Persona: The MCP Integration Architect Slug: deploy-mcp-server-ephemeral-infrastructure-2026 Query: how to deploy mcp server for claude
It is the new “Hello World” of 2026: You wrote an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server to let Claude talk to your internal Postgres database.
It works perfectly on your machine. You run it locally, connect Claude Desktop, and watch the magic happen.
Then your Product Manager asks, “Can I try it?”
Suddenly, the magic dies. You are stuck in Tunneling Hell. You are setting up ngrok, fighting with firewalls, and pasting 50-character URLs into Slack. Or worse, you have to deploy a “Work in Progress” server to your production Kubernetes cluster just to get a URL, waiting 15 minutes for the CI/CD pipeline.
We standardized the protocol (MCP), but we forgot to standardize the environment.
The Context Fragmentation Problem
The promise of MCP was “Write once, run with any Agent.” But in practice, it is “Write once, debug endlessly with 5 different agent runtimes.”
An MCP server is not a static file. It is a live API.
- Claude Web needs a public HTTPS endpoint.
- OpenAI Swarm needs a private VPC endpoint.
- Localhost is invisible to both.
When you keep your MCP server on localhost, you are creating an Intelligence Silo. You are the only one who can verify that the agent understands the data.
Treat Context Like Code
If MCP is the “USB Port” for AI, then we need a way to plug it in anywhere, instantly.
We need to stop treating MCP servers like local scripts and start treating them like Ephemeral Microservices.
You shouldn’t need a DevOps ticket to share an MCP server. You should just need a URL.
The Solution: Instant MCP Hosting
This is why we built the MCP Preview runtime at PrevHQ.
Instead of fighting with Docker or ngrok, you run one command:
prevhq deploy --mcp
In 3 seconds, you get:
- A Live URL:
mcp://preview-827.prevhq.com(SSE/WebSocket ready). - Zero-Trust Auth: Only the agents you authorize can connect.
- Ephemeral Lifecycle: The server (and its sidecar database) spins down automatically when the agent session ends.
Debugging the Brain
The hardest part of building MCP servers isn’t the code; it’s understanding the Agent’s Intent.
- “Why did the agent call
list_tablesinstead ofquery_table?” - “Did my server return the schema correctly?”
Because PrevHQ sits between the Agent and your Server, we provide a Flight Recorder for Context. You can see the exact JSON-RPC messages flowing back and forth. You can debug the “Brain” of the integration without guessing.
Stop Tunneling. Start Sharing.
The Model Context Protocol is the most important standard of the decade. It turns your company’s data into a shared brain. Don’t let that brain get stuck on your laptop.
Give your MCP server a URL. Give your team the context.
FAQ: Deploying MCP Servers
Q: How do I test an MCP server with Claude Web?
A: Claude Web requires a publicly accessible URL (HTTPS). You cannot use localhost. You must deploy your MCP server to a hosting provider like PrevHQ that supports Server-Sent Events (SSE) or WebSockets and provides a public endpoint.
Q: Can I run a database alongside my MCP server?
A: Yes. Most MCP servers need a backend. PrevHQ allows you to define a docker-compose.yml that includes your MCP server and a sidecar database (Postgres, Redis), giving you a full, isolated environment for testing.
Q: Is it safe to expose my internal API via MCP?
A: Only if you secure it. Never expose an MCP server to the open internet without authentication. PrevHQ handles this by creating a secure tunnel that is only accessible to authorized agents or users with the correct ephemeral tokens.
Q: Why not just use ngrok?
A: ngrok is great for quick hacks, but it lacks persistence and security controls for team collaboration. It also doesn’t handle the “sidecar” problem (running a clean DB for the server). Ephemeral environments provide a cleaner, more reproducible standard.