AWS Strands Agents: Building and Connecting Your First Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server

by garystafford

5 stars

228 downloads

Not rated

GitHub

Cloud Service

About

Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server and AWS Strands Agents Demonstration

Details

Author: garystafford
GitHub stars: 5
Downloads: 228
Categories: Cloud Service

- Integrates with Shutterstock API for stock photography search.
- Integrates with National Weather Service (NWS) API for weather data.
- Uses Strands Agents code‑first framework for production AI agents.
- Supports both STDIO and Streamable HTTP MCP transports.
- Contextually selects relevant photos based on current weather conditions.
- Orchestrates multiple agents with reasoning and context‑aware automation.

Setting up with Highlight

This MCP is not yet compatible with Highlight’s one-click setup. However, you can still use it with Highlight by following these steps:

Download and install Highlight from highlightai.com/download
Navigate to the plugins tab and select "Add Custom Plugin"
Configure the plugin with the settings below

Plugin Name AWS Strands Agents: Building and Connecting Your First Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server

Command (node, npx, python, etc.)

Please refer to the README for specific instructions on how to obtain API keys or other required environment variables.
Enable "Start Automatically" if you want the plugin to start when Highlight launches

Setting up with Cursor

Open Cursor's settings
Navigate to the MCP section
Click "Add new Global MCP server"
Copy and paste the configuration below based on your operating system

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "aws strands agents: building and connecting your first model context protocol (mcp) server": {
            "aws-strands-agents-mcp-demo": {
                "command": "node",
                "args": [
                    "mcp-server.js"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "aws strands agents: building and connecting your first model context protocol (mcp) server": {
            "aws-strands-agents-mcp-demo": {
                "command": "node",
                "args": [
                    "mcp-server.js"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "aws strands agents: building and connecting your first model context protocol (mcp) server": {
            "aws-strands-agents-mcp-demo": {
                "command": "node",
                "args": [
                    "mcp-server.js"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

Setting up with Claude Desktop

Open Claude Desktop's settings
Go to the Integrations tab
Click "Add MCP Server"
Use the configuration below based on your operating system

Note: Make sure Claude Desktop is running before attempting to connect.

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "aws strands agents: building and connecting your first model context protocol (mcp) server": {
            "aws-strands-agents-mcp-demo": {
                "command": "node",
                "args": [
                    "mcp-server.js"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "aws strands agents: building and connecting your first model context protocol (mcp) server": {
            "aws-strands-agents-mcp-demo": {
                "command": "node",
                "args": [
                    "mcp-server.js"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "aws strands agents: building and connecting your first model context protocol (mcp) server": {
            "aws-strands-agents-mcp-demo": {
                "command": "node",
                "args": [
                    "mcp-server.js"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

Setting up with Windsurf

Open Windsurf's preferences
Go to the Integrations section
Click "Add MCP Integration"
Use the configuration below based on your operating system

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "aws strands agents: building and connecting your first model context protocol (mcp) server": {
            "aws-strands-agents-mcp-demo": {
                "command": "node",
                "args": [
                    "mcp-server.js"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "aws strands agents: building and connecting your first model context protocol (mcp) server": {
            "aws-strands-agents-mcp-demo": {
                "command": "node",
                "args": [
                    "mcp-server.js"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "aws strands agents: building and connecting your first model context protocol (mcp) server": {
            "aws-strands-agents-mcp-demo": {
                "command": "node",
                "args": [
                    "mcp-server.js"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

Setting up with Cline

Open Cline's settings
Navigate to the Integrations section
Click "Add MCP Server"
Copy and paste the configuration below based on your operating system

Note: Make sure to restart Cline after adding the configuration.

