mcp

Terminal49 MCP Server (TypeScript)

Vercel-native Model Context Protocol server for Terminal49's API, built with TypeScript and the official MCP SDK.

🚀 Quick Deploy to Vercel

1. Click "Deploy" above
2. Add environment variable: T49_API_TOKEN=your_token_here
3. Deploy!
4. Your MCP server will be available at: https://your-deployment.vercel.app/api/mcp

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📦 What's Included

🛠️ Tools (30 Available)

Tool	Description	Key Features
search_container	Search by container#, BL, booking, or reference	Fast fuzzy search
track_container	Create tracking request and get container data	SCAC autocomplete ✨
identify_tracking_number	Predict a number's type and carrier and check whether it is already tracked	Creates nothing
get_container	Get detailed container info with flexible data loading	Optional custom fields and party roles
get_shipment_details	Get shipment routing, BOL, containers, ports	Optional custom fields and party roles
get_container_transport_events	Get full event timeline for a container	Milestone history
get_supported_shipping_lines	List 40+ major carriers with SCAC codes	Filterable by name/code
get_container_route	Get ports in route order with ETAs and the current vessel	Premium feature
get_location	Get a port, terminal, or metro area	FIRMS code, address, time zone
get_vessel	Get a vessel's position and, optionally, its projected track to a port	Projection is a premium feature
list_shipments	List shipments with filters and pagination	Fleet-level visibility
list_containers	List containers with filters and pagination	Returns ResourceLinks ✨
summarize_containers	Count containers grouped by terminal, status, carrier, port, hold, or date	Same filters as list_containers
list_parties	Find parties by company name, or read one by ID	Feeds advanced_filters.parties
list_custom_field_definitions	List the account's custom fields, their types, and enum options	Needs a signed-in user
list_tracking_requests	List tracking requests and statuses	Audit and monitoring
get_tracking_request	Get one tracking request's status, failure reason, and shipment	Follow-up after tracking
list_documents	Find documents by file name, reference, or type	Never returns extracted data or file links
get_document	Get one document, with opt-in extracted data, source email, and download link	Untrusted content is labeled
search_docs	Search the public Terminal49 documentation	Returns links to cite
whoami	Identify the credential, its account, the features it can use, and the session's toolsets	Explains empty or unauthorized results
set_party_role	Attach, replace, or detach a party (such as the drayage carrier) on containers or shipments	Destructive write, only on request
set_custom_field	Set or clear one of the account's custom fields on containers or shipments	Destructive write, only on request
search_importers	Find US importers by name, by what they import, or both	Trade intelligence, per account
get_importer_profile	One importer's totals, monthly series, ports, origins, carriers, and products	Trade intelligence, per account
search_commodities	Turn a product description or HS prefix into four-digit HS codes	Trade intelligence, per account
rank_importers	Rank importers by containers for a product, US port, or origin country	Trade intelligence, per account
get_trade_trends	Time series of containers, TEUs, or estimated value	Trade intelligence, per account
get_trade_breakdown	Nested totals over one to three dimensions	Trade intelligence, per account
get_trade_data_coverage	Where trade data starts, the latest and last full month	Trade intelligence, per account

🎯 Prompts (3 Workflows)

Prompt	Description	Use Case
track-shipment	Track container with optional carrier	Quick tracking start (SCAC autocomplete ✨)
check-demurrage	Analyze demurrage/detention risk	LFD calculations
analyze-delays	Identify delays and root causes	Timeline analysis

The track-shipment prompt's carrier argument supports MCP completions (completion/complete): suggestions are sourced live from get_supported_shipping_lines, filtered by what the user has typed, and returned as SCAC codes.

📚 Resources

• ✅ terminal49://docs/milestone-glossary - Complete milestone reference guide
• ✅ terminal49://docs/mcp-query-guidance - Internal tool-routing hints
• ✅ terminal49://container/{id} - Dynamic container data access (also the target of list_containers ResourceLinks)

🧭 Server Instructions

The server advertises MCP instructions (a server-level operating guide) at initialize time: it explains the ocean container/shipment tracking domain, key vocabulary (SCAC, BOL/booking, POL/POD, LFD, demurrage, holds), the read tools vs the single write tool (track_container), and the canonical tool-chaining order.

