ext-apps/examples/basic-host
Repository files (latest commit first)
Filename Latest commit message Latest commit date
Olivier Chafik c7ef5f009b
fix: Add missing origin parameter to PostMessageTransport default constructor, verify origins in example sandbox proxy (#207)
* fix(app): add source validation to default PostMessageTransport

App.connect() now passes window.parent as both eventTarget and eventSource,
enabling source validation by default. This ensures apps only accept
messages from their parent window, preventing potential cross-app
message spoofing attacks.

Previously, the default transport only specified the target but not the
source for validation, meaning apps would accept messages from ANY window.

* fix(sandbox): add origin validation for host messages

The sandbox proxy now validates that messages from the parent window
come from the expected host origin (derived from document.referrer).
This prevents malicious pages from sending spoofed messages to the sandbox.

Changes:
- Extract EXPECTED_HOST_ORIGIN from document.referrer
- Validate event.origin against expected origin for parent messages
- Use specific origin instead of '*' when sending to parent
- Reject and log messages from unexpected origins

This addresses the TODO comment that was previously in the code.

* validate messages from app come from same origin as sandbox proxy

* fix(basic-host): be resilient to individual server connection failures

Use Promise.allSettled instead of Promise.all when connecting to
servers, so that a single server failure doesn't crash the entire UI.
Failed connections are logged as warnings but the UI continues with
the servers that connected successfully.

Also fixes video-resource-server missing server-utils.ts.

🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)

Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>

---------

Co-authored-by: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-01-07 14:20:49 +00:00
..
src fix: Add missing origin parameter to PostMessageTransport default constructor, verify origins in example sandbox proxy (#207) 2026-01-07 14:20:49 +00:00
index.html Add color-scheme meta tag to all example apps 2025-12-15 11:42:18 -08:00
package.json Fix build errors in examples (#180) 2025-12-18 11:17:23 +00:00
README.md Smoothen the process of getting started (#103) 2025-12-09 16:15:32 +01:00
sandbox.html Add color-scheme meta tag to all example apps 2025-12-15 11:42:18 -08:00
serve.ts Smoothen the process of getting started (#103) 2025-12-09 16:15:32 +01:00
tsconfig.json Add basic-host and basic-server-react examples 2025-12-04 14:28:27 -06:00
vite.config.ts Add basic-host and basic-server-react examples 2025-12-04 14:28:27 -06:00

Example: Basic Host

A reference implementation showing how to build an MCP host application that connects to MCP servers and renders tool UIs in a secure sandbox.

This basic host can also be used to test MCP Apps during local development.

Key Files

Getting Started

npm install
npm run start
# Open http://localhost:8080

By default, the host application will try to connect to an MCP server at http://localhost:3001/mcp. You can configure this behavior by setting the SERVERS environment variable with a JSON array of server URLs:

SERVERS='["http://localhost:1234/mcp", "http://localhost:5678/mcp"]' npm run start

Architecture

This example uses a double-iframe sandbox pattern for secure UI isolation:

Host (port 8080)
  └── Outer iframe (port 8081) - sandbox proxy
        └── Inner iframe (srcdoc) - untrusted tool UI

Why two iframes?

  • The outer iframe runs on a separate origin (port 8081) preventing direct access to the host
  • The inner iframe receives HTML via srcdoc and is restricted by sandbox attributes
  • Messages flow through the outer iframe which validates and relays them bidirectionally

This architecture ensures that even if tool UI code is malicious, it cannot access the host application's DOM, cookies, or JavaScript context.