Backblaze B2 MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol server for Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage. It lets any MCP-compatible AI client (Claude, and others) operate B2 through a focused, safe set of tools, currently incubating in Backblaze-Labs.

This is the official Backblaze B2 MCP server — backblaze-labs/b2-mcp, published as @backblaze-labs/b2-mcp on npm and listed in the Official MCP Registry as io.github.backblaze-labs/b2-mcp. Community forks and third-party wrappers are not maintained by Backblaze.

40 tools, assigned by backing category:

• Native B2 SDK (@backblaze-labs/b2-sdk) (17) — B2 control-plane operations the S3 API has no equivalent for: buckets, application keys, Object Lock, event notifications, and Partner/Groups operations.
• AWS S3 SDK (@aws-sdk/client-s3) (19) — the S3-compatible data plane: object upload/download/copy/list/delete, multipart, bucket reachability, lifecycle, and presigned URL paths.
• Neither SDK (custom MCP code) (4) — repository-owned analytics over B2 reports and bounded live listings: storage growth, egress leaders, largest files, and abandoned uploads.

Destructive actions are gated, durable B2 secrets stay out of the model's context in the default/file/off modes, and registration is capability-aware so a key only ever sees tools it can use. The server also exposes read-only MCP resources: b2://server-config (non-secret, registered even during credential-less discovery), plus capability-gated b2://capabilities and b2://bucket/{bucketName}.

Contents

• Quick start
• B2 Skills pack
• Configuration
• Tools
• Package API Surface
• CLI Reference
• Resources
• Security & self-hosting
• Privacy
• Development
• Documentation

---

Quick start

Prerequisites: A supported Node.js runtime and a Backblaze B2 application key. A non-master key is all you need. The package engine range is ^22.22.2 || ^24 || ^26; CI runs on Node.js 22.23.1, 24, and 26. One non-master application key covers normal storage work (B2 native, S3, and key management); the Partner/Groups tools additionally need B2_MASTER_KEY_ID / B2_MASTER_KEY.

Option A — npx (Claude Desktop config)

Edit claude_desktop_config.json (macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/, Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\, Linux: ~/.config/Claude/) and add:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "backblaze-b2": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@backblaze-labs/b2-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "B2_APPLICATION_KEY_ID": "your-application-key-id",
        "B2_APPLICATION_KEY": "your-application-key-secret"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop and the B2 tools appear. If you need an explicit fallback region before authorization, add B2_REGION to the same env block (S3/report tools otherwise derive their region from the authorized B2 account response):

{
  "B2_APPLICATION_KEY_ID": "your-application-key-id",
  "B2_APPLICATION_KEY": "your-application-key-secret",
  "B2_REGION": "us-east-005"
}

The canonical package name is @backblaze-labs/b2-mcp and the canonical binary is b2-mcp (b2-mcp-server is a transition alias); npx -y @backblaze-labs/b2-mcp runs it directly. See Configuration for the full variable list, and docs/product-specs/clients.md for a source-checkout setup and copy-paste configs for Cursor, VS Code, Cline, Windsurf, Zed, Continue, Goose, Claude.ai, and hosted (Streamable HTTP).

Option B — Claude Desktop extension (MCPB)

Available once a release publishes the b2-mcp.mcpb asset (0.2.1 onward); earlier releases carry no bundle, so use Option A until the asset appears on the releases page.

Prefer no JSON editing? Download b2-mcp.mcpb from the latest release, then in Claude Desktop open Settings → Extensions → Advanced settings → Extension Developer → Install Extension… and select the downloaded file. Claude Desktop prompts for your Application Key ID and Application Key (Region and Master keys optional) — no config file to hand-edit. The bundle launches a version-pinned npx -y @backblaze-labs/b2-mcp@<version> (npm resolves the server on first run) so it always runs the exact published version. A one-click Claude Connectors Directory listing is in progress.

Then just ask:

"List the buckets this key can access." · "Upload ./data.csv to reports/may-2026.csv." · "Give me a 1-hour download link for backups/latest.tar.gz." · "List files under logs/2026/."

Why your client may show fewer than 40 tools: registration is capability-aware. With a non-master key and no master key configured, the three Partner/Groups tools that require a master key are not surfaced, so tools/list reports 37; add B2_MASTER_KEY_ID / B2_MASTER_KEY on a Partner-entitled account for the full 40. A read-only key trims the surface further. Credential-free scanners see the full advertised surface, but every tools/call returns missing_credentials until valid B2 credentials are supplied.