🔗 ResourceLinks (context reduction)

list_containers returns MCP resource_link content blocks — one per container row — that point at the registered terminal49://container/{id} resource. Clients can render the compact list and resolve full per-container detail on demand via resources/read, instead of paying for every container's full payload up front.

🙈 Content Audience Annotations

Tool results separate the human-readable answer from agent-steering metadata. The steering block (presentation guidance + suggested follow-up tools, derived from the _response_contract) is tagged with annotations: { audience: ['assistant'] } so spec-aware clients can hide it from end users, while the answer block stays user-visible.

✨ Current Features (v1.0.0 - Phase 1 & 2.1 Complete)

✅ Modern McpServer API

• High-level registerTool(), registerPrompt(), registerResource() patterns
• Type-safe Zod schemas for all tool inputs
• Cleaner, maintainable code (71% code reduction in HTTP handler)
• MCP SDK: @modelcontextprotocol/sdk ^1.29.0
• Terminal49 SDK: @terminal49/sdk 0.2.0

✅ Production Transport Support

• HTTP (streamable): POST /api/mcp - stateless, JSON responses
• SSE was removed from the hosted deployment path in favor of Streamable HTTP transport.

✅ Sentry MCP Monitoring

• Optional instrumentation with @sentry/node ^10.55.0
• Captures MCP connections, tool calls, resources, prompts, performance spans, and errors when SENTRY_DSN is set
• Tool input/output recording is disabled by default; enable it only after reviewing data handling requirements

✅ 3 Workflow Prompts

• track-shipment: Quick container tracking with optional carrier
• check-demurrage: Demurrage/detention risk analysis
• analyze-delays: Journey delay identification and root cause

✅ MCP Spec Adherence

• Server instructions: server-level operating guide advertised at initialize
• SCAC code completions: completion/complete on the track-shipment prompt's carrier arg, sourced from get_supported_shipping_lines
• ResourceLinks: list_containers rows link to the terminal49://container/{id} resource
• Content audience annotations: steering metadata tagged audience: ['assistant']

🚧 Deferred (future RFC — needs a stateful transport)

• Resource subscriptions, progress notifications, server logging, elicitation, and sampling all require a stateful (non-stateless-HTTP) transport and are out of scope here.
• Shipment ResourceLinks await a dedicated terminal49://shipment/{id} resource template (only the container template is currently registered).

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🏗️ Architecture

/api/mcp.ts                  # Vercel serverless function (HTTP)
/packages/mcp/
  ├── src/
  │   ├── server.ts          # MCP server (stdio)
  │   ├── index.ts           # Stdio entry point
  │   ├── tools/             # MCP tools
  │   └── resources/         # MCP resources
  └── package.json

MCP uses published @terminal49/sdk by default, with optional local override for contributors.

Transport:

• HTTP: Vercel serverless function at /api/mcp (for hosted use)
• stdio: Local binary for Claude Desktop (run via npm run mcp:stdio)

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Store submission

The public connector URL is https://mcp.terminal49.com. Store assets and submission metadata are checked in at the repository root:

• chatgpt-app-submission.json — locked ChatGPT listing copy and review cases
• claude-connector-submission.json — values to enter in Claude's submission portal
• server.json — official MCP Registry metadata used for Copilot discovery
• public/store-icons/terminal49-{light,dark}.png — 512×512 brand icons

Verify the domain for ChatGPT

OpenAI generates a unique domain-verification token during submission. Add that exact value to the existing MCP Vercel project:

vercel env add OPENAI_APPS_CHALLENGE

After the project redeploys, verify that the well-known endpoint returns only the token you pasted:

curl --fail --silent \
  https://mcp.terminal49.com/.well-known/openai-apps-challenge

Do not commit the token. The endpoint returns an empty 404 response while OPENAI_APPS_CHALLENGE is unset. Submit the connector and the values in chatgpt-app-submission.json through the OpenAI plugin submission flow.

Submit to Claude

Use the Claude Connectors Directory portal and enter the values in claude-connector-submission.json. Upload the light icon from public/store-icons/terminal49-light.png; the dark variant is available for clients that support theme-specific assets.

Publish for Copilot discovery

GitHub's Copilot registry is a curated downstream discovery surface. Publish server.json to the official MCP Registry to make Terminal49 eligible for that surface:

mcp-publisher validate server.json
mcp-publisher login github
mcp-publisher publish server.json

The publisher must authenticate as an owner of the Terminal49 GitHub organization because the registry name uses its io.github.Terminal49 namespace.

