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Posted on Mar 21 • Originally published at xbill999.Medium on Mar 20

MCP Development with Python, and the Azure App Service

#python #azureappservice #azure #mcpserver

Leveraging Gemini CLI and the underlying Gemini LLM to build Model Context Protocol (MCP) AI applications with Python with a local development environment deployed to the Azure App Service container runtime.

What is Gemini CLI?

The Gemini CLI is an open-source, terminal-based AI agent from Google that allows developers to interact directly with Gemini models, such as Gemini 2.5 Pro, for coding, content creation, and workflow automation. It supports file operations, shell commands, and connects to external tools via the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

The full details on Gemini CLI are available here:

Build, debug & deploy with AI

Azure App Service

Azure App Service is a fully managed Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) that enables developers to build, deploy, and scale web applications, APIs, and mobile backends quickly. It supports multiple languages (.NET, Java, Node.js, Python, PHP) on Windows or Linux, offering built-in CI/CD, auto-scaling, and high security.

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/app-service

Why would I want Gemini CLI with Azure? Isn’t that a Google Thing?

Yes- Gemini CLI leverages the Google Cloud console and Gemini models but it is also open source and platform agnostic. Many applications are already cross-cloud so this enables familiar tools to be run natively on Microsoft Azure.

Node Version Management

Gemini CLI needs a consistent, up to date version of Node. The nvm command can be used to get a standard Node environment:

GitHub - nvm-sh/nvm: Node Version Manager - POSIX-compliant bash script to manage multiple active node.js versions

Gemini CLI Installation

You can then download the Gemini CLI :

npm install -g @google/gemini-cli

You will see the log messages:

azureuser@azure-new:~/gemini-cli-azure$ npm install -g @google/gemini-cli
npm warn deprecated prebuild-install@7.1.3: No longer maintained. Please contact the author of the relevant native addon; alternatives are available.
npm warn deprecated node-domexception@1.0.0: Use your platform's native DOMException instead
npm warn deprecated glob@10.5.0: Old versions of glob are not supported, and contain widely publicized security vulnerabilities, which have been fixed in the current version. Please update. Support for old versions may be purchased (at exorbitant rates) by contacting i@izs.me

Testing the Gemini CLI Environment

Once you have all the tools and the correct Node.js version in place- you can test the startup of Gemini CLI. You will need to authenticate with a Key or your Google Account:

gemini

Authentication

Several authentication options are available. To use an existing Code Assist licence — authenticate with a Google Account:

> /auth                                                                                                                                                        
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
╭──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ │
│ ? Get started │
│ │
│ How would you like to authenticate for this project? │
│ │
│ ● 1. Login with Google │
│ 2. Use Gemini API Key │
│ 3. Vertex AI │
│ │
│ (Use Enter to select) │
│ │
│ Terms of Services and Privacy Notice for Gemini CLI │
│ │
│ https://geminicli.com/docs/resources/tos-privacy/ │
│ │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

Then set the GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT to a valid project setup on the Google Cloud console:

~ $ export GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT=comglitn
~ $

Other options include Google Cloud API Key that can be generated directly from the Google Cloud Console.

Installing Google Cloud Tools

To simplify working with Google Cloud — install the Google Cloud Tools:

https://docs.cloud.google.com/sdk/docs/install-sdk

Once the installation is completed — you can verify the setup:

william@Azure:~$ gcloud auth list
  Credentialed Accounts
ACTIVE ACCOUNT
* xbill@glitnir.com

Installing Azure Customized GEMINI.md

A sample GitHub repo contains tools for working with Gemini CLI on Azure. This repo is available here:

git clone https://gitHub.com/xbill9/gemini-cli-azure

A sample GEMINI.md customized for the Azure environment is provided in the repo:

This is a multi linux git repo hosted at:

github.com/xbill9/gemini-cli-azure

You are a cross platform developer working with 
Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud

You can use the Azure CLI :
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cli/azure/install-azure-cli
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cli/azure/
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cli/azure/reference

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cli/azure/install-azure-cli-linux?view=azure-cli-latest&pivots=apt

## Azure CLI Tools

You can use the Azure CLI to manage resources across Azure Storage, Virtual Machines, and other services.

