Try to install the Cortex MCP server

PeterMS — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 12:05:17 GMT

Hi all,

I try to use "Cortex MCP server" for testing purposes.

https://docs-cortex.paloaltonetworks.com/r/Cortex/Cortex-MCP-server/Install-the-Cortex-MCP-server

I use a Docker installation on Windows 11.

What I've done so far:

- Created and copied the API URL, API key, and API key ID.

- Downloaded and extracted the MCP zip file:

- I created the .env file with the following content (name: cortex-xdr.env):

- Run

docker build -t cortex-mcp .

to build the Docker image.

So far so good.

However, as soon as I try to create the container:

docker run --env-file .\cortex-xdr.env -it cortex-mcp

The following appears

PS C:\_source\cortex-mcp> docker run --env-file .\cortex-xdr.env -it cortex-mcp
Cortex MCP | Starting Cortex MCP Server
usecase.base_module | Added tool: get_issues
usecase.base_module | Added resource: issues_response.json
usecase.base_module | Added tool: get_cases
usecase.base_module | Added resource: cases_response.json
pkg.openapi.openapi | Loading main template from '/app/src/pkg/openapi/openapi.yaml'...
pkg.openapi.openapi | Discovering and merging specs from '/app/src/usecase/builtin_components/openapi'...
pkg.openapi.openapi | Merging '/app/src/usecase/builtin_components/openapi/get_vulnerabilities.yaml'
pkg.openapi.openapi | Merging '/app/src/usecase/builtin_components/openapi/get_assets.yaml'
pkg.openapi.openapi | Merging '/app/src/usecase/builtin_components/openapi/get_filtered_endpoints.yaml'
pkg.openapi.openapi | Merging '/app/src/usecase/builtin_components/openapi/get_assessment_results.yaml'
pkg.openapi.openapi | Merging '/app/src/usecase/builtin_components/openapi/get_asset_by_id.yaml'
pkg.openapi.openapi | Merging '/app/src/usecase/builtin_components/openapi/get_tenant_info.yaml'
pkg.openapi.openapi | Successfully merged 6 specification files from '/app/src/usecase/builtin_components/openapi'
pkg.openapi.openapi | Discovering and merging specs from '/app/src/usecase/custom_components/openapi'...
pkg.openapi.openapi | Successfully merged 0 specification files from '/app/src/usecase/custom_components/openapi'
pkg.openapi.openapi | Discovering and merging specs from '/app/src/usecase/remote_components/openapi'...
pkg.openapi.openapi | Successfully merged 0 specification files from '/app/src/usecase/remote_components/openapi'
pkg.openapi.openapi | Total: Successfully merged 6 specification files from 3 directories
Cortex MCP | Main loop stopped: No public API URL provided
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/app/src/main.py", line 146, in main
asyncio.run(async_main(get_config().mcp_transport))
~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.13/asyncio/runners.py", line 195, in run
return runner.run(main)
~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.13/asyncio/runners.py", line 118, in run
return self._loop.run_until_complete(task)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.13/asyncio/base_events.py", line 725, in run_until_complete
return future.result()
~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
File "/app/src/main.py", line 98, in async_main
mcp = await initialize_mcp_server(api_key, api_key_id, papi_url)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/app/src/main.py", line 123, in initialize_mcp_server
PAPIClient(get_papi_url(papi_url), get_papi_auth_headers(api_key, api_key_id)))
~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^
File "/app/src/pkg/util.py", line 157, in get_papi_url
raise ValueError("No public API URL provided")
ValueError: No public API URL provided
Cortex MCP | Cortex MCP Server has shut down.

I've been trying to figure out exactly what a “public API URL” means in the context of this error message, but unfortunately I haven't found anything yet.

Maybe someone here can help me out?

Thank you in advance!

Re: Try to install the Cortex MCP server

PeterMS — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 12:32:28 GMT

Dear all,

I found the mistake...

It was a copy-and-paste error. I copied from a Markdown and during the copy/paste, a "\" was added before each "_" to escape it. This can be seen in the screenshot of the .env file above.
So now it looks like this (as it should):

CORTEX_MCP_PAPI_URL=https://<your-tenant-url>
CORTEX_MCP_PAPI_AUTH_HEADER=<your_api_key>
CORTEX_MCP_PAPI_AUTH_ID=<your_api_key_id>

Perhaps documenting the error will help someone else solve the problem a few minutes faster.

topic Try to install the Cortex MCP server in Cortex XDR Discussions

Try to install the Cortex MCP server

Re: Try to install the Cortex MCP server