ORAS MCP Server

Usage

Configure the ORAS MCP Server to run inside VS Code agent mode for registry-aware chats.

The server is implemented with the oras-go library and does not depend on the oras CLI.

Setup with Docker

It is easier to use docker to run the ORAS MCP Server.

Setup for VS Code

Add the following code to .vscode/mcp.json:

{
    "servers": {
        "oras-mcp-server": {
            "type": "stdio",
            "command": "docker",
            "args": [
                "run",
                "--rm",
                "-i",
                "ghcr.io/oras-project/oras-mcp:main",
                "serve"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Mount Docker credentials (Linux only)

Linux users can share docker login credentials by mounting the config file:

{
    "servers": {
        "oras-mcp-server": {
            "type": "stdio",
            "command": "docker",
            "args": [
                "run",
                "--rm",
                "-i",
                "-v",
                "${env:HOME}/.docker/config.json:/root/.docker/config.json:ro",
                "ghcr.io/oras-project/oras-mcp:main",
                "serve"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Adjust the path if you keep credentials under ${env:DOCKER_CONFIG}. The container understands only inline auths entries; helper-based configs (credsStore, credHelpers) won't work. On macOS/Windows, install the released binary instead.

Setup from Released Binaries

1. Visit the GitHub releases page and download the archive that matches your operating system and CPU architecture (oras-mcp_<version>_<os>_<arch>.tar.gz for Linux or macOS, oras-mcp_<version>_windows_<arch>.zip for Windows).

2. Extract the archive; the folder contains a single executable named oras-mcp (or oras-mcp.exe on Windows) and a copy of the project license.

3. Move the binary to a directory on your PATH (for example, /usr/local/bin on Linux/macOS or %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\oras-mcp on Windows) or reference it directly from its extracted location.

4. Run oras-mcp serve --help (or oras-mcp.exe serve --help) to confirm the binary works on your system.

5. To integrate with VS Code agent mode, update .vscode/mcp.json to point at the extracted binary:

   {
       "servers": {
           "oras-mcp-server": {
               "type": "stdio",
               "command": "/absolute/path/to/oras-mcp",
               "args": [
                   "serve"
               ]
           }
       }
   }

   On Windows, set "command": "C:/path/to/oras-mcp.exe".

Authentication

oras-mcp reads credentials from the same stores used by the ORAS and Docker CLIs, but you need to expose those stores to the server process:

• Released binary – Run oras login <registry> or docker login <registry> on the host machine; the binary will pick up the cached credentials automatically.
• Docker container – On Linux you can mount your Docker config as shown in the credential section; ensure the file contains inline auths entries. Docker Desktop (macOS/Windows) depends on keychain helpers, so use the released binary there.

Example Chats

Q: What platform does the image ghcr.io/oras-project/oras support?

A: The image ghcr.io/oras-project/oras supports the following platforms:

1. Linux (amd64)
2. Linux (arm64)
3. Linux (arm, variant v7)
4. Linux (s390x)
5. Linux (ppc64le)

Let me know if you need further details!

Q: What's the latest Azure Linux 3.0 image in MCR? Does it have a signature? What's the type of it?

A: The latest Azure Linux 3.0 image in the Microsoft Container Registry (MCR) is tagged as 3.0.20250402. It has a signature, and the type of the signature is application/vnd.cncf.notary.signature.

Release Process

Maintainers can find the full release steps in the release checklist.