012 Container Mcp Distribution

Status: Proposed

Date: 2026-06-08

Context:

ComplyPack’s MCP server is a Go binary that users must build locally. Issue #24 requires single-click distribution. Four options were evaluated:

1. Container image — docker run --rm -i ghcr.io/complytime/complypack
2. Binary download via plugin SessionStart hook — download pre-built binaries from GitHub Releases into ~/.claude/plugins/data/
3. go install — users install via Go toolchain
4. Homebrew tap — formula for macOS/Linux

Option 2 was rejected on supply chain grounds: no plugin in the Claude Code ecosystem ships unsigned binaries, and downloading executables into the plugin data directory has no verification standard. The MCP security surface is already a known concern (CVE-2025-59536, CVE-2026-21852).

Option 3 requires the Go toolchain on every user’s machine — a non-starter for non-developer users.

Option 4 adds a distribution channel to maintain and doesn’t cover Fedora users natively.

Decision:

Distribute the MCP server as a multi-arch container image (ghcr.io/complytime/complypack). Sign images with cosign (keyless/OIDC). Users invoke via docker run --rm -i or podman run --rm -i in their .mcp.json.

Consequences:

• Users must have Docker or Podman installed — acceptable for the target audience (macOS and Fedora developers)
• Container startup adds ~1-2s latency on first invocation (image pull is one-time)
• OCI registry authentication for pulling Gemara catalogs works from inside the container (standard Docker credential chain)
• Image size will be ~30-50MB (Go static binary in distroless/alpine)
• No unsigned binary downloads, no Go toolchain requirement