MCPay Build

MCPay Build is an MCP server that acts as a no-code builder for MCP Servers with built-in monetization.
It lets developers design, preview, and deploy MCP servers to GitHub + Vercel — and instantly monetize tool usage with x402 micropayments via MCPay.

👉 Build → Preview → Deploy → Monetize

Our vision is an agent-to-agent economy powered by microtransactions, where AI agents can autonomously pay to use tools. MCPay Build provides the rails to make that future possible.

🖼️ Workflow


┌───────────┐      ┌───────────┐      ┌───────────┐      ┌───────────────┐
│   Build   │ ───▶ │  Preview  │ ───▶ │  Deploy   │ ───▶ │   Monetize    │
│ (AI/MCP)  │      │ (sandbox) │      │ (Vercel)  │      │ (MCPay/x402)  │
└───────────┘      └───────────┘      └───────────┘      └───────────────┘

Big Picture

This repo implements an MCP server “factory”:

Lets an AI/chat (or you) spin up a brand-new MCP server in memory.
Provides tools to edit files, manage deps, run type checks, format, version, and preview live.
Deploys your server into a real Node.js environment using Vercel Sandbox.
Monetizes expensive operations (preview, run_command, stream_logs, etc.) using MCPay (per-call x402 micropayments).

Flow:
Create session → edit files → preview in sandbox → get live URL → iterate → export as ZIP → monetize tools.

✨ Features

MCPay integration → free + paid tools side-by-side, billed automatically
Simple API → server.tool(...) & server.paidTool(...) via mcpay/handler
Vercel-ready → vercel.json + function exports (GET/POST/OPTIONS)
Type-safe → modern TypeScript + Zod validation
Dev UX → session/file/diff/format tools, ts-check, logs, live preview

🚀 Quickstart

1. Install dependencies

pnpm install

2. Configure environment

MCPAY_API_KEY=your_api_key     # required for paid tools
MCPAY_API_URL=https://api.mcpay.tech  # optional

3. Run locally

pnpm dlx vercel dev

Server runs at http://localhost:3000.

4. Connect from MCP client

Add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcpay-local": { "url": "http://localhost:3000" }
  }
}

Under the Hood

Main runtime & routing

Hono as the HTTP framework.
Open CORS (all origins/headers/methods allowed).
GET / → serves a system prompt describing tools + philosophy.
All other routes → handled by createPaidMcpHandler(...).
Function exports (GET/POST/OPTIONS) → deploys cleanly to Vercel.

State & storage

Sessions in Vercel KV (session:{id}) with virtual file system + sandbox metadata.
Commits in KV (commit:{session}:{commit}) for full snapshots.
Logs/ZIPs uploaded to Vercel Blob with public URLs.

Templates & defaults

When you run create_session, it seeds:

index.ts — MCP server template (with hello + get-time tools).
package.json, tsconfig.json, .gitignore, .env.example, README.md.

Preview = live sandbox

preview tool does:

Loads session + hashes files.
Reuses existing sandbox if files unchanged (<30 min).
Else:
- Creates fresh Vercel Sandbox (Node 22, 2 vCPUs).
- Uploads files.
- Detects Node/npm versions.
- Installs deps (npm/yarn/pnpm).
- Runs build if available.
- Starts server (npm start or fallback).
- Health-checks endpoints until ready.
- Aggregates logs (uploads long logs to Blob).

Returns: sandbox ID, preview URL, logs, node/npm versions, status.

Built-in Tools

Paid (metered via MCPay)

create_session — bootstrap project
preview — deploy to sandbox, return live URL
download_session — zip + upload project
run_command — exec arbitrary shell in sandbox
stream_logs — live-tail logs

Free

File ops: add_or_update_file, delete_file, get_file, list_files, get_all_codebase
Env ops: add_env_key, list_env_keys, delete_env_key
Package ops: add_dependency, debug_package_json
Quality: ts_check, npm_audit, format_file
Versioning: commit, diff, revert, get_logs
Info: get_environment_info, get_session_stats, stop_preview, force_refresh_sandbox

Monetization

MCP handler is created with createPaidMcpHandler.
Paid tools have explicit { price, currency }.
Requires MCPAY_API_KEY (and optional MCPAY_API_URL).

Example:

server.paidTool(
  "analyze-data",
  "Analyze data (paid)",
  { price: 0.1, currency: "USD" },
  { data: z.string(), format: z.enum(["json","csv"]) },
  async ({ data, format }) => ({
    content: [{ type: "text", text: `Analyzed ${format} data` }]
  })
);

🛠 Typical Flow

create_session → new ID
add_or_update_file → edit index.ts
ts_check + format_file
commit → snapshot
preview → live sandbox URL
stream_logs → monitor in real time
download_session → zip/export

📦 Deployment

Deploy to Vercel:

pnpm dlx vercel

Set env vars in project settings:

MCPAY_API_KEY
MCPAY_API_URL (optional)

❗ Notes

Blob uploads are public → don’t commit secrets.
Sandbox per tool (for some ops) → isolation at cost of speed/$$.
.env handling → only keys are tracked; actual secrets must be set in runtime env.

📄 License

MIT

microchipgnu/mcpay-build