Alko MCP Server

A production-grade Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides AI assistants with access to the Alko.fi alcohol product catalog.

Features

• Product Search: Search 11,900+ products by name, type, country, price range, alcohol %, and more
• Product Details: Get detailed information including enriched data (taste profile, food pairings, certificates, serving suggestions)
• Vivino Ratings: Get wine ratings from Vivino.com by name or URL
• Store Hours: Check store opening hours with "open now" filtering
• Store Availability: Check real-time stock availability at Alko stores (via web scraping)
• Recommendations: Get product recommendations based on food pairings, occasions, and preferences
• Store Listing: Browse 360+ Alko stores by city

All tools return compact JSON for efficient LLM token usage.

Demo

<video src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/ca9535c2-b3e4-44da-b509-5f55793b9d4a" controls width="100%"></video>

Claude Desktop using Alko MCP to search products, check availability, and get recommendations.

MCP Tools

Tool	Description
search_products	Search products by name, type, country, price range, alcohol %
get_product	Get product details. Set includeEnrichedData=true for taste, food pairings, serving tips
get_store_hours	Get store opening hours. Filter by city, name, or openNow=true. Auto-refreshes if stale
get_availability	Check store stock for a product (scrapes alko.fi)
list_stores	List Alko stores by city
get_recommendations	Get personalized product recommendations
get_vivino_rating	Get Vivino wine rating by name or URL (scrapes vivino.com)
sync_products	Sync database with latest Alko price list
get_sync_status	Check sync status and product count

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Node.js 24+
• Google Cloud Firestore (or emulator for local dev)
• Playwright (auto-installed for web scraping)

Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/alko-mcp.git
cd alko-mcp

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Install Playwright browsers
npx playwright install chromium

# Build
npm run build

Local Development with Firestore Emulator

Step 1: Start Firestore Emulator (keep running in background)

gcloud emulators firestore start --host-port=localhost:8081

Step 2: Start Claude Desktop (or other AI assistant)

The MCP server will automatically load bundled seed data (~12,000 products, ~360 stores) on first query if the emulator is empty. No manual sync required!

Note: The emulator doesn't persist data. After restarting the emulator, seed data will be auto-loaded again on first use.

Optional: Fresh Data Sync

If you need the latest product data from Alko.fi:

export FIRESTORE_EMULATOR_HOST=localhost:8081

# Sync fresh products from Excel (~30 seconds)
npm run sync-data

# Sync fresh stores from website (~2 minutes)
npm run sync-stores

# Export to seed file (for sharing with team)
npm run export-seed

AI Assistant Configuration

Claude Desktop

Config file: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "alko": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/alko-mcp/dist/server.js"],
      "env": {
        "FIRESTORE_EMULATOR_HOST": "localhost:8081"
      }
    }
  }
}

ChatGPT Desktop

Config file: ~/.config/chatgpt/mcp.json (macOS/Linux) or %APPDATA%\chatgpt\mcp.json (Windows)

{
  "servers": {
    "alko": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/alko-mcp/dist/server.js"],
      "env": {
        "FIRESTORE_EMULATOR_HOST": "localhost:8081"
      }
    }
  }
}

Google Gemini (AI Studio)

For Gemini, use HTTP transport. Start the server with:

MCP_TRANSPORT=http PORT=3000 node dist/server.js

Then configure in AI Studio with the MCP endpoint URL:

http://localhost:3000/mcp

For production, deploy to Cloud Run and use the public URL.

Claude Code CLI

Add to your project's .mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "alko": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["./dist/server.js"],
      "env": {
        "FIRESTORE_EMULATOR_HOST": "localhost:8081"
      }
    }
  }
}

Example Prompts

🔍 Basic Search

Etsi minulle hyviä italialaisia punaviinejä alle 20 euroa

Searches for Italian red wines under €20

🍷 Wine Recommendations

Suosittele viiniä grillatulle lohelle. Budjetti noin 15-25 euroa.

Recommends wine for grilled salmon within budget

🥂 Champagne & Sparkling

Mitä samppanjoita Alkossa on saatavilla? Näytä 5 parasta vaihtoehtoa.

Lists champagne options

🍺 Craft Beer Search

Etsi IPA-oluita Suomesta tai muista Pohjoismaista

Searches for Nordic IPA beers

📊 Product Details

Kerro lisää tuotteesta numero 906458

Gets detailed product information with taste profile

🏪 Store Hours

Mitkä Alkon myymälät ovat auki nyt Helsingissä?

