Keep alive (ping) mechanism for proxied connections

README.md

@@ -104,6 +104,16 @@ To bypass authentication, or to emit custom headers on all requests to your remo
       ]
 ```
 
+* If the remote server is automatically closing your connection while not actively being used (e.g., disconnects after 5 minutes of inactivity) you can add the `--keep-alive` flag to ping the server every 30 seconds. The interval can also be customized using `--ping-interval`.
+
+```json
+      "args": [
+        "mcp-remote",
+        "https://remote.mcp.server/sse",
+        "--keep-alive"
+      ]
+```
+
 * To allow HTTP connections in trusted private networks, add the `--allow-http` flag. Note: This should only be used in secure private networks where traffic cannot be intercepted.
 
 ```json

src/lib/types.ts

@@ -33,3 +33,11 @@ export interface OAuthCallbackServerOptions {
   /** Event emitter to signal when auth code is received */
   events: EventEmitter
 }
+
+/*
+ * Configuration for the ping mechanism
+ */
+export interface PingConfig {
+  enabled: boolean
+  interval: number
+}

src/lib/utils.ts

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import { SSEClientTransport } from '@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/client/sse.js'
 import { StreamableHTTPClientTransport } from '@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/client/streamableHttp.js'
 import { Transport } from '@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/shared/transport.js'
 import { OAuthClientInformationFull, OAuthClientInformationFullSchema } from '@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/shared/auth.js'
-import { OAuthCallbackServerOptions } from './types'
+import { OAuthCallbackServerOptions, PingConfig } from './types'
 import { getConfigFilePath, readJsonFile } from './mcp-auth-config'
 import express from 'express'
 import net from 'net'
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import fs from 'fs/promises'
 // Connection constants
 export const REASON_AUTH_NEEDED = 'authentication-needed'
 export const REASON_TRANSPORT_FALLBACK = 'falling-back-to-alternate-transport'
+export const PING_INTERVAL_DEFAULT = 30 // seconds
 
 // Transport strategy types
 export type TransportStrategy = 'sse-only' | 'http-only' | 'sse-first' | 'http-first'
@@ -91,6 +92,45 @@ export type AuthInitializer = () => Promise<{
   skipBrowserAuth: boolean
 }>
 
+/**
+ * Sets up periodic ping to keep the connection alive
+ * @param transport The transport to ping
+ * @param config Ping configuration
+ * @returns A cleanup function to stop pinging
+ */
+export function setupPing(transport: Transport, config: PingConfig): () => void {
+  if (!config.enabled) {
+    return () => {}
+  }
+
+  let pingTimeout: NodeJS.Timeout | null = null
+  let lastPingId = 0
+
+  const interval = config.interval * 1000 // convert s to ms
+  const pingInterval = setInterval(async () => {
+    const pingId = ++lastPingId
+    try {
+      // Docs: https://modelcontextprotocol.io/specification/2025-03-26/basic/utilities/ping
+      await transport.send({
+        jsonrpc: '2.0',
+        id: `ping-${pingId}`,
+        method: 'ping',
+      })
+      log(`Ping ${pingId} successful`)
+    } catch (error) {
+      log(`Ping ${pingId} failed:`, error)
+    }
+  }, interval)
+
+  log(`Automatic ping enabled with ${config.interval} second interval`)
+  return () => {
+    if (pingTimeout) {
+      clearTimeout(pingTimeout)
+    }
+    clearInterval(pingInterval)
+  }
+}
+
 /**
  * Creates and connects to a remote server with OAuth authentication
  * @param client The client to connect with
@@ -432,6 +472,21 @@ export async function parseCommandLineArgs(args: string[], usage: string) {
     i++
   }
 
+  // Parse ping configuration
+  const keepAlive = args.includes('--keep-alive')
+  const pingIntervalIndex = args.indexOf('--ping-interval')
+  let pingInterval = PING_INTERVAL_DEFAULT
+  if (pingIntervalIndex !== -1 && pingIntervalIndex < args.length - 1) {
+    const intervalStr = args[pingIntervalIndex + 1]
+    const interval = parseInt(intervalStr)
+    if (!isNaN(interval) && interval > 0) {
+      pingInterval = interval
+      log(`Using ping interval: ${pingInterval} seconds`)
+    } else {
+      log(`Warning: Invalid ping interval "${args[pingIntervalIndex + 1]}". Using default: ${PING_INTERVAL_DEFAULT} seconds`)
+    }
+  }
+
   const serverUrl = args[0]
   const specifiedPort = args[1] ? parseInt(args[1]) : undefined
   const allowHttp = args.includes('--allow-http')
@@ -505,7 +560,16 @@ export async function parseCommandLineArgs(args: string[], usage: string) {
     })
   }
 
-  return { serverUrl, callbackPort, headers, transportStrategy }
+  return {
+    serverUrl,
+    callbackPort,
+    headers,
+    transportStrategy,
+    pingConfig: {
+      enabled: keepAlive,
+      interval: pingInterval,
+    },
+  }
 }
 
 /**

src/proxy.ts

@@ -18,11 +18,12 @@ import {
   parseCommandLineArgs,
   setupSignalHandlers,
   getServerUrlHash,
-  MCP_REMOTE_VERSION,
   TransportStrategy,
+  setupPing,
 } from './lib/utils'
 import { NodeOAuthClientProvider } from './lib/node-oauth-client-provider'
 import { createLazyAuthCoordinator } from './lib/coordination'
+import { PingConfig } from './lib/types'
 
 /**
  * Main function to run the proxy
@@ -32,6 +33,7 @@ async function runProxy(
   callbackPort: number,
   headers: Record<string, string>,
   transportStrategy: TransportStrategy = 'http-first',
+  pingConfig: PingConfig,
 ) {
   // Set up event emitter for auth flow
   const events = new EventEmitter()
@@ -80,6 +82,9 @@ async function runProxy(
     // Connect to remote server with lazy authentication
     const remoteTransport = await connectToRemoteServer(null, serverUrl, authProvider, headers, authInitializer, transportStrategy)
 
+    // Set up ping mechanism for remote transport
+    const stopPing = setupPing(remoteTransport, pingConfig)
+
     // Set up bidirectional proxy between local and remote transports
     mcpProxy({
       transportToClient: localTransport,
@@ -94,6 +99,7 @@ async function runProxy(
 
     // Setup cleanup handler
     const cleanup = async () => {
+      stopPing()
       await remoteTransport.close()
       await localTransport.close()
       // Only close the server if it was initialized
@@ -136,8 +142,8 @@ to the CA certificate file. If using claude_desktop_config.json, this might look
 
 // Parse command-line arguments and run the proxy
 parseCommandLineArgs(process.argv.slice(2), 'Usage: npx tsx proxy.ts <https://server-url> [callback-port]')
-  .then(({ serverUrl, callbackPort, headers, transportStrategy }) => {
-    return runProxy(serverUrl, callbackPort, headers, transportStrategy)
+  .then(({ serverUrl, callbackPort, headers, transportStrategy, pingConfig }) => {
+    return runProxy(serverUrl, callbackPort, headers, transportStrategy, pingConfig)
   })
   .catch((error) => {
     log('Fatal error:', error)