business-central-mcp

<p align="center"> <h1 align="center">business-central-mcp</h1> <p align="center"> Give AI assistants direct access to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.<br/> Native WebSocket protocol -- no OData, no APIs, no browser automation. </p> </p>

<p align="center"> <a href="https://www.npmjs.com/package/business-central-mcp"><img src="https://img.shields.io/npm/v/business-central-mcp" alt="npm version"></a> <a href="https://www.npmjs.com/package/business-central-mcp"><img src="https://img.shields.io/npm/dm/business-central-mcp" alt="npm downloads"></a> <a href="https://github.com/SShadowS/business-central-mcp/blob/main/LICENSE"><img src="https://img.shields.io/npm/l/business-central-mcp" alt="license"></a> <a href="vscode:mcp/install?%7B%22name%22%3A%22business-central%22%2C%22command%22%3A%22npx%22%2C%22args%22%3A%5B%22-y%22%2C%22business-central-mcp%22%5D%7D"><img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/VSCode-Install-007ACC?logo=visualstudiocode" alt="Install in VSCode"></a> <a href="https://github.com/SShadowS/business-central-mcp/releases/latest"><img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/Claude%20Desktop-Download%20.dxt-d97757" alt="Download .dxt for Claude Desktop"></a> </p>

---

Overview

Property	Value
Language	TypeScript / Node 20+
npm package	business-central-mcp
BC versions	BC27, BC28 (wire-compatible)
Auth	NavUserPassword (OAuth on roadmap)
Tools	12
Tests	284 unit/protocol + 111 integration
License	MIT

Install

VSCode

Click the badge. VSCode opens, prompts to add the server, and writes to your user mcp.json.

You will still need to set BC_BASE_URL, BC_USERNAME, and BC_PASSWORD in the entry's env block. VSCode opens the file for you to edit.

<details> <summary><strong>Manual install</strong></summary>

Workspace: create .vscode/mcp.json:

{
  "servers": {
    "business-central": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "business-central-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "BC_BASE_URL": "http://your-bc-server/BC",
        "BC_USERNAME": "your-user",
        "BC_PASSWORD": "your-password"
      }
    }
  }
}

</details>

Claude Code

claude mcp add business-central \
  -e BC_BASE_URL=http://your-bc-server/BC \
  -e BC_USERNAME=you \
  -e BC_PASSWORD=secret \
  -- npx -y business-central-mcp

Scope it to the current project with --scope project. See claude mcp --help for scoping options.

Claude Desktop

1. Download the latest .dxt from Releases.
2. Double-click. Claude Desktop opens Settings → Extensions and prompts for BC URL, username, and password.
3. Restart Claude Desktop.

<details> <summary><strong>Manual install</strong></summary>

Edit claude_desktop_config.json:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "business-central": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "business-central-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "BC_BASE_URL": "http://your-bc-server/BC",
        "BC_USERNAME": "your-user",
        "BC_PASSWORD": "your-password"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop.

</details>

Configuration

Variable	Required	Default	Description
BC_BASE_URL	Yes	—	BC server base URL, e.g. http://your-bc-server/BC
BC_USERNAME	Yes	—	NavUserPassword username
BC_PASSWORD	Yes	—	NavUserPassword password
BC_PROFILE	No	server default	Profile id, e.g. BUSINESS MANAGER. Affects which Role Center loads and which pages Tell Me indexes.
BC_TENANT_ID	No	default	Multi-tenant deployments only.
BC_CLIENT_VERSION	No	27.0.0.0	Version reported to BC during session open.
PORT	No	3000	HTTP transport port (stdio transport ignores this).
LOG_LEVEL	No	info	debug / info / warn / error.
LOG_DIR	No	./logs	Directory for log files.
STATE_DIR	No	./.state	Directory for session state.
BC_INVOKE_TIMEOUT	No	30000	Per-invoke timeout in ms. Kills hung sessions.
BC_RECONNECT_MAX_RETRIES	No	4	Reconnect attempts after session death.
BC_RECONNECT_BASE_DELAY	No	1000	Base delay (ms) for exponential reconnect backoff.

What can it do?