Lists Helsinki stores that are open now

📍 Store Availability

Onko Barolo-viiniä saatavilla Helsingin myymälöissä?

Checks product availability in Helsinki stores

🎁 Gift Recommendations

Etsi lahjaideoita viininystävälle. Budjetti 50-100 euroa.

Premium gift ideas for wine lovers

🧀 Food Pairing (uses Alko's official pairing data)

Suosittele viiniä äyriäisille / Recommend wine for seafood

Uses Alko's food symbol search to find products officially tagged for seafood pairing

Tarvitsen viinin juustolautaselle. Juustot: brie, manchego ja sinihomejuusto.

Wine for cheese platter - matches "miedot juustot" and "voimakkaat juustot"

🌍 Region-specific Search

Hae espanjalaisia punaviinejä Rioja-alueelta

Spanish wines from Rioja region

💰 Budget Shopping

Parhaat viinit alle 10 eurolla arki-iltoihin

Best budget wines for weeknight dinners

🍾 Special Occasions

Suosittele kuohuviiniä uudenvuoden juhliin 20 hengelle

Sparkling wine for New Year's party

⭐ Vivino Ratings

Etsi punaviinejä 15-25€ ja tarkista niiden Vivino-arvostelut

Searches for red wines and checks their Vivino ratings

🏆 Best Rated Wines

Mikä on Alkon parhaiten arvioitu Barolo Vivinossa?

Finds Barolo wines and compares their Vivino ratings

📈 Wine Comparison

Vertaile näiden viinien Vivino-arvosanoja: Amarone, Brunello di Montalcino

Compares Vivino ratings for premium Italian wines

Data Sources

Product Catalog

• Source: Alko's public Excel price list
• URL: https://www.alko.fi/.../alkon-hinnasto-tekstitiedostona.xlsx
• Products: ~11,900
• Update: Run npm run sync-data

Store Data

• Source: Scraped from alko.fi store finder
• Stores: ~360
• Includes: Name, address, opening hours (today/tomorrow)
• Update: Run npm run sync-stores

Enriched Product Data

• Source: Scraped from individual product pages
• Includes: Taste profile, usage tips, serving suggestions, food pairings, certificates, ingredients
• Cached: Persisted to Firestore after first scrape

Product Fields

Field	Description
id	Product ID (e.g., "004246")
name	Product name
producer	Producer/manufacturer
price	Price in EUR
pricePerLiter	Price per liter
bottleSize	Volume (e.g., "0.75 l")
type	Category (punaviinit, valkoviinit, oluet, etc.)
subtype	Flavor profile (e.g., "Mehevä & Hilloinen")
country	Country of origin
region	Wine region
alcoholPercentage	Alcohol %
description	Taste description from Excel
tasteProfile	Detailed taste (enriched, scraped)
usageTips	Usage suggestions (enriched)
servingSuggestion	Serving temperature (enriched)
foodPairings	Food pairing symbols (enriched)
certificates	Certification labels: Luomu, Vegaani, etc. (enriched)
ingredients	Producer declared ingredients (enriched)
assortment	vakiovalikoima, tilausvalikoima, etc.

Development

npm run build        # Compile TypeScript
npm run dev          # Run with tsx watch mode
npm run test         # Run tests in watch mode
npm run test:run     # Run tests once (232 tests)
npm run typecheck    # Type check
npm run sync-data    # Sync products from Excel
npm run sync-stores  # Scrape stores from website
npm run export-seed  # Export data to seed file (with diff)

Logs

tail -f /tmp/alko-mcp.log

Deployment to Google Cloud Run

# Enable APIs
gcloud services enable run.googleapis.com firestore.googleapis.com

# Create Firestore database
gcloud firestore databases create --location=europe-north1

# Deploy
gcloud run deploy alko-mcp \
  --source . \
  --region europe-north1 \
  --memory 1Gi \
  --set-env-vars="MCP_TRANSPORT=http"

Legal Disclaimer

• The Alko price list is publicly available data
• Web scraping respects rate limits (2s between requests)
• This is an unofficial project not affiliated with Alko Oy
• Alcohol products can only be purchased by persons 18+ in Finland

License

MIT License