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🛠️ Local Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js 24.x
• Terminal49 API token (get yours here)

Setup

cd packages/mcp
npm install
T49_SDK_SOURCE=published npm run sdk:setup
cp .env.example .env
# Add your T49_API_TOKEN to .env

Use a local SDK build during MCP development:

cd packages/mcp
T49_SDK_SOURCE=local npm run sdk:setup

Run Locally

# Stdio mode (for Claude Desktop testing)
npm run mcp:stdio

# Development mode with auto-reload
npm run dev

Test the API

# List tools
echo '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"tools/list","id":1}' | npm run mcp:stdio

# Get container
echo '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"get_container","arguments":{"id":"123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000"}},"id":2}' | npm run mcp:stdio

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🌐 Using with Vercel Deployment

Deploy

# Install Vercel CLI
npm i -g vercel

# Deploy to Vercel
vercel

# Set environment variable
vercel env add T49_API_TOKEN

Configure MCP Client

Once deployed, your MCP server will be at: https://your-deployment.vercel.app/api/mcp

For Claude Desktop or other MCP clients:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "terminal49": {
      "url": "https://your-deployment.vercel.app/api/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Token your_api_token_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

For Cursor IDE:

{
  "mcp": {
    "servers": {
      "terminal49": {
        "url": "https://your-deployment.vercel.app/api/mcp",
        "headers": {
          "Authorization": "Token your_api_token_here"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

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🔧 API Reference

HTTP Endpoint

URL: POST /api/mcp

Headers:

Authorization: Token your_api_token_here
Content-Type: application/json

Request (JSON-RPC):

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "get_container",
    "arguments": {
      "id": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000"
    }
  },
  "id": 1
}

Response:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "result": {
    "content": [
      {
        "type": "text",
        "text": "{\"id\":\"...\",\"container_number\":\"...\", ...}"
      }
    ]
  },
  "id": 1
}

Available Methods

Method	Description
initialize	Initialize MCP connection
tools/list	List available tools
tools/call	Execute a tool
resources/list	List available resources
resources/read	Read a resource

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🔐 Authentication

For Vercel Deployment (HTTP)

Set as environment variable in Vercel dashboard:

T49_API_TOKEN=your_token_here

Or include in request headers:

Authorization: Token your_token_here

Token is the preferred scheme. Bearer your_token_here is also accepted for backward compatibility.

For Local stdio

Set in your environment:

export T49_API_TOKEN=your_token_here

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🧪 Testing

# Run tests
npm test

# Type checking
npm run type-check

# Linting
npm run lint

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📝 Environment Variables

Variable	Required	Default	Description
T49_API_TOKEN	✅ Yes	-	Terminal49 API token
T49_API_BASE_URL	No	https://api.terminal49.com/v2	API base URL
T49_MCP_TOOLSETS	No	core,documents,operations,trade	Comma-separated toolsets this deployment serves. See Toolsets.
T49_MCP_READ_ONLY	No	false	Serve only tools whose readOnlyHint is true. Accepts true, false, 1 or 0, in any case.
T49_MCP_ALLOW_SHARED_TOKEN_WRITES	No	false	Serve toolsets other than core and trade when callers share T49_API_TOKEN
OPENAI_APPS_CHALLENGE	Only for ChatGPT submission	-	Exact domain-verification token issued by the OpenAI submission portal
NODE_ENV	No	development	Environment
LOG_LEVEL	No	info	Logging level
REDACT_LOGS	No	true	Redact tokens in logs
SENTRY_ENABLED	No	true	Enables or disables Sentry when a DSN is configured
SENTRY_DSN	No	-	Enables Sentry MCP Monitoring when set
SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT	No	NODE_ENV	Sentry environment name
SENTRY_RELEASE	No	VERCEL_GIT_COMMIT_SHA	Sentry release identifier
SENTRY_TRACES_SAMPLE_RATE	No	1.0	Trace sampling rate from 0 to 1
SENTRY_MCP_RECORD_INPUTS	No	false	Record MCP tool/prompt inputs in Sentry
SENTRY_MCP_RECORD_OUTPUTS	No	false	Record MCP tool/prompt outputs in Sentry
SENTRY_SEND_DEFAULT_PII	No	false	Enables Sentry default PII behavior

Only enable SENTRY_MCP_RECORD_INPUTS or SENTRY_MCP_RECORD_OUTPUTS after confirming that your Sentry project is approved to store shipment identifiers, references, and customer data.

