Basic Math MCP Server

🚀 Basic Math MCP Server

A simple yet powerful MCP server built with the FastMCP framework, supporting basic mathematical operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. It can be used directly in Claude Desktop or any MCP-compatible environment.

🚀 Quick Start

This project is a minimal but complete MCP server that offers basic arithmetic functions. It exposes the following tools and resources for use in Claude Desktop or other MCP-compatible environments.

✨ Features

What is MCP?

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open-source standard developed by Anthropic. It allows external tools, APIs, or scripts to be exposed to large language models (LLMs) like Claude in a structured and interactive manner.

With MCP, developers can:

• Build custom tools accessible to language models.
• Extend Claude's functionality using Python scripts or microservices.
• Share structured data or custom responses through the @tool() and @resource() decorators.

What is a Custom MCP Server?

Custom MCP Server is a Python-based service that implements the MCP specification using the mcp-server library. These servers:

• Define callable tools (@tool) for computation or automation.
• Host resources (@resource) such as documents or reference data.
• Run locally or remotely and respond to MCP clients, e.g., Claude Desktop.

MCP servers enable low-latency, secure, and contextual integration between language models and custom code.

What We Built

This project is a minimal yet complete MCP server that provides basic arithmetic functions. The exposed tools are as follows:

Tools:

• add(a, b) — Returns the sum of two numbers.
• subtract(a, b) — Returns the result of subtracting b from a.
• multiply(a, b) — Returns the product of a and b.
• divide(a, b) — Returns the quotient of a divided by b, handling division by zero.

Resources:

• calculator://help — A Markdown-formatted help file that explains how to use all the tools.

📦 Installation

Prerequisites

Before you start, make sure you have the following installed:

• Python 3.9+
• Claude Desktop (or other MCP-compatible interfaces)
• uv runtime (for fast, isolated Python execution)

Step 1: Install uv (Required for Running the MCP Server)

macOS/Linux:

curl -Ls https://astro.build/install/uv | bash

This will install uv to ~/.local/bin/uv.

Windows (PowerShell):

irm https:// astro.build/install/uv.ps1 | iex

You may need to restart your terminal or add uv to your PATH.

Step 2: Install the MCP Server

Use uv to install mcp-server and run your server:

uv pip install mcp-server

To run the server manually:

uv run mcp-server

📚 Documentation

Integration with Claude Desktop

Once installed, you need to configure Claude to discover this MCP server.

Find claude_desktop_config.json

This file contains the MCP server configuration used by Claude Desktop. Add or update it as follows:

If You Don't Have Any MCP Servers:

Paste the entire code block into your configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-server": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "mcp-server"
      ]
    }
  }
}

If You Already Have MCP Servers:

Simply add the following entry to the "mcpServers" object:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "your-mcp-server-name": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "mcp-server"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Notes

⚠️ Important Note

• Ensure that the claude_desktop_config.json file is in the default configuration path, usually ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/.
• If your MCP server is exposed to the public network, make sure to take appropriate security measures, such as using HTTPS and authentication.

After completing the above steps, your basic math MCP server should be up and running and integrated with Claude Desktop.