redbee-mcp: testing OTT APIs day-to-day with my AI

When the Model Context Protocol showed up, the point felt obvious: finally a standard way to plug the IDE into real tools, not just repo code. I work with Red Bee Media APIs (OTT, streaming). Docs, Postman, copy-pasting tokens — it works, but it breaks flow when you only want to sanity-check an endpoint mid-feature.

Why I shipped it so fast

Not to publish a polished GitHub project. Because the day MCP became usable in Cursor, I saw the immediate use case: “tomorrow morning I want to ask the agent to list assets, run a playback test, or debug a 403” without leaving the chat. redbee-mcp is that bridge — Python, a few MCP tools, the endpoints I already use in production for clients.

What it changes day-to-day

• The AI stops guessing API shapes: it calls them, sees real JSON, then adjusts code.
• Fewer doc ↔ IDE ↔ Postman loops — especially on platforms with many surfaces (catalog, DRM, analytics…).
• Exploratory tests in plain language: “try this series with that customer token” — handy in debug, not just demos.
• Reusable pattern for other business APIs behind MCP.

How it’s built (briefly)

Python MCP server over stdio — the simplest pattern for Cursor. Each tool maps to an HTTP call I was already making by hand: catalog, asset metadata, playback session, etc. Credentials stay in server-side env vars; the agent only sees JSON responses.

• Python MCP SDK + httpx for Red Bee requests.
• One tool = one documented endpoint (typed params, errors surfaced as-is).
• Config in .cursor/mcp.json: uv run or python -m redbee_mcp command.
• First version in a few hours: reuse existing auth headers, don’t reinvent the API.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "redbee": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["run", "redbee-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "REDBEE_BASE_URL": "https://…",
        "REDBEE_API_KEY": "…"
      }
    }
  }
}

Takeaway

MCP isn’t just open source hype. For me it was the first protocol worth hacking a server over a weekend because the ROI showed up the following Monday. redbee-mcp is small; the value is time saved every sprint when the agent finally speaks the language of the platform I bill on.