Introduction

⚓ Keel-Framework/MCP is the keel on which you build your MCP (Model Context Protocol) server: a modular, standardized, layered reference architecture designed to provide a common technical foundation for developing MCP servers on top of Spring AI.

Keel is not a wrapper around Spring AI, nor a simple project generator.

Spring AI provides the capabilities and abstractions needed to implement MCP, while Keel defines an architecture, a set of reusable modules and a set of technical conventions for building MCP servers in a standardized way.

Keel encapsulates cross-cutting technical capabilities in independent, composable modules, so that each project does not have to implement and configure the same infrastructure solutions over and over again.

The Maven Archetype is part of Keel as its scaffolding mechanism: it generates new MCP Servers that start from this architecture and its technical capabilities. Development can then focus on the server's functional capabilities: Tools, Resources and Prompts.

Provided capabilities

Among the capabilities provided by Keel:

Authentication and security — JWT validation against an OIDC identity provider
MCP session management — Mcp-Session-Id lifecycle
Streamable HTTP transport — the communication endpoint for MCP hosts
CORS configuration — for browser-based clients
Local cache — based on Caffeine
HTTP service integration — a preconfigured REST client for Tools
Observability — structured logging

🚀 Get started: use "Use this template" on GitHub or clone the repository to create your own Keel-based MCP Server.