Azure MCP Server for Claude

Content

The Azure MCP Server is Microsoft's official MCP server for working with Azure resources from Claude and other MCP-capable clients. It connects an assistant to Azure subscriptions and services through a local stdio server or a self-hosted HTTP server, using Azure authentication and RBAC instead of copied portal screenshots or manually pasted resource details.

The strongest use case is developer-side Azure work where the assistant needs fresh, permissioned cloud context: list resource groups, inspect storage containers, check Cosmos DB or PostgreSQL resources, query Azure Monitor, retrieve pricing or quota information, reason about RBAC assignments, generate Azure CLI guidance, or look up Azure best-practice recommendations before changing infrastructure.

Features

• Official Microsoft implementation in the microsoft/mcp repository.
• Local stdio server through @azure/mcp, Azure.Mcp, or msmcp-azure.
• Self-hosted HTTP mode for remote deployments on Azure Container Apps.
• Azure Identity based authentication using local developer credentials, service principals, workload identity, managed identity, or hosted HTTP authentication flows.
• Azure RBAC-backed access to subscriptions, resource groups, and individual services.
• Read-only mode for preventing write operations.
• Namespace and individual tool filtering so a client can expose only the Azure services required for the task.
• Learn mode for command and parameter discovery without executing Azure operations.
• Sensitive-data confirmation for tools that may return secrets, connection strings, passwords, certificate private keys, or other confidential values.
• Tool coverage across Azure AI Search, App Configuration, Cosmos DB, Key Vault, Monitor, RBAC, Redis, Storage, App Service, Functions, AKS, SQL, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Service Bus, Event Hubs, Event Grid, Azure Policy, pricing, quotas, Resource Health, Well-Architected guidance, and more.
• Setup paths for VS Code, Visual Studio, IntelliJ, Eclipse, Cursor, Cline, Windsurf, GitHub Copilot CLI, package managers, Docker, and custom MCP clients.
• Sovereign cloud support through the --cloud option or AZURE_CLOUD environment variable.

Use Cases

• Ask Claude to inventory resource groups, storage accounts, app services, AKS clusters, databases, or Azure AI resources before making infrastructure changes.
• Query Azure Monitor logs or metrics while investigating a failed deployment, incident, or performance regression.
• Inspect RBAC assignments, policy state, quotas, and pricing before planning a deployment.
• Generate Azure CLI or Azure Developer CLI guidance from natural-language intent while keeping Azure context in the same MCP session.
• Work in read-only mode while drafting a migration plan, cost review, incident summary, or architecture audit.
• Narrow the server to namespaces such as storage, keyvault, cosmos, monitor, or aks when the assistant only needs a bounded Azure surface.
• Self-host an HTTP Azure MCP endpoint for approved agents that need shared access through Entra ID controlled authentication.

Installation

Claude Code with the Node package

Authenticate to Azure first with an approved method such as az login, Visual Studio Code Azure sign-in, Azure PowerShell, Azure Developer CLI, or managed identity.

Add the stdio server with the official npm package:

claude mcp add azure-mcp -- npx -y @azure/mcp@latest server start

Confirm the package can list tools before using it in a high-trust workspace:

npx -y @azure/mcp@latest tools list

Other package-manager options

Use the .NET tool when your environment standardizes on NuGet:

dotnet tool install Azure.Mcp

Use the Python package when your environment standardizes on uvx:

uvx --from msmcp-azure azmcp server start

Configuration

Basic MCP client configuration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "Azure MCP Server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@azure/mcp@latest",
        "server",
        "start"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Python-based configuration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "Azure MCP Server": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "--from",
        "msmcp-azure",
        "azmcp",
        "server",
        "start"
      ]
    }
  }
}

VS Code extension controls

Microsoft's VS Code extension exposes server controls for mode, enabled services, and read-only behavior:

{
  "azureMcp.serverMode": "namespace",
  "azureMcp.enabledServices": ["storage", "keyvault"],
  "azureMcp.readOnly": true
}

Restart the MCP server after changing the exposed namespaces or read-only setting.

Sovereign cloud selection

Use the command-line cloud option or AZURE_CLOUD when working outside Azure Public Cloud:

azmcp server start --cloud AzureUSGovernment

AZURE_CLOUD=AzureChinaCloud azmcp server start

Examples

Ask read-only prompts first:

Use the Azure MCP Server to list my Azure subscriptions and resource groups.

Use Azure MCP in read-only mode to list storage accounts in this subscription
and summarize which resource groups they belong to.

Use Azure MCP to query Azure Monitor for errors in this Log Analytics workspace
from the last hour, then summarize the recurring failure patterns.

Use Azure MCP learn mode to show which storage and key vault tools are
available before running any Azure operation.

Use explicit boundaries before allowing write-capable work:

Use only the staging subscription and the appservice namespace. Draft the
deployment plan first, then wait for approval before changing any resource.

Source notes

• Microsoft Learn documents the Azure MCP Server as the official way to manage Azure resources through natural-language commands from GitHub Copilot, custom AI agents, and MCP-compatible clients.
• The official microsoft/mcp repository hosts the Azure MCP Server under servers/Azure.Mcp.Server and documents the npm, NuGet, PyPI, Docker, IDE, and remote hosting setup paths.
• Microsoft Learn documents developer credentials, managed identity, Azure RBAC, read-only mode, namespace and tool filtering, learn mode, tool annotations, user confirmation for sensitive data, and remote HTTP authentication behavior.
• The npm package @azure/mcp, NuGet package Azure.Mcp, PyPI package msmcp-azure, and Microsoft Container Registry image all map back to the official Microsoft Azure MCP Server documentation and repository.

Duplicate check

This entry covers Microsoft's general Azure MCP Server for Azure cloud resources and services. It is intentionally separate from the existing Azure DevOps MCP Server entry, which focuses on Azure DevOps organizations, work items, repositories, pull requests, pipelines, wikis, and test plans. Before submission, the content tree and open PRs were checked for azure-mcp-server, Azure MCP Server, @azure/mcp, Azure.Mcp.Server, and the official microsoft/mcp Azure server path; no existing direct Azure MCP Server content entry or open content PR was found.

Disclosure

This is a source-backed listing for an official Microsoft open-source MCP server. The submitter is not affiliated with Microsoft, and no sponsorship, affiliate relationship, or paid placement is involved.