Docker

The published image defaults to the HTTP transport and reads configuration only from environment variables (no mutable latest tag — pin the release version):

B2_MCP_VERSION=VERSION # replace with the release version you want
B2_MCP_IMAGE="ghcr.io/backblaze-labs/b2-mcp:${B2_MCP_VERSION}"
docker run --rm --name b2-mcp \
  --stop-timeout 20 \
  -p 127.0.0.1:3000:3000 \
  -e B2_HTTP_CREDENTIAL_MODE=server \
  -e B2_APPLICATION_KEY_ID=your-application-key-id \
  -e B2_APPLICATION_KEY=your-application-key-secret \
  -e B2_ALLOWED_HOSTS=localhost,127.0.0.1 \
  -e B2_DESTRUCTIVE_POLICY=block \
  -e B2_REGISTER_ALL_TOOLS=false \
  -e B2_SECRET_SINK=off \
  -e B2_ALLOW_INLINE_SECRETS=false \
  -e B2_ALLOW_LOCAL_FILES=false \
  "$B2_MCP_IMAGE"

For stdio clients inside a container, pass the transport explicitly and keep stdin open:

B2_MCP_VERSION=VERSION # replace with the release version you want
B2_MCP_IMAGE="ghcr.io/backblaze-labs/b2-mcp:${B2_MCP_VERSION}"
docker run --rm -i \
  --no-healthcheck \
  -e B2_APPLICATION_KEY_ID=your-application-key-id \
  -e B2_APPLICATION_KEY=your-application-key-secret \
  "$B2_MCP_IMAGE" stdio

Deploying to hosted HTTP? See the deployment matrix and provider guides (Docker, Vercel, Cloudflare, AWS, GCP, Azure, Render, Railway, Fly.io) linked from Security & self-hosting, and docs/references/deployment/docker.md for hardened HTTP examples.

B2 Skills pack

This repo bundles a client-side Backblaze B2 skills pack under skills/ (manifest: skills/pack.json) — Markdown playbooks for common workflows (backup/restore, least-privilege keys, Object Lock, lifecycle and cost hygiene, migration, incident response). The MCP server is the action layer; these are the expertise layer. They add no endpoints or permissions — they only sequence existing tools and reinforce the same byte-path and destructive-action guardrails the server enforces.

Optional but recommended for clients that support Markdown skills. Load them by placing each skills/b2-*/ directory under ~/.claude/skills/ (Claude Code), or upload per-skill ZIPs via Settings → Capabilities → Skills (Claude.ai / Claude Desktop). Validate the pack locally:

pnpm run validate:skills

---

Configuration

Security / policy (safe defaults; override as needed):

A ready-to-copy .env.example lists the local variables, and deploy/customer-hosted/b2-mcp.env.example lists the hosted container baseline. HTTP-only file-access vars (B2_ALLOW_LOCAL_FILES, B2_FILE_ROOT) are covered in docs/DEPLOY.md; the capability/cache tuning knobs above are documented inline here.

---

Tools

The server exposes 40 tools (registration is capability-aware, so a given key sees only the subset it can use). 40 total — 17 Native B2 SDK + 19 AWS S3 SDK + 4 Neither SDK/custom MCP tools. Prefix counts remain 21 native b2_* names + 19 data-plane s3_* names. Under stdio's default confirm policy, fifteen destructive, durable-secret-producing, or protection-weakening tools require confirmation before execution; HTTP defaults to block. The per-profile, availability-annotated tool lists (per capability set) live in the generated docs/generated/tool-profiles.md; the destructive-gate policy and durable-secret handling (secret sinks, idempotency keys, POSIX vs. Windows behavior) are documented in docs/AUTHENTICATION.md.

Native B2 SDK (17):

• b2_authorize_account — Verify credentials and return account info
• b2_list_buckets — List buckets (optional filters)
• b2_create_bucket — Create a persistent bucket with initial policy settings
• b2_delete_bucket — Delete an empty bucket
• b2_update_bucket — Update persistent bucket settings; risky changes are gated
• b2_get_bucket_notification_rules — Read webhook notification rules with secrets redacted
• b2_set_bucket_notification_rules — Replace webhook notification rules; public HTTPS targets only
• b2_list_keys — List application keys
• b2_delete_key — Irreversibly revoke an application key
• b2_create_key — Create a scoped application key through the configured secret sink
• b2_update_file_legal_hold — Set/clear legal hold on an object
• b2_update_file_retention — Set/clear retention on an object
• b2_list_groups — List partner groups (Partner API credential)
• b2_eject_group_member — Remove a member from a partner group (Partner API credential)
• b2_list_group_members — List group members (Partner API credential)
• b2_create_group_member — Create a Partner group member (Partner API credential)
• b2_reserve_trial_create_account — Reserve a trial account (Partner API credential)