- **List Resource Groups** : `az group list -o table`
- **List Storage Accounts** : `az storage account list -o table`
- **List Virtual Machines** : `az vm list -d -o table`

### Azure Update Script

- `azure-update`: This script is specifically for Azure Linux environments. It updates all packages and ensures necessary libraries are installed.

## Automation Scripts

This repository contains scripts for updating various Linux environments and tools:

- `linux-update`: Detects OS (Debian/Ubuntu/Azure Linux) and runs the corresponding update scripts.
- `azure-update`: Updates Azure Linux packages and installs necessary dependencies.
- `debian-update`: Updates Debian/Ubuntu packages and installs `git`.
- `gemini-update`: Updates the `@google/gemini-cli` via npm and checks versions of Node.js and Gemini.
- `nvm-update`: Installs NVM (Node Version Manager) and Node.js version 25.

Python MCP Documentation

The official GitHub Repo provides samples and documentation for getting started:

GitHub - modelcontextprotocol/python-sdk: The official Python SDK for Model Context Protocol servers and clients

The most common MCP Python deployment path uses the FASTMCP library:

Welcome to FastMCP - FastMCP

Where do I start?

The strategy for starting MCP development is a incremental step by step approach.

First, the basic development environment is setup with the required system variables, and a working Gemini CLI configuration.

Then, a minimal Hello World Style Python MCP Server was built with stdio transport. This server was validated with Gemini CLI in the local environment.

This current setup validates the connection from Gemini CLI to the local process via MCP. The MCP client (Gemini CLI) and the Python MCP server both run in the same local environment.

Next- the basic MCP server is extended with Gemini CLI to add several new tools in standard Python code.

Setup the Basic Environment

At this point you should have a working Python interpreter and a working Gemini CLI installation. The next step is to clone the GitHub samples repository with support scripts:

cd ~
git clone https://github.com/xbill9/gemini-cli-azure

Then run init.sh from the cloned directory.

The script will attempt to determine your shell environment and set the correct variables:

cd gemini-cli-azure
source init.sh

If your session times out or you need to re-authenticate- you can run the set_env.sh script to reset your environment variables:

cd gemini-cli-azure
source set_env.sh

Variables like PROJECT_ID need to be setup for use in the various build scripts- so the set_env script can be used to reset the environment if you time-out.

Hello World with HTTP Transport

One of the key features that the standard MCP libraries provide is abstracting various transport methods.

The high level MCP tool implementation is the same no matter what low level transport channel/method that the MCP Client uses to connect to a MCP Server.

The simplest transport that the SDK supports is the stdio (stdio/stdout) transport — which connects a locally running process. Both the MCP client and MCP Server must be running in the same environment.

The HTTP transport allows the MCP Client and Server to be in the same environment or distributed over the Internet.

The connection over HTTP will look similar to this:

mcp.run(
        transport="http",
        host="0.0.0.0",
        port=port,
    )

Running the Python Code

First- switch the directory with the Python MCP sample code:

xbill@penguin:~/gemini-cli-azure/mcp-appservice-python-azure$ make
pip install -r requirements.txt

You can validate the final result by checking the messages:

[03/16/26 15:55:34] INFO Starting MCP server 'hello-world-server' with transport 'http' on http://0.0.0.0:8080/mcp server.py:2618
INFO: Started server process [24332]
INFO: Waiting for application startup.
{"message": "Starting worker 'penguin#24332' with the following tasks:"}
{"message": "* trace(message: str, ...)"}
{"message": "* fail(message: str, ...)"}
{"message": "* sleep(seconds: float, ...)"}
{"message": "StreamableHTTP session manager started"}
INFO: Application startup complete.
INFO: Uvicorn running on http://0.0.0.0:8080 (Press CTRL+C to quit)

Once you have validated the server can run locally — exit with control-c.

