MSSQL MCP Reader

February 18, 2026 · View on GitHub

Read-only Model Context Protocol server for Microsoft SQL Server.

Safe schema discovery, profiling, and querying with zero risk of data modification. Ideal for analysts, auditors, and anyone who needs database exploration without write access.

Architecture

This package is a thin wrapper around @connorbritain/mssql-mcp-core, which contains all shared logic, tools, and governance features. The wrapper selects the "reader" tier and delegates to the core's startMcpServer() function. This design enables:

Hard separation at the package level — regulated enterprises can guarantee that certain builds physically cannot perform destructive operations
Independent versioning — each tier can be published separately with its own release cycle
Clear audit trail — "we only allow mssql-mcp-reader in prod" is a compile-time guarantee

The core library handles all SQL Server connections, tool dispatch, audit logging, and governance enforcement.

Package Tiers

Package	npm	Tools	Use Case
mssql-mcp-reader (this)	`@connorbritain/mssql-mcp-reader`	14 read-only	Analysts, auditors, safe exploration
mssql-mcp-writer	`@connorbritain/mssql-mcp-writer`	17 (reader + data ops)	Data engineers, ETL developers
mssql-mcp-server	`@connorbritain/mssql-mcp-server`	20 (all tools)	DBAs, full admin access

Config Builder — Visual wizard to generate your mcp_config.json and environments.json files.

Tools Included

Category	Tools
Discovery	`search_schema`, `describe_table`, `list_table`, `list_databases`, `list_environments`
Profiling	`profile_table`, `inspect_relationships`, `inspect_dependencies`, `explain_query`
Querying	`read_data` (SELECT only)
Scripts	`list_scripts`, `run_script` (readonly scripts only)
Operations	`test_connection`, `validate_environment_config`

Not included: insert_data, update_data, delete_data, create_table, create_index, drop_table

Quick Start

Install

npm install -g @connorbritain/mssql-mcp-reader@latest

MCP Client Configuration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mssql": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@connorbritain/mssql-mcp-reader@latest"],
      "env": {
        "SERVER_NAME": "127.0.0.1",
        "DATABASE_NAME": "mydb",
        "SQL_AUTH_MODE": "sql",
        "SQL_USERNAME": "readonly_user",
        "SQL_PASSWORD": "YourPassword123"
      }
    }
  }
}

Configuration

Variable	Required	Notes
`SERVER_NAME`	Yes	SQL Server hostname/IP
`DATABASE_NAME`	Yes	Target database
`SQL_AUTH_MODE`		`sql`, `windows`, or `aad` (default: `aad`)
`SQL_USERNAME` / `SQL_PASSWORD`		Required for `sql`/`windows` modes
`ENVIRONMENTS_CONFIG_PATH`		Path to multi-environment JSON config
`SCRIPTS_PATH`		Path to named SQL scripts directory
`AUDIT_LOG_PATH`		Custom audit log path

Features

All packages in the MSSQL MCP family share:

Multi-environment support - Named database environments (prod, staging, dev) with per-environment policies
Governance controls - allowedTools, deniedTools, allowedSchemas, deniedSchemas, requireApproval
Audit logging - JSON Lines logs with session IDs and auto-redaction
Secret management - ${secret:NAME} placeholders for secure credential handling
Named SQL scripts - Pre-approved parameterized queries with governance controls

Documentation

Full documentation, configuration examples, and governance details are available in the main repository:

MSSQL MCP Server Documentation

License

MIT License. See LICENSE for details.

Repository: https://github.com/ConnorBritain/mssql-mcp-reader Issues: https://github.com/ConnorBritain/mssql-mcp-reader/issues npm: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@connorbritain/mssql-mcp-reader