AWS S3 SDK — data plane (19):

• s3_put_object — Inline upload of a small (≤1 MiB) control-plane object
• s3_get_object — Inline download of a small (≤1 MiB) control-plane object
• s3_delete_object — Delete current object or exact version; destructive gate applies
• s3_delete_objects — Bulk-delete objects
• s3_head_object — Object metadata
• s3_copy_object — Server-side copy
• s3_list_objects_v2 — List objects
• s3_list_object_versions — List object versions and delete markers (paginated)
• s3_create_multipart_upload — Begin a multipart upload
• s3_get_presigned_upload_part_url — Mint a presigned PUT URL for a part
• s3_complete_multipart_upload — Complete multipart upload from ordered part ETags
• s3_abort_multipart_upload — Abort a multipart upload
• s3_list_parts — List uploaded parts
• s3_list_multipart_uploads — List in-progress multipart uploads (paginated)
• s3_upload_part_copy — Server-side copy of a part
• s3_get_presigned_url — Short-lived presigned PUT/GET bearer URL
• s3_head_bucket — Check a bucket is reachable on the S3 endpoint
• s3_get_bucket_location — Bucket region / location constraint
• s3_put_bucket_lifecycle — Set S3 lifecycle rules

Custom MCP analytics (4):

• b2_report_usage_growth — Rank accounts by stored-data growth between two dates
• b2_rank_egress_leaders — Top egress by account or bucket over a period
• b2_list_largest_files — A bucket's largest objects via bounded live listing
• b2_unfinished_uploads — Abandoned multipart uploads consuming storage

MCP workflow prompts (opt-in): off by default; set B2_ENABLE_MCP_PROMPTS=true to advertise five guided workflows through prompts/list / prompts/get. Prompts are parameterized message templates — they do not execute tools or approve destructive actions — and are filtered against the same tool surface and capability map as tools. Flip the flag atomically across the fleet (it gates registration and advertisement together).

---

Package API Surface

The npm package intentionally supports only the root CommonJS entry (require("@backblaze-labs/b2-mcp")), which exposes startStdio(): Promise<void>, plus ./package.json for metadata. TypeScript consumers may compile against that same root CommonJS surface:

import b2Mcp = require("@backblaze-labs/b2-mcp");

const start: () => Promise<void> = b2Mcp.startStdio;

Programmatic TypeScript imports beyond that root entry are not a supported public API. ESM named imports are not part of the contract. Deep imports such as @backblaze-labs/b2-mcp/dist/server.js are private implementation details closed by the package exports map. Use the CLI/bin entry or the root startStdio export instead.

---

CLI Reference

The source entry point and installed package binary share the same CLI:

Usage: b2-mcp [stdio|http] [options]

Options:
  --transport <stdio|http>  Transport to serve (default: B2_MCP_TRANSPORT or stdio)
  --port <port>             HTTP listen port (default: PORT or 3000)
  --host <host>             HTTP listen host (default: Node listen default)
  --version                 Print the package version
  --help                    Show this help

Tool results carry the lossless value in structuredContent; the LLM-facing text block is selected by B2_MCP_OUTPUT_FORMAT (json default, or opt-in toon). See docs/design-docs/tool-contract.md#structured-result-text-contract for the output-format contract.

---

Resources

Read-only MCP resources expose stable control-plane state without a tool call:

• b2://server-config — non-secret server configuration (transport, credential mode, destructive policy, secret-sink mode, public URL, version).
• b2://capabilities — the current credential's B2 capability set and active tool profile.
• b2://bucket/{bucketName} — bucket type/visibility, lifecycle, Object Lock, retention, encryption, CORS, replication, and notification rules when the caller can read them (webhook secrets redacted).

resources/list is capped at 100 concrete bucket resources; use the template URI directly for a known authorized bucket. Bucket reads omit a client cache hint because visibility and notification targets are security-relevant after writes.

---

Security & self-hosting

Built-in safeguards (on by default): destructive-action gating (B2_DESTRUCTIVE_POLICY), MCP form elicitation for destructive tools on 2026-capable clients, sink-backed durable-secret creation for local stdio with hosted HTTP fail-closed defaults, central recursive response sanitization, explicit credential-provider modes, capability-aware registration that fails closed, rate limiting, and a values-redacted audit log (non-secret credential fingerprints only). The server never phones home.

