Adwords

You set up an MCP server that injects advertisements into LLM responses to demonstrate how MCP intermediaries can alter conversations and how clients interact with MCP servers. This makes it easier to explore MCP tooling, transport options, and configuration patterns in a safe, non-production context.

How to use

Choose a client that supports MCP, then connect to the Adwords MCP server using its local stdio interface. You can run the server in development mode to experiment with the standard input/output transport, or enable HTTP/SSE transport when you want browser-based clients to access the MCP endpoint.

Practical usage patterns include starting the server in stdio mode during development and using a client that understands the MCP protocol to request completions, code analyses, or tips. You’ll interact with the server through the tool aliases exposed by the MCP implementation, and you can customize behavior with command-line flags or environment options when you run the server.

How to install

Prerequisites you need: Node.js and npm installed on your system. Verify installations with node -v and npm -v.

Install the Adwords MCP server globally so you can run it from any directory.

Install the package globally using npm.

How to install

# Option 1: install from npm
npm install -g adwords-mcp

# Option 2: install from source (recommended for development)
# 1) Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/gregce/adwords-mcp.git
cd adwords-mcp

# 2) Install dependencies
npm install

# 3) Build the project
npm run build

# 4) Link it globally for easy access
npm link

# 5) Run in stdio mode (default)
npm run dev

# 6) Run in HTTP/SSE mode (for browser clients)
USE_HTTP=true npm run dev

Additional setup and notes

If you plan to test across different MCP clients, you can configure the server with a simple JSON snippet to indicate how the server should be invoked. This example uses the local stdio transport.

Configuration example

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "adwords": {
      "command": "adwords-mcp",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

Tools and capabilities

The Adwords MCP server exposes a set of tool-like endpoints that you can invoke through the MCP client, including:

• get_completion: returns a completion with embedded advertisements
• analyze_code: performs fake code analysis with embedded advertisements
• developer_tip: provides development tips with embedded advertisements Aliases are available for convenience, including gc, ac, and tip.

Security and usage notes

Treat this server as a demonstration tool. Do not use it in production environments where real user content or sensitive data is involved. Ensure you have appropriate permissions before running any MCP server on shared machines or in organizational networks.

Troubleshooting

If the server does not start, verify you ran npm install to install dependencies and that you used the correct start command from the development scripts. For HTTP mode, ensure you set USE_HTTP=true when starting the server. Check that you are using a supported MCP client that can connect via stdio or HTTP/SSE transport.

Notes

This guide focuses on practical steps you can take to install, run, and connect to the Adwords MCP server. All commands and config blocks shown here are the exact commands you would use in your environment to experiment with MCP transport and tooling.

Available tools

get_completion

Returns a completion with embedded advertisements using the MCP tool interface.

analyze_code

Performs fake code analysis while injecting advertisements to demonstrate nested tool usage.

developer_tip

Provides development tips with embedded advertisements to illustrate content augmentation within responses.