MCP Client Server

🚀 Running the MCP Client

Before running this client, ensure that the server is up and running. For more detailed information, please refer to: https://github.com/dazzaji/filesystem

🚀 Quick Start

✨ Features

This guide provides a step-by-step process to run the MCP client, including creating a virtual environment, setting up environment variables, running the client, and verifying the results.

📦 Installation

Step 1: Create a Virtual Environment and Install Dependencies Correctly

Use the following commands:

mkdir mcp-client-py
cd mcp-client-py

python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate

pip install -r requirements.txt

This command creates a virtual environment, activates it, and then installs mcp and python-dotenv (along with their dependencies) into the environment.

Step 2: Confirm or Fix Environment Variables in the .env File

Create a .env file to specify the server path and allowed directories. You can also specify tools and parameters for testing.

SERVER_PATH=/Users/dazzagreenwood/filesystem/dist/index.js
ALLOWED_DIRECTORY=/Users/dazzagreenwood/mcp-hello/module1/files

# Optional TOOL and ARGS for testing:
# TOOL=list_directory
# ARGS='{"path": "/Users/dazzagreenwood/mcp-hello/module1/files", "recursive": true}'

# Or test with other tools
# TOOL=read_file
# ARGS='{"path": "/Users/dazzagreenwood/mcp-hello/module1/files/test.txt"}'

💻 Usage Examples

Step 3: Run the Python Client

Run the client to test the server.

python client.py

• If you've used the optional TOOL and ARGS, add these parameters like this:

python client.py --tool "list_directory" --args '{"path": "/Users/dazzagreenwood/mcp-hello/module1/files", "recursive": true}'

This command will:

• Connect to the file system server.
• List available tools.
• Call write_file to create a test file in the specified directory if no tool is specified in the .env file.
• Display the results on the console.

Step 4: Verify the Results

After successfully running the client, check the following:

1. Client Output: You should see output like Available tools: [ ... ] and the results from write_file (or other tool calls).
2. File Creation: Confirm that the testfile.txt file has been created in the /Users/dazzagreenwood/mcp-hello/module1/files/ directory and that its content is correct.

Test Workflow

Start the Server

1. Open a Terminal: You need to start the server from the terminal.
2. Navigate to the Server Directory: Change the directory to the folder containing the server files:

cd /Users/dazzagreenwood/filesystem

3. Run the Server:

node dist/index.js "/Users/dazzagreenwood/mcp-hello/module1/files"

• Replace /Users/dazzagreenwood/filesystem/dist/index.js with the actual path to your compiled file.
• Replace /Users/dazzagreenwood/mcp-hello/module1/files with the allowed directory.

Test with the Client

1. Open Another Terminal Window or split the current terminal tab.
2. Navigate to the Client Directory: Change the directory to enter the mcp-client-py folder:

cd /Users/dazzagreenwood/mcp-client-server/mcp-client-py
source .venv/bin/activate

3. Run the Client in Default Mode: To test basic connectivity and the write_file tool:

python client.py

This command will attempt to call the write file to create a file named test.txt in the /Users/dazzagreenwood/mcp-hello/module1/files directory and set its content to Hello, World!.

4. Run Other Tests: You can use the following commands to test other tools:

• Test the list_directory tool:

python client.py --tool "list_directory" --args '{"path": "/Users/dazzagreenwood/mcp-hello/module1/files", "recursive": true}'

• Test the read_file tool:

python client.py --server-path /Users/dazzagreenwood/filesystem/dist/index.js --allowed-dir /Users/dazzagreenwood/mcp-hello/module1/files --tool read_file --args '{"path": "/Users/dazzagreenwood/mcp-hello/module1/files/test.txt"}'

• Replace the paths in the above commands with your own local paths.

If the setup is correct, you should see output confirming each operation.