Credential headers (Authorization, cookies, and any header whose name contains auth, token, secret, cookie, session, api-key, password, or signature) and request cookies are removed from every error and transaction event before it is sent, regardless of SENTRY_SEND_DEFAULT_PII.

Signed URLs, such as the document download link that get_document returns, are replaced with [REDACTED_URL] in logs, Sentry events and PostHog events. This holds even when SENTRY_MCP_RECORD_OUTPUTS is on.

Toolsets

Each tool belongs to one toolset in src/tools/registry.ts: core, documents, operations, documents_write, developer or trade. list_documents and get_document are in documents. set_party_role and set_custom_field are in operations. The trade intelligence tools are in trade. Every other tool today is in core. whoami reports the toolsets a session serves and whether it has write tools.

• T49_MCP_TOOLSETS lists the toolsets the server allows. stdio and the HTTP gateway both read it. An unknown name, or a value made only of commas, stops stdio with an error that names the variable. HTTP requests fail with a generic 500, and the gateway logs the cause.
• The X-T49-MCP-Toolsets request header can only narrow that list. The server serves the toolsets that appear in both. An unknown name, or a value made only of commas, returns 400.
• X-T49-MCP-Read-Only: true or T49_MCP_READ_ONLY=true removes every tool whose readOnlyHint is false, including track_container. Both accept true, false, 1 or 0, in any case. Any other header value returns 400. The header cannot turn off read-only mode that the env turned on.
• The server instructions name only the tools the session serves.
• When the gateway uses one shared T49_API_TOKEN, it serves only core and the read-only trade toolset unless T49_MCP_ALLOW_SHARED_TOKEN_WRITES=true.
• Toolsets are never read from the connector URL. The OAuth resource stays the root origin.

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🆚 Ruby vs TypeScript

This repo includes two implementations:

Feature	Ruby (/mcp)	TypeScript (/packages/mcp + /api)
Deployment	Railway, Fly.io, Heroku	✅ Vercel (native)
HTTP Transport	Rack/Puma	✅ Vercel Serverless
stdio Transport	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Status	Complete	Complete
Use Case	Standalone servers	Vercel deployments

Recommendation: Use TypeScript for Vercel deployments (zero-config, auto-scaling).

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🚦 Vercel Configuration

The project includes vercel.json for optimal Vercel deployment:

{
  "functions": {
    "api/mcp.ts": {
      "runtime": "nodejs20.x",
      "maxDuration": 30,
      "memory": 1024
    }
  }
}

Configuration Notes

• Runtime: Node.js 20.x
• Max Duration: 30 seconds (adjustable for Pro/Enterprise)
• Memory: 1024 MB
• CORS: Enabled for all origins (Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *)

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🐛 Troubleshooting

"T49_API_TOKEN is required" error

Solution: Set environment variable in Vercel dashboard or locally:

vercel env add T49_API_TOKEN

"Method not allowed" error

Solution: Ensure you're using POST method, not GET:

curl -X POST https://your-deployment.vercel.app/api/mcp \
  -H "Authorization: Token your_token" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"tools/list","id":1}'

CORS errors in browser

Solution: CORS is configured in vercel.json. If issues persist, check Vercel deployment logs:

vercel logs

Timeout errors

Solution: Increase maxDuration in vercel.json (requires Vercel Pro/Enterprise):

{
  "functions": {
    "api/mcp.ts": {
      "maxDuration": 60
    }
  }
}

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📚 Documentation

• MCP Protocol: https://modelcontextprotocol.io/
• Terminal49 API: https://docs.terminal49.com
• Vercel Functions: https://vercel.com/docs/functions
• TypeScript MCP SDK: https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/typescript-sdk

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🤝 Contributing

1. Fork the repo
2. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/my-tool
3. Make changes in /packages/mcp/src/
4. Add tests
5. Run type check: npm run type-check
6. Submit PR

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📄 License

Copyright 2024 Terminal49. All rights reserved.

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🆘 Support

• Issues: GitHub Issues
• Documentation: https://docs.terminal49.com
• Email: support@terminal49.com

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