Azure AI Agent Service + Azure AI Search MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that enables Claude Desktop to search your content using Azure AI services. Choose between Azure AI Agent Service (with both document search and web search) or direct Azure AI Search integration.

demo

Overview

This project provides two MCP server implementations to connect Claude Desktop with Azure search capabilities:

Azure AI Agent Service Implementation (Recommended) - Uses the powerful Azure AI Agent Service to provide:
- Azure AI Search Tool - Search your indexed documents with AI-enhanced results
- Bing Web Grounding Tool - Search the web with source citations
Direct Azure AI Search Implementation - Connects directly to Azure AI Search with three methods:
- Keyword Search - Exact lexical matches
- Vector Search - Semantic similarity using embeddings
- Hybrid Search - Combination of keyword and vector searches

Features

AI-Enhanced Search - Azure AI Agent Service optimizes search results with intelligent processing
Multiple Data Sources - Search both your private documents and the public web
Source Citations - Web search results include citations to original sources
Flexible Implementation - Choose between Azure AI Agent Service or direct Azure AI Search integration
Seamless Claude Integration - All search capabilities accessible through Claude Desktop's interface
Customizable - Easy to extend or modify search behavior

Quick Links

Requirements

Python: Version 3.10 or higher
Claude Desktop: Latest version
Azure Resources:
- Azure AI Search service with an index containing vectorized text data
- For Agent Service: Azure AI Project with Azure AI Search and Bing connections
Operating System: Windows or macOS (instructions provided for Windows, but adaptable)

Azure AI Agent Service Implementation (Recommended)

Setup Guide

Project Directory:

mkdir mcp-server-azure-ai-search
cd mcp-server-azure-ai-search

Create a .env File:

echo "PROJECT_CONNECTION_STRING=your-project-connection-string" > .env
echo "MODEL_DEPLOYMENT_NAME=your-model-deployment-name" >> .env
echo "AI_SEARCH_CONNECTION_NAME=your-search-connection-name" >> .env
echo "BING_CONNECTION_NAME=your-bing-connection-name" >> .env
echo "AI_SEARCH_INDEX_NAME=your-index-name" >> .env

Set Up Virtual Environment:

uv venv
.venv\Scripts\activate
uv pip install "mcp[cli]" azure-identity python-dotenv azure-ai-projects

Use the azure_ai_agent_service_server.py script for integration with Azure AI Agent Service.

Azure AI Agent Service Setup

Before using the implementation, you need to:

Create an Azure AI Project:
- Go to the Azure Portal and create a new Azure AI Project
- Note the project connection string and model deployment name
Create an Azure AI Search Connection:
- In your Azure AI Project, add a connection to your Azure AI Search service
- Note the connection name and index name
Create a Bing Web Search Connection:
- In your Azure AI Project, add a connection to Bing Search service
- Note the connection name
Authenticate with Azure:
```
az login
```

Configuring Claude Desktop

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "azure-ai-agent": {
      "command": "C:\\path\\to\\.venv\\Scripts\\python.exe",
      "args": ["C:\\path\\to\\azure_ai_agent_service_server.py"],
      "env": {
        "PROJECT_CONNECTION_STRING": "your-project-connection-string",
        "MODEL_DEPLOYMENT_NAME": "your-model-deployment-name",
        "AI_SEARCH_CONNECTION_NAME": "your-search-connection-name",
        "BING_CONNECTION_NAME": "your-bing-connection-name",
        "AI_SEARCH_INDEX_NAME": "your-index-name"
      }
    }
  }
}

Note: Replace path placeholders with your actual project paths.

Direct Azure AI Search Implementation

For those who prefer direct Azure AI Search integration without the Agent Service:

Create a different .env File:

echo "AZURE_SEARCH_SERVICE_ENDPOINT=https://your-service-name.search.windows.net" > .env
echo "AZURE_SEARCH_INDEX_NAME=your-index-name" >> .env
echo "AZURE_SEARCH_API_KEY=your-api-key" >> .env

Install Dependencies:

uv pip install "mcp[cli]" azure-search-documents==11.5.2 azure-identity python-dotenv

Use the azure_search_server.py script for direct integration with Azure AI Search.

Configure Claude Desktop:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "azure-search": {
      "command": "C:\\path\\to\\.venv\\Scripts\\python.exe",
      "args": ["C:\\path\\to\\azure_search_server.py"],
      "env": {
        "AZURE_SEARCH_SERVICE_ENDPOINT": "https://your-service-name.search.windows.net",
        "AZURE_SEARCH_INDEX_NAME": "your-index-name",
        "AZURE_SEARCH_API_KEY": "your-api-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Testing the Server

Restart Claude Desktop to load the new configuration
Look for the MCP tools icon (hammer icon) in the bottom-right of the input field
Try queries such as:
- "Search for information about AI in my Azure Search index"
- "Search the web for the latest developments in LLMs"
- "Find information about neural networks using hybrid search"

Troubleshooting

Server Not Appearing:
- Check Claude Desktop logs (located at %APPDATA%\Claude\logs\mcp*.log on Windows)
- Verify file paths and environment variables in the configuration
- Test running the server directly: python azure_ai_agent_service_server.py or uv run python azure_ai_agent_service_server.py
Azure AI Agent Service Issues:
- Ensure your Azure AI Project is correctly configured
- Verify that connections exist and are properly configured
- Check your Azure authentication status

Customizing Your Server

Modify Tool Instructions: Adjust the instructions provided to each agent to change how they process queries
Add New Tools: Use the @mcp.tool() decorator to integrate additional tools
Customize Response Formatting: Edit how responses are formatted and returned to Claude Desktop
Adjust Web Search Parameters: Modify the web search tool to focus on specific domains

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

Azure AI Agent Service + Azure AI Search MCP Server