqlserver://user:pass@localhost:1433?database=production&encrypt=disable"
readonly: true
no_lock: true
Example: legacy Turkish ERP
sources:
- name: "erp_db"
type: "mssql"
dsn: "sqlserver://user:pass@localhost:1433?database=LOGO&encrypt=disable"
readonly: true
no_lock: true
normalize_turkish: true
How the Turkish middleware behaves:
| Model emits | Sent to DB | Why |
|---|---|---|
WHERE ADI = 'Hüseyin' | WHERE ADI = 'HUSEYIN' | ERP stores names as uppercase ASCII |
WHERE SEHIR LIKE '%şeker%' | WHERE SEHIR LIKE '%SEKER%' | Ş → S |
WHERE SEHIR = 'İstanbul' | WHERE SEHIR = 'ISTANBUL' | İ → I |
Mojibake correction on inbound rows:
| DB returns | Fixed | Cause |
|---|---|---|
GÐKHAN | GĞKHAN | Win-1254 byte 0xD0 read as Win-1252 |
ÝSTANBUL | İSTANBUL | Win-1254 byte 0xDD read as Win-1252 |
ÞEHİR | ŞEHİR | Win-1254 byte 0xDE read as Win-1252 |
Security configuration
security:
max_row_limit: 1000 # forced LIMIT cap
enable_pii_masking: true
pii_patterns:
- name: "credit_card"
pattern: '\b\d{4}[\s-]?\d{4}[\s-]?\d{4}[\s-]?\d{4}\b'
replacement: "****-****-****-****"
enabled: true
- name: "email"
pattern: '\b[A-Za-z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Za-z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z|a-z]{2,}\b'
replacement: "***@***.***"
enabled: true
- name: "turkish_id"
pattern: '\b[1-9]\d{10}\b'
replacement: "***********"
enabled: true
What this enables:
- T-SQL aware lexer. Fail-closed custom tokeniser strips comments and string literals, then classifies the statement — only
SELECTandWITHpass.DROP,ALTER,UPDATE,DELETE,TRUNCATE,EXEC,OPENROWSET,SELECT…INTOand similar are rejected before reaching the DB. Multi-statement payloads (any;outside strings/comments) are fatal — stacked-query attacks blocked dialect-independently. Chosen over third-party Go SQL parsers (xwb1989/sqlparser, vitess, cockroachdb) because they fail-closed on T-SQL hints and any "fall through to regex" relaxation is bypassable viaEX/**/ECand similar tricks. Treat as one layer, not the only layer — pair with a least-privilege DB role. - Forced row cap.
LIMITis appended (or wrapped) on every SELECT so a model never streams millions of rows back through the protocol. - PII masking. Regex-based post-processing on result strings before they reach the client.
Usage
CoreMCP has two operation modes.
1. Local (serve)
For local MCP clients (Claude Desktop, etc.):
coremcp serve --config coremcp.yaml
stdio is the default transport:
coremcp serve -t stdio
Claude Desktop config (claude_desktop_config.json):
{
"mcpServers": {
"coremcp": {
"command": "/path/to/coremcp",
"args": ["serve", "-c", "/path/to/coremcp.yaml"],
"env": {}
}
}
}
2. Remote (connect)
connect opens an outbound WebSocket to a relay (typically CoreBase Cloud) and serves MCP traffic over it. The agent never accepts inbound connections, so it works from inside networks that don't allow inbound 443 (factory floors, corporate VPCs, hospital networks).
coremcp connect --server="wss://api.corebasehq.com/ws/agent" --token="sk_xxx"
Flags:
-s, --server string Relay WebSocket URL (required)
-t, --token string Authentication token (required)
-a, --agent-id string Agent ID (auto-generated if omitted)
-r, --max-reconnect int Max reconnect attempts (default 10; 0 = infinite)
-d, --reconnect-delay duration Delay between reconnect attempts (default 5s)
Example, long-running:
./coremcp connect \
--server="wss://api.corebasehq.com/ws/agent" \
--token="sk_xxx" \
--agent-id="site-istanbul-001" \
--max-reconnect=0
Wire commands supported by the relay protocol:
run_sql— execute SQLget_schema— dump cached schemalist_sources— enumerate configured sourceshealth_check— agent livenessconfig_sync— push updated source configs to the running agent
Architecture
coremcp/
├── cmd/coremcp/ # CLI entry point
│ ├── main.go
│ ├── root.go
│ ├── serve.go # stdio mode
│ └── connect.go # WebSocket mode
├── pkg/
│ ├── adapter/ # Database adapters
│ │ ├── factory.go
│ │ ├── dummy/
│ │ └── mssql/
│ ├── config/
│ ├── core/ # Shared types, Source interface
│ ├── security/ # Query validation, PII masking
│ └── server/ # MCP server
└── coremcp.yaml
Tools and prompts
Built-in tools
query_database
Arbitrary SQL against a configured source.
