SharePoint MCP Server

SharePoint Capabilities

Comprehensive SharePoint integration for enterprise document management

📁 Document Management

Search documents across sites and libraries
Access document metadata and properties
Retrieve file content and versions
Navigate folder structures and permissions

🔍 Advanced Search

Full-text search across document content
Filter by document type, author, and date
Search within specific sites or libraries
Semantic search with AI-powered insights

👥 Collaboration Insights

Track document sharing and access patterns
View recent activity and modifications
Access comments and collaboration history
Identify subject matter experts by content

📊 Analytics & Reporting

Document usage and access statistics
Content lifecycle and retention analysis
Storage utilization reports
Compliance and governance metrics

Step-by-Step Setup

Follow these steps to connect to your SharePoint

Step 1: Install the SharePoint MCP Server

Install the SharePoint MCP server on your development machine:

# Install the SharePoint MCP server
npm install -g @mcp/sharepoint-server

# Verify installation
mcp --version

Step 2: Get Azure AD App Registration (Ask Your IT Admin)

You'll need your IT administrator to create an Azure AD app registration. Ask them for:

Client ID (looks like: xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx)
Client Secret (a long string of characters)
Tenant ID (looks like: xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx)
SharePoint URL (e.g., https://company.sharepoint.com)

Tell your IT admin the app needs these permissions:

Sites.Read.All (to read SharePoint sites)
Files.Read.All (to read files)
User.Read (basic user info)

Step 3: Configure SharePoint Connection

Use the credentials your IT admin provided:

# Set your credentials (replace with actual values from IT)
export SHAREPOINT_CLIENT_ID="your-client-id-here"
export SHAREPOINT_CLIENT_SECRET="your-client-secret-here"
export SHAREPOINT_TENANT_ID="your-tenant-id-here"
export SHAREPOINT_URL="https://company.sharepoint.com"

# Configure the MCP server
mcp config sharepoint \
  --tenant-url $SHAREPOINT_URL \
  --client-id $SHAREPOINT_CLIENT_ID \
  --client-secret $SHAREPOINT_CLIENT_SECRET \
  --tenant-id $SHAREPOINT_TENANT_ID

Step 4: Test Your Connection

Verify everything is working:

# Test the connection
mcp test sharepoint

# Verify authentication
mcp auth verify sharepoint

# If successful, you should see:
# ✅ SharePoint connection successful
# ✅ Site access verified

Site-Specific Configuration

# Configure specific sites for access
mcp config sharepoint sites add \
  --url https://company.sharepoint.com/sites/engineering \
  --name "Engineering Documents"

mcp config sharepoint sites add \
  --url https://company.sharepoint.com/sites/hr \
  --name "HR Policies"

# Configure document libraries
mcp config sharepoint libraries add \
  --site-url https://company.sharepoint.com/sites/engineering \
  --library "Shared Documents" \
  --recursive true

Usage Examples

Access SharePoint content through Copilot and MCP integration

GitHub Copilot Integration

Ask GitHub Copilot questions about your SharePoint documents:

# Example questions for Copilot:
"Find the latest HR policy documents about remote work"
"What engineering standards documents were updated this month?"
"Show me project documentation for the authentication system"
"Find presentation templates in the marketing site"
"What are the most downloaded documents in the legal library?"
"Search for documents containing 'API security guidelines'"

Document Search & Retrieval

# Search for documents by content
mcp query sharepoint "search documents containing 'authentication API'"

# Find documents by author
mcp query sharepoint "find documents created by 'john.doe@company.com'"

# Get recent documents from specific site
mcp query sharepoint "recent documents from engineering site last 7 days"

# Search within specific library
mcp query sharepoint "search 'security policy' in HR library"

Advanced Document Analysis

# Analyze document trends
mcp query sharepoint "
  document activity analysis for last quarter including:
  - most accessed documents
  - frequently updated files
  - collaboration patterns by department
  - content gaps and opportunities
"

# Compliance and governance queries
mcp query sharepoint "
  compliance report for documents with:
  - retention policy violations
  - missing metadata fields
  - external sharing permissions
  - documents requiring review
"

Security & Permissions

Enterprise security features for SharePoint integration

🔐 Access Control

Respects SharePoint permissions and access levels
Service account with minimal required permissions
Site-specific access configuration
Document-level security enforcement

🛡️ Data Protection

Secure OAuth 2.0 authentication flow
Encrypted connections (TLS 1.3)
Sensitive data detection and masking
Audit logging for all document access

📊 Compliance Features

Retention policy compliance checking
Data loss prevention (DLP) integration
External sharing monitoring
Regular access reviews and reporting

Performance Optimization

Optimize SharePoint MCP server for enterprise scale

🚀 Caching Strategy

# Configure intelligent caching
cache:
  enabled: true
  ttl: 1800  # 30 minutes
  max_size: 2GB
  
# Cache frequently accessed content
cache_patterns:
  - "document metadata"
  - "site navigation"
  - "user permissions"
  - "search results"

⚡ Query Optimization

# Optimize search queries
search:
  batch_size: 50
  max_results: 1000
  timeout: 30s
  
# Configure search scopes
scopes:
  - name: "engineering"
    sites: ["https://company.sharepoint.com/sites/engineering"]
  - name: "policies"  
    sites: ["https://company.sharepoint.com/sites/hr"]

Troubleshooting

Common issues and solutions for SharePoint integration

🔑 Authentication Problems

Issue: 401/403 authentication errors

# Check Azure AD app permissions
mcp auth verify sharepoint --verbose

# Test client credentials
curl -X POST https://login.microsoftonline.com/$TENANT_ID/oauth2/v2.0/token \
  -d "client_id=$CLIENT_ID&client_secret=$CLIENT_SECRET&scope=https://graph.microsoft.com/.default&grant_type=client_credentials"

🔍 Search Issues

Issue: No search results or slow queries

# Test search connectivity
mcp query sharepoint "test search connection"

# Check search service health
mcp status sharepoint --search-service

SharePoint Enterprise Integration