SPADE MCP Interface

This document describes SPADE's MCP capabilities and shows how the MCP server can be used with Claude Code and Claude Desktop. The MCP server exposes SPADE's query and control capabilities as tools that can be used by MCP-compatible clients. Two transports are supported: HTTP, for Claude Code and other remote clients, and stdio, for Claude Desktop and other local process-based clients.

Once connected, a client has access to four tools for SPADE control, query, control documentation, and query documentation.

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Requirements

SPADE must be started before the MCP server can be used, since the MCP tools operate by controlling and querying a running instance.

bin/spade start

See Starting and controlling SPADE for details on how to start and stop SPADE.

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Connecting over HTTP (Claude Code)

Start the SPADE server, as described above.

Start the MCP server in HTTP mode:

bin/spade mcp -- \
  mcp.server.mode=http \
  mcp.http.host.name=localhost \
  mcp.http.host.port=3000 \
  mcp.http.host.endpoint=/mcp

The server will listen at http://localhost:3000/mcp. These settings can also be placed in cfg/spade.utility.mcp.server.Main.config instead of being passed on the command line; arguments given on the command line take precedence.

Register the server with Claude Code and start a session:

claude mcp add --transport http spade http://localhost:3000/mcp
claude

The SPADE tools will be available in the session. For example, ask:

What SPADE tools do you have available?

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Connecting over stdio (Claude Desktop)

Edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) and add the spade server under mcpServers, replacing /path/to/spade with the absolute path to the SPADE installation:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "spade": {
      "command": "/path/to/spade/bin/spade",
      "args": [
        "mcp",
        "mcp.server.mode=stdio"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Start the SPADE server, as described above.

Launching the Claude Desktop app will spawn the MCP server process automatically using this configuration, and the SPADE tools will be available in the conversation.