source_name(required)query(required)
list_tables
Tables with column counts, primary keys, foreign key counts.
source_name(required)
describe_table
Full schema for one table: columns, types, nullability, PKs, FKs, column comments.
source_name(required)table_name(required)
list_views
All views with column definitions.
source_name(required)
list_procedures
Stored procedures with parameter names, types, modes (IN/OUT/INOUT), and a ready-to-copy example call.
source_name(required)
execute_procedure
Calls a stored procedure with named parameters. Only enabled when readonly: false.
source_name(required)procedure_name(required)params(optional) — JSON object of name/value pairs
Hardening:
- Procedure name validated against
^[a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_#@.]*$ - Parameter names validated (alphanumeric + underscore)
- Values bound via
sql.Named— no string interpolation - Rejected outright when source is
readonly: true
Example:
{
"source_name": "erp_db",
"procedure_name": "sp_CiroHesapla",
"params": "{\"StartDate\":\"2024-01-01\",\"EndDate\":\"2024-12-31\"}"
}
Custom tools
Define reusable parameterized queries as first-class MCP tools:
custom_tools:
- name: "get_daily_sales"
description: "Daily sales summary for a given date"
source: "production_db"
query: "SELECT * FROM orders WHERE DATE(created_at) = '{{date}}'"
parameters:
- name: "date"
description: "Date in YYYY-MM-DD format"
required: true
- name: "get_top_customers"
description: "Top N customers by order count"
source: "production_db"
query: "SELECT user_id, COUNT(*) AS order_count FROM orders GROUP BY user_id ORDER BY order_count DESC LIMIT {{limit}}"
parameters:
- name: "limit"
description: "Number of customers to return"
required: true
default: "10"
These get exposed to the model with their declared parameter schema, so the model can call them directly rather than re-deriving the SQL each turn.
database_schema prompt
On startup CoreMCP connects to every configured source, scans tables / columns / keys / relationships, and extracts column comments (e.g. MS_Description on MSSQL). The result is exposed as a single MCP prompt that primes the model with schema context — including the comments — so it can write correct queries without manual schema dumps in every conversation.
Adding adapters
- Create
pkg/adapter/yourdb/. - Implement
core.Source. - Register in
pkg/adapter/factory.go.
pkg/adapter/dummy/dummy.go is the minimum reference implementation.
Roadmap
- Schema discovery on startup
- Column comments / descriptions
- Built-in
list_tables/describe_table - Custom parameterized tools
- T-SQL aware lexer for query sanitization (fail-closed, multi-statement reject, no third-party parser)
- PII masking
- Forced row cap
- WebSocket
connectmode - Auto-reconnect
- Remote config sync
- NOLOCK / READ UNCOMMITTED per source (MSSQL)
- Turkish character + mojibake middleware (MSSQL)
- View and procedure discovery (
list_views,list_procedures,execute_procedure) - PostgreSQL adapter
- Firebird adapter (in progress)
- MySQL adapter
- HTTP transport
- Query result cache
- Write operations (with explicit safety guards)
- Audit logging
- Multi-agent management
- Real-time monitoring
Contributing
See CONTRIBUTING.md. Security reports: SECURITY.md.
License
Apache License 2.0 — see LICENSE.
Support
About
CoreMCP is the on-prem agent component of CoreBase — memory infrastructure for the AI agents your customers use. CoreBase gives those agents structured access to operational systems (SQL Server 2000+, REST, GraphQL, Slack, Microsoft 365) and layers Corporate Memory on top: the schema relationships, terminology, and proven query patterns that turn raw access into accurate answers.