TestQala MCP Server: Run Tests Directly From Your IDE

Quick Answer

TestQala now has an MCP server at mcp.testqala.com. Connect it to Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, or any other MCP-compatible tool, and you can run tests, check results, and list your targets — all from your editor or AI agent. No context switching, no browser tabs, no copy-pasting.

What is MCP?

The Model Context Protocol is an open standard that lets AI tools connect to external services. Think of it as a universal plug for AI assistants. Instead of each tool building its own integration, MCP provides a single protocol that works everywhere.

If your IDE or AI assistant supports MCP, it can talk to TestQala.

What Can You Do With It?

Three things:

List your targets — See which verified domains you have available for testing.

Run test cases — Describe your tests in plain English and dispatch them against any verified target. The AI assistant handles the tool call, TestQala handles the execution.

Check test run progress — Poll a running test to see if it's still going, passed, or failed. Each test case comes back with its status and a plain-language summary of what happened.

How It Works

You connect the MCP server once. After that, you can ask your AI assistant to run tests the way you'd ask a teammate:

"Run a functional test against staging.myapp.com that checks if the login flow works with valid credentials"

The assistant calls list_targets to confirm your target exists, then run_test_cases to create and dispatch the test. You get back a run ID and a link to the dashboard. A few seconds later, you can ask for results:

"Check the status of that test run"

The assistant calls get_test_run and tells you whether each test case passed or failed, with the AI-generated summary of what happened.

No browser tabs. No switching between your editor and the TestQala dashboard. The feedback loop stays inside your development environment.

Setting It Up

You need two things: an API key and a one-time configuration in your tool of choice.

Get an API Key

1. Go to app.testqala.com
2. Navigate to Settings > API Keys
3. Create a new key and save it somewhere secure

Connect Your Tool

Set your API key as an environment variable:

export TESTQALA_API_KEY="tqa_xxxxx"

Then add the MCP server config for your tool.

Claude Code — add to .mcp.json in your project:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "testqala": {
      "type": "streamable-http",
      "url": "https://mcp.testqala.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ${TESTQALA_API_KEY}"
      }
    }
  }
}

GitHub Copilot — add .copilot/mcp.json to your repository and store the key as a COPILOT_MCP_TESTQALA_API_KEY secret in your repository's copilot environment:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "testqala": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.testqala.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer $COPILOT_MCP_TESTQALA_API_KEY"
      },
      "tools": ["*"]
    }
  }
}

Cursor — add to .cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "testqala": {
      "url": "https://mcp.testqala.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ${TESTQALA_API_KEY}"
      }
    }
  }
}

Full setup instructions for all supported tools are in the MCP documentation.

Why This Matters

Testing usually lives outside the development loop. You write code, push it, switch to a testing tool, trigger a run, wait, switch back to read results, then go back to your editor to fix things.

MCP collapses that. The test run happens inside the same conversation where you're writing code. The feedback is immediate. And because the AI assistant understands both your code and your test results, it can connect the dots — "this test failed because the login endpoint now returns a 403, which matches the auth change you just made."

This is especially useful for:

• Verifying a fix before pushing — "run the login test against staging to make sure my fix works"
• Regression checking — "run all functional tests for the checkout flow"
• Bug reproduction — "create a bug replication test that tries to submit the form without filling in the email field"
• CI/CD agents — GitHub Copilot's coding agent can run tests as part of its workflow using the same MCP config

Available Now

The MCP server is live at mcp.testqala.com. It works with any MCP-compatible client over Streamable HTTP (/mcp) or SSE (/sse).

It uses the same API key and permissions as the REST API — if you already have an API key, you're ready to go. MCP access is available on all plans that include API access.

Full documentation: docs.testqala.com/mcp