Minimal Claude MCP Chatbot

A clean, educational implementation of a Claude chatbot with MCP (Model Context Protocol) support.

What this demonstrates

• Claude API integration - Basic chat with conversation history
• MCP server connection - Automatic discovery and connection to MCP servers
• Tool usage - Claude can automatically use tools from MCP servers
• Error handling - Graceful handling of API and tool errors

Setup

1. Install dependencies:

   npm install

2. Set your Anthropic API key:

   export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

3. (Optional) Configure MCP servers in mcp-config.json

4. Run the chatbot:

   npm start

How it works

1. Initialization - Loads MCP configuration and connects to servers
2. Chat Loop - Continuously processes user input
3. Claude Integration - Sends messages with available tools to Claude
4. Tool Execution - When Claude requests tools, executes them via MCP
5. Response - Returns Claude's final response to the user

Code Structure

• constructor() - Sets up API client, readline, and tool storage
• loadMcpServers() - Reads config and connects to MCP servers
• chatLoop() - Main conversation loop
• getClaudeResponse() - Sends messages to Claude with tool context
• handleToolUse() - Executes tools and sends results back to Claude

Key Features Removed

• Debug modes and verbose logging
• Model querying and selection commands
• Complex fallback logic
• Extra status commands
• Detailed error reporting

This minimal version focuses on the core MCP integration concepts while remaining easy to understand and modify.