• Local use → stdio. Credentials stay in your client config / environment; the default confirm policy asks before destructive actions.
• Internet-facing HTTP → B2_DESTRUCTIVE_POLICY=block is the required wall (the HTTP default). Elicitation is relayed by the client, so it is human-in-the-loop friction, not an independent authorization boundary.
• Choose a credential mode. headers (default, compatibility), server (one B2 credential held in the process / a secret manager), or principal (map verified MCP authInfo to customer-held credentials). Credential-free discovery (initialize, tools/list, resources/list, prompts/list, server/discover, ping) runs without keys so scanners can enumerate; real tools/call still requires credentials.
• Use a least-privilege key. A non-master key is correct for normal storage. b2_create_key refuses key-management grants, unscoped write/delete grants, and over-long or non-expiring keys unless the matching override is set.
• Presigned URLs are not durable secrets. s3_get_presigned_url / s3_get_presigned_upload_part_url return short-lived bearer capabilities (expiresIn / expiresAt) — sensitive until expiry, but not long-lived B2 keys.
• Never commit credentials — use env vars / a secrets manager. .env* is gitignored.

Supported deployments: deploy/customer-hosted (portable container, compose, nginx/OAuth edge) and deploy/vercel (OAuth-secured adapter). Provider guides: Docker/OCI, Vercel, Cloudflare Workers, Cloudflare Containers, Google Cloud Run, AWS ECS Fargate, Azure Container Apps, Render, Railway, and Fly.io — all sharing the security & credential contract.

Full hosted runbook (nginx, Let's Encrypt, hardened systemd, fail2ban, monitoring, and a security baseline checklist): deploy/customer-hosted/README.md (indexed from the docs/DEPLOY.md matrix). Authentication, credential custody, and OAuth details are in docs/AUTHENTICATION.md.

---

Privacy

b2-mcp runs locally over stdio or in a self-hosted HTTP deployment controlled by the user or operator. The publisher does not receive runtime B2 credentials, object data, prompts, logs, or telemetry from normal use. Object-byte workflows should use presigned URLs so bytes move directly between the client or worker and Backblaze B2, and logs are structured with secret redaction.

Read the canonical PRIVACY.md source or the hosted privacy policy published by GitHub Pages.

---

Development

From a fresh source checkout, enable the pinned package manager and install dependencies first, then run any of the scripts below:

corepack enable pnpm
corepack prepare 'pnpm@11.20.0+sha256.34e198cb1e43237517ecedfd31f9ae26a6c0a3e5366ce58a2d05f4b21fb5f19a' --activate
pnpm install --frozen-lockfile

pnpm run build              # clean + compile to dist/
pnpm run typecheck          # type-check src + tests (no emit)
pnpm test                   # typecheck, then fast unit tests
pnpm run test:contract      # deterministic MCP/package/schema contracts
pnpm run test:protocol      # modern + legacy MCP protocol behavior
pnpm run test:coverage      # deterministic source-covering suites + coverage summary
pnpm run test:package       # packed-package installation test
pnpm run verify             # fast no-credential quality gate
pnpm run test:live:b2       # both protected live B2 suites; requires B2 credentials
pnpm run evals              # deterministic LLM eval harness; live provider cases skip by default
pnpm run docs               # TypeDoc API docs plus hosted privacy page
pnpm start                  # stdio transport
pnpm run start:http --port 3000   # MCP 2026-07-28 HTTP transport
pnpm run smoke:local        # deterministic local MCP smoke; no endpoint or B2 credentials

The full script list (diagnostics, slow tests, provider-comparison evals, inspector smoke) is in docs/TESTING.md. Compatible MCP Inspector: @modelcontextprotocol/inspector@2.4.0 (Node.js 22.19.0+), run via pnpm run smoke:inspector.

Documentation

• API reference — generated TypeDoc for the public src surface
• Privacy policy / PRIVACY.md — runtime data-handling policy
• docs/product-specs/clients.md — per-client setup + compatibility matrix
• docs/AUTHENTICATION.md — OAuth, credential custody, and auth boundary
• docs/DEPLOY.md — deployment matrix and supported-host links
• docs/references/deployment/security-and-credentials.md — shared hosted security contract
• docs/generated/tool-profiles.md — generated per-tool availability reference
• docs/design-docs/index.md — public contract register with owners and status
• docs/design-docs/tool-contract.md — tool-contract and naming-convention policy
• docs/TESTING.md / docs/EVALS.md — test gate and LLM eval runbooks
• docs/references/discoverability.md — registry/directory listings runbook
• RELEASE.md · CHANGELOG.md · SECURITY.md

License

MIT — © 2026 Backblaze, Inc.