Tool	What it does
bc_open_page	Open any page by ID -- lists, cards, documents, role centers. Returns the page as sections[] with header, lines, factboxes, and Role Center cuegroup tiles.
bc_read_data	Refresh a single section: filter, paginate, slice, project tab/columns. Returns the same Section shape as bc_open_page.
bc_write_data	Write field values; BC validates and echoes confirmed values. Section-aware (lines, factboxes, header).
bc_execute_action	Run header / row / wizard actions, OR drill down on Role Center cue tiles via cue input.
bc_respond_dialog	Handle confirmation prompts and request pages
bc_navigate	Select rows, drill down into records, field lookups
bc_search_pages	Tell Me search. Returns { name, objectType, runTarget, departmentPath, category, score } per result.
bc_close_page	Close a page and free server resources
bc_switch_company	Switch to a different company mid-session
bc_list_companies	Discover available companies
bc_run_report	Execute reports and fill request page parameters
bc_wizard_navigate	Drive NavigatePage / wizard flows (back / next / finish / cancel)

How it works

This server speaks BC's internal WebSocket protocol directly -- the same protocol the browser-based web client uses. It was reverse-engineered from decompiled BC server assemblies. No OData endpoints, no SOAP services, no Selenium.

One WebSocket connection per session. All operations serialized through a promise queue. BC27 and BC28 are wire-compatible.

LLM (Claude / Copilot / etc.)
   |
   v   MCP (stdio or HTTP)
business-central-mcp
   |
   v   WebSocket + JSON-RPC
BC Web Service Tier (BC27 / BC28)
   |
   v   internal calls
BC Server

<details> <summary><strong>Page output shape</strong></summary>

bc_open_page returns the page as a flat list of sections:

{
  "pageContextId": "session:page:21:abc",
  "pageType": "Card",
  "caption": "Customer Card",
  "isModal": false,
  "sections": [
    { "sectionId": "header",                       "kind": "header",  "fields": [...], "actions": [...] },
    { "sectionId": "factbox:Customer Statistics",  "kind": "factbox", "fields": [...] }
  ]
}

Each section carries its own content shape:

• Card-style (header on Card pages, factbox, requestPage): fields[] and (for header) actions[]
• List-style (lines on Documents, header on List pages, repeater subpages): rows[] and totalRowCount
• Cue tiles (Role Center hosted CardParts): cues[] with each tile's name, value, groupCaption, synopsis, hasAction. Drill down with bc_execute_action { section, cue }.

bc_read_data returns a single Section for the requested sectionId (defaults to "header"). The section ID for a FactBox or subpage comes from the bc_open_page response.

</details>

<details> <summary><strong>Session resilience</strong></summary>

• Automatic reconnect with exponential backoff after session death
• Handles BC's ~15s NTLM auth slot hold after crashes
• Auto-dismisses license popups on fresh databases
• Invoke timeout kills hung sessions and triggers recovery
• Auto-recovery from LogicalModalityViolationException mid-session: reconciles the modal stack and retries transparently; falls back to session reset when BC keeps a confirm dialog sticky

</details>

Key files

File	Purpose
src/stdio-server.ts	npm bin entry -- stdio MCP transport
src/server.ts	HTTP MCP transport entry
src/mcp/	MCP tool registry, schemas, request handler
src/operations/	One handler per tool (bc_open_page, bc_read_data, etc.)
src/services/	Page, data, action, navigation, search business logic
src/protocol/	WebSocket transport, wire types, captures
src/session/	Session lifecycle, modal stack, reconnect
manifest.json	Claude Desktop Extension manifest
scripts/build-dxt.ts	Builds .dxt artifact for Claude Desktop
.github/workflows/release.yml	Builds + attaches .dxt on v* tag pushes
ROADMAP.md	Deferred work (OAuth, Cursor, init wizard)

Development

git clone https://github.com/SShadowS/business-central-mcp
cd business-central-mcp
npm install
npm run start:stdio-direct   # Run from source
npm test                     # 284 unit + protocol tests
npm run test:integration     # 111 integration tests against real BC (requires running BC server)

Roadmap

OAuth, Cursor support, an interactive init wizard, and a few protocol gaps. See ROADMAP.md for the full list and priorities.

---

Author: Torben Leth (sshadows@sshadows.dk) License: MIT (see LICENSE)