Then run a deployment to Azure App Service:

xbill@penguin:~/gemini-cli-azure/mcp-appservice-python-azure$ make deploy
Building the Docker image...

Deployment complete. Visit: http://mcp-app-penguin.azurewebsites.net
xbill@penguin:~/gemini-cli-azure/mcp-appservice-python-azure

Gemini CLI settings.json

The default Gemini CLI settings.json has an entry for the Python source:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "azure-appservice-python": {
      "httpUrl": "https://mcp-app-penguin.azurewebsites.net/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Validation with Gemini CLI

Leaver the MCP server window running. Start a new shell. Gemini CLI is restarted and the MCP connection over HTTP to the Python Code is validated, The full Gemini CLI Session will start:

xbill@penguin:~/gemini-cli-azure/mcp-appservice-python-azure$ gemini

  ▝▜▄ Gemini CLI v0.33.1
    ▝▜▄
   ▗▟▀ Logged in with Google /auth
  ▝▀ Gemini Code Assist Standard /upgrade

    > /mcp list
Configured MCP servers:

🟢 azure-appservice-python - Ready (1 tool)
  Tools:
  - mcp_azure-appservice-python_greet ? for shortcuts

And you can then connect to the MCP Server over HTTP:


> greet Azure App Service!
✦ I will call the greet tool with "Azure App Service!" as the argument.

╭────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ Action Required │
│ │
│ ? greet (azure-appservice-python MCP Server) {"param":"Azure App Service!"} │
│ │
│ MCP Server: azure-appservice-python │
│ Tool: greet │
│ │
│ MCP Tool Details: │
│ (press Ctrl+O to expand MCP tool details) │
│ Allow execution of MCP tool "greet" from server "azure-appservice-python"? │
│ │
│ 1. Allow once │
│ 2. Allow tool for this session │
│ 3. Allow all server tools for this session │
│ ● 4. Allow tool for all future sessions │
│ 5. No, suggest changes (esc) │
│ │
╰────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

✦ I will call the greet tool with "Azure App Service!" as the argument.

╭────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ ✓ greet (azure-appservice-python MCP Server) {"param":"Azure App Service!"} │
│ │
│ Azure App Service! │
╰────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯
✦ Azure App Service!

Project Review

Finally — you can use Gemini CLI to review the project:

✦ This project is a Python-based Model Context Protocol (MCP) server named hello-world-server, built using the FastMCP framework and optimized
  for deployment to Azure App Service.

  Core Features
   * Protocol: Implements the MCP standard over HTTP (defaulting to port 8080).
   * Tools: Exposes a greet tool that echoes back a provided string parameter.
   * Health Check: Includes a standard /health GET endpoint for monitoring.
   * Logging: Uses python-json-logger to send structured logs to stderr, keeping stdout clear for protocol communication.

  Infrastructure & Deployment
   * Containerization: Uses a python:3.13-slim Docker image for consistent environments.
   * Azure Integration: Fully automated deployment pipeline via Makefile that handles:
       * ACR: Creating and pushing images to Azure Container Registry.
       * App Service: Provisioning Linux App Service Plans and Web Apps.
       * Configuration: Automatically setting PORT and WEBSITES_PORT environment variables.
   * Live Endpoint: The current configuration (settings.json) points to https://mcp-app-penguin.azurewebsites.net/mcp.

  Development Workflow
   * Local Execution: Run via python main.py or make run.
   * Management: The Makefile provides utility commands for status, endpoint, az-logs, and clean.
   * Dependencies: Managed via requirements.txt (primarily mcp, fastmcp, python-json-logger, and starlette).

Summary

The strategy for using Python for MCP development with Gemini CLI was validated with a incremental step by step approach.

A minimal HTTP transport MCP Server was started from Python source code and validated with Gemini CLI running as a MCP client in the same local environment. Then this solution was deployed remotely to the Azure App Service and validated with the local installation of Gemini CLI.

This approach can be extended to more complex deployments using other MCP transports and Cloud based options.

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