MCP Docker

You can run a lightweight MCP server that exposes a simple hello-world tool, test it with a built-in client, and inspect its behavior with a web UI. This setup is ideal for learning how MCP works, debugging interactions, and validating tool schemas in a contained environment.

How to use

You will run a local MCP server that provides a hello-world tool. Use the included client to connect to the server and exercise the tool by sending a greeting. You can also launch a web inspector to visually explore the available tools and their schemas, then perform interactive tests with real-time feedback.

How to install

Prerequisites you need before installing this MCP server are Python and Docker. If you plan to run locally without Docker, you will also need a virtual environment. Follow these concrete steps to get up and running.

# Option A: Run with Docker (recommended for quick start)
docker pull python:3.11-slim

# Build the local Docker image for the MCP server demo
docker build -t rak-greet .

# Run the server inside Docker
# This uses a stdio-based local server command: python server.py
# In a separate terminal, run the client to test

docker run --rm -i rak-greet python server.py

# Run the web inspector (optional but recommended)
docker run --rm -p 8000:8000 rak-greet python mcp_inspector_web.py

# Option B: Run locally without Docker
# Create and activate a Python virtual environment
python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Run the server locally
python server.py

# In another terminal, run the client to test
python client.py

# Optionally run the web inspector locally
uvicorn mcp_inspector_web:app --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000 --reload

Additional sections

Configuration notes: the demo exposes a single stdio MCP server built to start with the basic hello-world tool. It runs via Python and can be exercised through the included client as well as the web inspector. If you modify the code, you can expand the tool set or adjust the inspector UI to test additional schemas.

Troubleshooting tips: ensure you are using Python 3.11 or newer, confirm all dependencies are installed, and check the server logs for errors if you encounter startup issues. If you run into port conflicts when using the web inspector, bind a different host port as needed (for example, 8001).

Available tools

hello-world

A simple tool that takes a greeting and returns it appended with ' World!' to demonstrate a basic MCP tool workflow.