redhat-et / redhat-et/docsclaw

Bundle MCP servers in container images for stdio transport

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Go
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2
Forks
1
Avg merge
6h 9m
Merged PRs (30d)
1

Description

Summary

Include select MCP servers in the specialized Docker images so agents can invoke them via stdio transport without external infrastructure.

Motivation

Some capabilities are better served by MCP servers than raw CLI tools — particularly interactive/stateful tools like browser automation. Bundling MCP servers in the image and invoking them via stdio keeps the deployment self-contained.

Candidates

MCP Server Image flavor Why MCP over CLI
Playwright media, content JavaScript rendering, structured page interaction, navigation state
SQLite data Structured queries, schema introspection
Filesystem docs Already have read/write tools, but MCP version adds watch/search

When CLI tools are better

Stateless transformations (pandoc, imagemagick, ffmpeg) work fine as CLI tools invoked via exec. MCP adds value only when the tool needs state between calls or structured output beyond what stdout provides.

Design considerations

  • MCP servers installed as npm packages or standalone binaries in the image
  • DocsClaw spawns MCP server as a child process, communicates via stdio
  • Depends on #2 (MCP client integration in DocsClaw)
  • Configuration in agent-config.yaml specifies which MCP servers to start

Related

  • #2 — MCP client integration
  • #7 — Specialized Dockerfiles

Contributor guide

No contributing guide indexed for this repository

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reviewing issue #2 for MCP client integration and issue #7 for the specialized Dockerfiles, then inspect how agent-config.yaml is intended to select services. Done means the selected MCP servers are bundled in the relevant image flavors and DocsClaw can spawn them as child processes over stdio.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
docker
Domain
backend, infrastructure
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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