Cortex MCP Server — Official Multiplayer Network

Overview

The Cortex MCP Server implements the Model Context Protocol (MCP) as a centralized multiplayer network service for the Cortex ecosystem. It provides a single, authoritative server that manages multiplayer sessions, event coordination, matchmaking hooks, and secure community features such as authentication, moderation signals, and audit logging. Developers use the MCP server to offload real-time session management and state synchronization from their clients and game servers while integrating with Cortex-specific tooling.

Running an MCP server is useful when you need a reliable, auditable layer between clients and game logic: it can validate client intent, mediate multiplayer state changes, dispatch events, and provide a standard API for client libraries. The project on GitHub (https://github.com/cortexapps/cortex-mcp) includes the server implementation, configuration examples, and integration guidance to help teams integrate MCP into their multiplayer architecture.

Features

• Standardized API for multiplayer session management (create/join/leave sessions)
• Real-time messaging via WebSocket (live state updates, events)
• Authentication and token-based authorization for clients
• Event scheduling and server-side events for tournaments or live experiences
• Audit logging and moderation hooks for secure community features
• Persistence and optional Redis-backed ephemeral state
• Docker-friendly deployment and configuration via environment variables
• Admin endpoints for observing server health and active sessions

Installation / Configuration

Prerequisites: Git, Docker (optional), and a runtime for the server (binary or language runtime as documented in the repo). Clone the project and follow the build/run steps.

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/cortexapps/cortex-mcp.git
cd cortex-mcp

Build and run locally (generic example — see repo README for language-specific build):

# example for a Go or compiled binary build
make build
./bin/cortex-mcp --config ./config/config.yaml

Run with Docker:

docker build -t cortex-mcp .
docker run -d \
  --name cortex-mcp \
  -p 8080:8080 \
  -e MCP_SERVER_PORT=8080 \
  -e MCP_DATABASE_URL="postgres://user:pass@db:5432/mcp" \
  cortex-mcp

Example docker-compose.yml:

version: "3.8"
services:
  mcp:
    image: cortex-mcp:latest
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    environment:
      - MCP_SERVER_PORT=8080
      - MCP_DATABASE_URL=postgres://mcp:mcp@db:5432/mcp
      - MCP_REDIS_URL=redis://redis:6379
      - MCP_JWT_SECRET=replace-with-secret
  db:
    image: postgres:14
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_DB=mcp
      - POSTGRES_USER=mcp
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=mcp
  redis:
    image: redis:7

Configuration (config.yaml) example:

server:
  port: 8080
  host: 0.0.0.0
security:
  jwt_secret: "replace-with-secret"
persistence:
  database_url: "postgres://user:pass@db:5432/mcp"
  redis_url: "redis://redis:6379"
features:
  audit_logging: true
  moderation_hooks: true

Available Resources

• GitHub repository: https://github.com/cortexapps/cortex-mcp
• API endpoints (typical):
  • HTTP: /api/v1/sessions, /api/v1/sessions/:id, /api/v1/users/:id
  • WebSocket: /ws/connect for real-time messages
  • Admin: /admin/health, /admin/metrics
• Sample client libraries: check the repo for language-specific SDKs and example integrations (Unity, Node, web).
• Configuration examples: YAML, env files, and docker-compose templates included in the repository.

Ports and endpoints summary:

Use Cases

• Official multiplayer gameplay: Use the MCP server as the authoritative lobby manager. Clients request session creation, the server assigns a session ID and hosts metadata, and then players connect to the recommended game server or peer-to-peer host through the MCP-managed handshake.

  • Example: A client POSTs to /api/v1/sessions with player list and game mode; the server creates a session record, reserves slots, and returns a connection token.

• Live events and tournaments: Schedule server-side events and push start/stop notifications to connected clients via the WebSocket channel. Use audit logs to trace results and moderation actions.

  • Example: Admin schedules an event via /api/v1/events; MCP broadcasts the event start to subscribed sessions and records all matchmaking changes.

• Secure community features: Integrate moderation hooks and token-based auth to restrict who can join sessions and to surface moderation flags to game servers and admins.

  • Example: When a user is flagged by a moderation service, the MCP server enforces a temporary ban by rejecting new session joins for that user ID.

• Analytics and observability: Collect session lifecycle events and metrics for monitoring active player counts and match durations. The admin endpoints expose health and metrics suitable for Prometheus scraping.

Getting Help

For issues and feature requests, open an issue on the repository: https://github.com/cortexapps/cortex-mcp/issues. Check the repository README and docs folders for implementation-specific instructions, client SDKs, and deployment examples.