Origins

Origins-MCP is a lightweight MCP server that exposes your local Home Assistant, PiHole, and other data sources to MCP clients. It runs locally on Node.js, lets you start and test connections, and provides an HTTP URL you can hit from an MCP client or a local stdio runner for quick development. You can also run a local inspector to verify setup and use an LM Studio integration to expose the MCP endpoint to your workflow.

How to use

You connect to this MCP server from an MCP client (for example, a dashboard or automation tool that supports MCP). You can access the remote MCP endpoint via HTTP or start a local process that runs the server with the standard npm workflow. Practical uses include pulling real-time temperature readings, monitoring devices, and other data sources you’ve wired into the Origins-MCP setup. Use the HTTP URL to connect from clients running on any machine that can reach your localhost or network host. Use the local stdio path when you want to run the MCP server as a local process and manage it through your development environment.

How to install

Prerequisites: you need Node.js and npm installed on your system.

# Step 1: Install Node.js and npm if you don’t have them
# (Visit the Node.js website and follow the installer for your OS)

# Step 2: Install dependencies for Origins-MCP
npm install

# Step 3: Start the MCP server (local stdio)
npm run start

# Optional: Run tests
npm run test

# Optional: Run MCP inspector
npm run inspect

Additional content

Configuration for connections lives under a connection directory within the plugins folder. Each connection has its own .env file. Remove the trailing .example from the filename and fill in the required items for that connection. This setup lets you wire in data sources such as Home Assistant, PiHole, tar1090, and any other supported sources.

Running and lifecycle

To run the server, start the process using npm and verify it stays up for your MCP client to connect.

npm run start

To run tests and verify MCP inspector tooling, use these commands:

npm run test

npm run inspect

LM Studio integration

If you’re using LM Studio, configure the MCP client to point at the Origins-MCP endpoint by adding an origin entry that references the server URL.