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MCP Server Integration

The Causely MCP (Model Context Protocol) server enables developers to access Causely's causal reasoning engine directly from their IDE or CLI. It provides a standardized interface for AI assistants and development tools to communicate with Causely's SaaS backend. The server lets you query service health, investigate incidents, and analyze system behavior without leaving your development environment.

note

The MCP integration is currently an early access feature. Functionality, configuration details, and supported IDEs may change as the feature evolves.

Purpose and Context​

This system bridges the gap between local development tools (IDEs like Cursor, CLIs like Atlassian Rovo DEV CLI) and Causely's cloud-based observability platform, enabling contextual assistance during development and debugging workflows.

What is MCP?​

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open protocol that standardizes how applications provide context to AI assistants. By implementing an MCP server, Causely makes it easy for any MCP-compatible IDE or editor to connect to Causely and access your service topology, active root causes, and historical patterns.

Benefits of Using Causely MCP Server​

  • Stay in your workflow: No need to switch between your development environment and the Causely web interface
  • Contextual investigations: Ask questions about services, incidents, and system behavior while you code or work in the terminal
  • Faster incident response: Quickly diagnose issues without context switching
  • Natural language queries: Use conversational language to explore your system's health and behavior
  • Real-time insights: Access the same causal reasoning engine that powers the Causely web interface
  • Flexible integration: Works with both graphical IDEs and command-line interfaces

Supported Development Tools​

The Causely MCP server works with any IDE, editor, or CLI that supports the Model Context Protocol, including:

IDEs and Editors​

  • Cursor
  • Visual Studio Code (with MCP extension)
  • Other MCP-compatible editors

Command Line Interfaces​

  • Atlassian Rovo DEV CLI
  • Other MCP-compatible CLI tools

Prerequisites​

Before setting up the MCP server connection, ensure you have:

  • Causely SaaS Account: Active account at https://portal.causely.app/
  • Ask Causely Feature: Must be enabled for your tenant
  • MCP-Compatible Tool: An IDE or CLI that supports the Model Context Protocol (for example Cursor, Atlassian Rovo DEV CLI)
  • Node.js: Required for the npx command (typically pre-installed with most development environments)

If Ask Causely is not enabled for your account, please contact us.

Setup Guide​

Step 1: Configure Your Development Tool​

The Causely MCP server is a hosted service that handles authentication automatically. Simply add this configuration to your MCP-compatible development tool:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "Ask Causely": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["mcp-remote", "https://api.causely.app/mcp/"]
    }
  }
}

Step 2: Verify Connection​

Test that your connection is working:

  1. Test Query: "Ask Causely: What defects are currently active in Causely?"
  2. Expected Response: You should receive data from your Causely tenant
  3. Troubleshooting: If you don't receive a response, verify:
    • You're logged into Causely in your browser (authentication uses your browser session)
    • The Ask Causely feature is enabled for your tenant
    • Your development tool has been restarted after configuration
    • Node.js is available in your system PATH

Using Ask Causely in Your Development Environment​

Once configured, you can start asking questions to Ask Causely directly from your IDE or CLI:

  • "What root causes are currently active?"
  • "Why is the checkout service experiencing high latency?"
  • "Show me the dependency graph for the payment service"
  • "What was the root cause of yesterday's outage?"
  • "Are there any services currently breaching their SLOs?"

The MCP server maintains context throughout your conversation, so you can ask follow-up questions and drill deeper into specific issues.

Example Workflows​

Investigating an Active Root Cause​

You: What root causes are active right now?
Ask Causely: There are 2 active root causes:
1. High latency in checkout service (started 15 minutes ago)
2. Elevated error rate in payment-processor (started 8 minutes ago)

You: Tell me more about the checkout service issue
Ask Causely: The high latency in checkout service is caused by a database connection pool exhaustion...

Understanding Service Dependencies​

You: What services depend on the user-auth service?
Ask Causely: The user-auth service has 8 dependent services including:
- checkout-service
- profile-service
- recommendation-engine
...

You: What would be the impact if user-auth goes down?
Ask Causely: If user-auth becomes unavailable, it would directly impact...

Getting Help​

If you encounter issues or have questions about the MCP server: