🧠 northwind-mcp-layer

A lightweight Go-based Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, designed to run locally in VS Code, that bridges GitHub Copilot Chat with the live northwind-api. It exposes all of the Northwind business endpoints as structured MCP tools, enabling natural-language querying of real-time data.

Usage

1. Open in VS Code
   Open the northwind-mcp-layer project in VS Code.

2. Start the local MCP server
   Launch the MCP server using the configuration in .vscode/mcp.json.
   This automatically starts the Gin HTTP server and exposes the MCP tools.

3. Configure GitHub Copilot Chat
   In GitHub Copilot Chat, load the MCP tools by pointing to the local server defined in mcp.json.

4. Query Northwind data
   Use natural-language prompts in Copilot Chat to interact with live Northwind endpoints, for example:

   • Provide details on customers from Germany.
   • What's the inventory status of products that need reordering?

Notes

• The northwind-api backend is hosted as a free-tier Render web service. It may take a few seconds to start up when initially accessed.
• In my experience, Claude models tend to work best when interacting with this MCP layer.

Architecture Overview

northwind-mcp-layer/
├── cmd/
│   └── mcp/               # Application entrypoint (starts the MCP Gin HTTP server)
├── internal/
│   └── mcp/               # Core MCP logic (request handling, tool routing)
├── go.mod / go.sum        # Go module dependencies
├── .vscode/
│   └── mcp.json           # MCP server configuration for Github Copilot (auto-loads server, tools, and API base)
└── README.md              # Project documentation

Example Tools

| Tool Name | Description | Example Parameters | | -------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------- | | get_customers | Retrieve customers from the Northwind API | country=Germany, city=London | | get_orders | Retrieve orders by customer, employee, or year | year=1998, customer_id=ALFKI | | get_sales_by_country | View total sales by country | year=1998 | | get_top_customers | View top customers by revenue | limit=10, country=USA |

Each MCP tool corresponds to a live endpoint on the northwind-api and is dynamically available to Github Copilot via the MCP protocol.

Example Prompts

• Provide some details on our customers from Germany.
• What are our shipping costs for the year 1997?
• What's the inventory status of our products that need to be reordered?
• What's the supplier performance of Pavlova, Ltd.?

Tech Stack

• Language: Go 1.23+
• Framework: Gin
• Protocol: Model Context Protocol (MCP)
• Integration: GitHub Copilot Chat

Companion Project

https://github.com/nicholasraynes/northwind-api

• The REST API backend that provides the live data for this MCP layer. Implements the Northwind dataset with analytical extensions (orders, products, suppliers, KPIs).