Contributing to MCP Toolkit

June 29, 2026 · View on GitHub

This project welcomes contributions and suggestions. Most contributions require you to agree to a Contributor License Agreement (CLA) declaring that you have the right to, and actually do, grant us the rights to use your contribution. For details, visit https://cla.microsoft.com.

Contributing to MCP Toolkit

We welcome contributions from the community! Whether you're fixing bugs, improving docs, or building new features, your help makes this project better.

🚀 Getting Started (New Contributors)

Pick Your Contribution Type

👶 First time contributing? Start here:

📝 Good First Issues — Simple tasks perfect for beginners
📖 Documentation — Fix typos, clarify instructions, add examples
🐛 Report a Bug — Found something broken? Open an issue

Looking for more challenge?

💻 Medium Issues — Feature requests and improvements
🏗️ Architecture — Design new systems or refactor existing code
🎯 Check our ROADMAP.md for planned features

🛠️ Local Development Setup (2 minutes)

Prerequisites

Git
.NET 9.0 SDK
PowerShell 7+
Docker (optional, for full testing)

Quick Start

# 1. Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/AzureCosmosDB/MCPToolKit.git
cd MCPToolKit

# 2. Restore dependencies
dotnet restore AzureCosmosDB.MCP.Toolkit.sln

# 3. Build the solution
dotnet build AzureCosmosDB.MCP.Toolkit.sln -c Debug

# 4. Run tests
dotnet test AzureCosmosDB.MCP.Toolkit.sln -c Debug

# 5. Run locally
dotnet run --project src/AzureCosmosDB.MCP.Toolkit/AzureCosmosDB.MCP.Toolkit.csproj

Server will start at http://localhost:8080

💡 Contribution Ideas

📖 Documentation (15 min - 1 hour)

✅ Fix typos or grammar
✅ Clarify confusing instructions
✅ Add code examples
✅ Create diagrams for architecture

How to:

Find a doc in /docs or /README.md
Click "Edit" on GitHub
Make your changes
Submit a PR with description

🐛 Bug Fixes (1 - 4 hours)

✅ Reproduce the bug (add test case)
✅ Fix the issue
✅ Add test to prevent regression
✅ Submit a PR

How to:

Pick a bug from Issues labeled "bug"
Create a feature branch: git checkout -b fix/issue-number
Make your changes
Run tests: dotnet test
Push and create a PR

✨ Features (4 - 8 hours)

✅ New MCP tools
✅ Enhanced search capabilities
✅ Security improvements
✅ Performance optimizations

How to:

Discuss in Issues or Discussions first
Check ROADMAP.md for planned features
Create feature branch: git checkout -b feature/your-feature-name
Implement with tests
Update docs
Submit a PR

🧪 Tests & Quality (1 - 2 hours)

✅ Add unit tests
✅ Add integration tests
✅ Improve test coverage
✅ Performance benchmarks

How to: See /tests/AzureCosmosDB.MCP.Toolkit.Tests/ for examples

🎯 Help Wanted

Check current priorities:

📋 Pull Request Process

Before You Start

Check existing PRs — avoid duplicates
Open an issue first for large changes (get feedback early!)
Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/your-change

Making Changes

# Make your changes
# Test them
dotnet test AzureCosmosDB.MCP.Toolkit.sln -c Debug

# Commit with clear message
git commit -m "Fix: Describe what you fixed" -m "Closes #issue-number"

# Push to your fork
git push origin feature/your-change

Submit Your PR

Create PR with clear title and description
Link related issues: Fixes #123 or Related to #456
First-time contributor? A CLA bot will ask you to sign. It's quick and one-time.
Request review from maintainers
Address feedback kindly