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "aws strands agents: building and connecting your first model context protocol (mcp) server": {
            "aws-strands-agents-mcp-demo": {
                "command": "node",
                "args": [
                    "mcp-server.js"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "aws strands agents: building and connecting your first model context protocol (mcp) server": {
            "aws-strands-agents-mcp-demo": {
                "command": "node",
                "args": [
                    "mcp-server.js"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "aws strands agents: building and connecting your first model context protocol (mcp) server": {
            "aws-strands-agents-mcp-demo": {
                "command": "node",
                "args": [
                    "mcp-server.js"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

Setting up with Goose

Open Goose's preferences
Go to the Integrations tab
Select "MCP Servers"
Click "Add New Server"
Use the configuration below based on your operating system

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "aws strands agents: building and connecting your first model context protocol (mcp) server": {
            "aws-strands-agents-mcp-demo": {
                "command": "node",
                "args": [
                    "mcp-server.js"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "aws strands agents: building and connecting your first model context protocol (mcp) server": {
            "aws-strands-agents-mcp-demo": {
                "command": "node",
                "args": [
                    "mcp-server.js"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "aws strands agents: building and connecting your first model context protocol (mcp) server": {
            "aws-strands-agents-mcp-demo": {
                "command": "node",
                "args": [
                    "mcp-server.js"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

From the repository

Clone the repository, install Node.js packages with yarn install, set environment variables (API_KEY and SHUTTERSTOCK_API_TOKEN), start the MCP server (either node mcp-server.js for STDIO or node mcp-server-remote.js for Streamable HTTP transport), create a Python virtual environment, install Python dependencies, and run the agent with python agent_stdio_multi_agent.py.

Claude Desktop / Cursor

Paste into your MCP client config file to install this server.

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "aws strands agents: building and connecting your first model context protocol (mcp) server": {
            "aws-strands-agents-mcp-demo": {
                "command": "node",
                "args": [
                    "mcp-server.js"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

McpServers

{
    "aws-strands-agents-mcp-demo": {
        "command": "node",
        "args": [
            "mcp-server.js"
        ]
    }
}

AWS Strands Agents: Building and Connecting Your First Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server

Overview

Deploy an MCP server that searches for stock photography based on your current location and conditions using third-party APIs, and orchestrate it with Strands Agents and the Amazon Q Developer CLI.

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) provides a standardized interface that enables AI agents to interact seamlessly with external services. In this post, we’ll demonstrate how to build an MCP server that integrates with Shutterstock — my favorite platform for high-quality licensed images, videos, music, and creative tools — using their robust API. We’ll then show how to expose these rich media search capabilities to agents developed with Strands Agents, AWS’s code-first framework for building production-ready AI agents. By orchestrating multiple agents, we’ll enable them to access the National Weather Service (NWS) API, intelligently select contextually relevant photos based on current weather conditions, and deliver results that showcase the power of reasoning and context-aware automation.

JavaScript/Node.js MCP Servers based on: https://github.com/lucianoayres/mcp-server-node.

Prerequisites

Git distributed version control system
Node.js v22.16.01 LTS or newer (MCP servers)
npm, Yarn, or other Node.js package manager
Python 3.13.x (Strands Agents)
pip, Poetry, or another Python package manager
AWS Account (for access to Amazon Bedrock generative AI models; other model providers are also supported)
Free Shutterstock Test Account and Token (Register at Shutterstock Developers)
Optional: Amazon Q Developer CLI for last section of post

Installation

1. Clone Repository and Install Packages

npm install -g corepack # if using yarn git clone https://github.com/garystafford/aws-strands-agents-mcp-demo.git cd aws-strands-agents-mcp-demo

yarn install

2. Start MCP Servers

```bash

No reviews yet — be the first

Use Google, GitHub, or an email account so ratings stay tied to real people.

Email sign in

No reviews posted yet.

About

Details

Jump to

Setting up with Highlight

From the repository

Claude Desktop / Cursor

McpServers

AWS Strands Agents: Building and Connecting Your First Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server

Overview

Prerequisites

Installation

Install

More like this

Aws Kb Retrieval Server

AWS MCP Servers

container-use

container-use

Cloudflare

MCP Gateway