Black Duck Security Scanner

Black Duck MCP

Black Duck MCP brings Signal's AI-powered security analysis directly into your development environment. It enables code scanning through leading coding assistants – including Claude, Gemini, Cursor, Copilot, and others – so you can detect security issues, receive actionable insights, and apply recommended fixes quickly and consistently.

Key Features & Benefits

• Changes Scan:
  • Performs fast, incremental security scans focused only on the code changes introduced by the developer.
  • Ideal for early-stage detection of issues as code is written
• File Scan:
  • Runs a targeted security analysis on specific files or directories.
  • Best suited for projects that do not use Git or for developers who want to analyze specific portions of the codebase
• Cross-Platform Support:
  • Works on Windows, macOS, and Linux

Requirements

• Signal License
• Node.js v24.0.0 or newer

Getting started

Step 1: Add to your MCP client

Add the following configuration to your MCP client (using Claude user level config as example):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "black-duck-signal": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@black-duck/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "BLACKDUCK_MCP_GATEWAY_KEY": "your-api-key-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Step 2: Your first scan

Use one of following prompts in your MCP client to get you started:

Scan my code changes for security vulnerabilities

Your MCP client should execute a security scan and report any vulnerabilities found on the code changes made. Requires that the project is git based to determine what files have changed.

Scan the changed files with respect to the main branch

Your MCP client should execute a security scan taking into account only code changes in the current branch vs the main branch and report any vulnerabilities found on the code changes made. Requires that the project is git based to determine what files have changed.

Scan all files under folder foobar for security vulnerabilities

Your MCP client should execute a security scan and report any vulnerabilities found.

Tools

Tool	Parameters	Returns	Best Use Cases
run_changes_security_scan	projectPath (required): Absolute path to git project gitPatchMode (required): • all-uncommitted: Scan staged + unstaged changes • reference-branch: Scan changes since branching referenceBranch (optional): Reference branch name (e.g., main) scanEntireFileContent (optional): When true, scans entire content of changed files instead of just changed lines. Default: false	• sarifFilePath: Path to SARIF report • status: success or failure • resourceUris: MCP resource URIs • issueCounts: Counts by severity • analysisGuidance: Analysis steps	• Faster: Analyzes only changed code • Focused: Shows issues from your changes • Iterative: Perfect for dev workflows & CI/CD • Efficient: Reduces scan cost and time
run_security_scan	projectPath (required): Absolute path to project filePaths (required): Array of file/directory absolute paths to scan	• sarifFilePath: Path to SARIF report • status: success or failure • resourceUris: MCP resource URIs • issueCounts: Counts by severity • analysisGuidance: Analysis steps	• Analyzing specific files/directories • Focused security review of critical paths • Quick checks during development • Non-git projects

Optional Configuration

The Black Duck Signal MCP server supports the following environment variables:

Variable	Default	Description
BLACKDUCK_MCP_GATEWAY_KEY	None (required)	API key for enhanced AI analysis
BLACKDUCK_HOME	User's home directory	Override the default .blackduck folder location
BLACKDUCK_MCP_TOOL_TIMEOUT	1800000 (30 min)	Scan timeout in milliseconds
BLACKDUCK_MCP_LOG_LEVEL	info	Log level: error, warn, info, or debug

You can set these variables in your MCP client configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "black-duck": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@black-duck/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "BLACKDUCK_MCP_GATEWAY_KEY": "your-api-key-here",
        "BLACKDUCK_MCP_LOG_LEVEL": "debug"
      }
    }
  }
}

Logging and Troubleshooting

Log Location

All MCP logs are written to /Users/<username>/.blackduck/mcp/logs/ for linux/mac and C:\Users\<Username>\AppData\Roaming\BlackDuck\mcp\logs\ (customizable via BLACKDUCK_HOME):

• black-duck-mcp.log - Combined log (all levels)
• black-duck-mcp-error.log - Error-only log

IP Allowlist

The following URLs and IP addresses must be accessible for the MCP server to function properly:

URL	IP Address
repo.blackduck.com	34.149.5.115
llm.core.blackduck.com	104.18.36.253

Ensure your firewall allows outbound HTTPS (port 443) connections to these endpoints

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

Resources

• Documentation
• Black Duck Signal
• Contact Us
• Request SBOM