Simplify Arm migration with the Docker MCP Toolkit and Arm MCP Server

Why migrate to Arm?

Arm-based cloud instances are now widely available across major providers, including AWS Graviton, Azure Cobalt, and Google Cloud Axion. These platforms deliver strong performance-per-watt characteristics and, for many workloads, measurable cost savings compared to equivalent x86 instances.

For containerized applications written in portable, architecture-neutral code, migration can be straightforward: rebuild the container for linux/arm64 and redeploy.

However, many performance-sensitive applications are not architecture-neutral. They may include:

• x86-specific compiler flags (for example -mavx2)
• Hand-optimized assembly
• AVX2 intrinsics mapped directly to Intel vector instructions
• Assumptions about register width, alignment, or instruction semantics

In these cases, rebuilding the container is not enough. The source code itself must be adapted for Arm.

Considerations when migrating from x86 to Arm

When architecture-specific optimizations are present, migration may involve:

• Identifying x86-specific intrinsics or assembly
• Updating compiler flags and build configurations
• Mapping AVX2 operations to appropriate NEON equivalents
• Rewriting vectorized code and adjusting loop structures
• Updating Dockerfiles, base images, and compiler flags
• Validating correctness and performance on Arm systems

These steps are well understood, but they can require careful review across code, build scripts, and container configurations.

What the Docker MCP Toolkit provides

The Docker MCP Toolkit is a management interface in Docker Desktop that lets you discover, configure, and run containerized MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers. It connects these servers to AI coding assistants through a unified gateway.

MCP servers for Arm migration

Three MCP servers work together to support the migration workflow:

Arm MCP Server

Provides migration-focused tools:

• migrate_ease_scan detects x86-specific code and compiler flags
• check_image and skopeo verify container architecture support
• knowledge_base_search accesses learning resources, Arm intrinsics, and software version compatibility
• mca performs microarchitectural performance analysis

GitHub MCP Server

Enables Git repository operations including creating pull requests, managing branches, and committing changes.

Sequential Thinking MCP Server

Helps the AI assistant break down complex migration decisions into logical steps.

How AI-assisted migration works

When connected to the Docker MCP Toolkit, an AI coding assistant like GitHub Copilot can coordinate a structured migration workflow:

• Verify whether container base images support linux/arm64 using check_image or skopeo
• Scan the codebase with migrate_ease_scan to identify AVX2 intrinsics, x86-specific flags, and other portability considerations
• Use knowledge_base_search to find appropriate Arm SIMD equivalents for every x86 intrinsic
• Refactor the code with architecture-specific accuracy
• Update Dockerfiles and build configurations for Arm compatibility
• Create a pull request with the proposed changes using the GitHub MCP Server

The demo application

This Learning Path uses a real-world example: a matrix multiplication benchmark written in C++ with AVX2 intrinsics for x86. You’ll migrate it to Arm64 using the AI-assisted workflow described above.

The demo repository is available at github.com/JoeStech/docker-blog-arm-migration .

By the end of this Learning Path, you’ll have a working Arm64 container with NEON-optimized code and an automated pull request containing all migration changes.

What you’ve learned and what’s next

You now understand:

• Why Arm migration requires more than rebuilding containers when architecture-specific code is present
• How the Docker MCP Toolkit connects AI assistants to specialized migration tools
• The structured workflow that GitHub Copilot uses to automate migration tasks

Next, you’ll install and configure the Docker MCP Toolkit with the three required MCP servers.