BingMCP

BingMCP is a FastMCP server that gives an LLM live access to useful Binghamton University campus data. It supports local stdio clients and Streamable HTTP clients, including Baxter or another MCP-compatible frontend.

The server discovers the existing tools from tools/*/tool.py at startup. No API credentials are required for the public campus data sources.

Current tools

• get_laundry_availability(building: str) — current washer and dryer state
• get_bus_locations() — live bus positions and arrival estimates
• get_dining_status(hall: str) — current Bearcat Dining resident-hall or retail hours/status; retail support is hours only
• get_dining_menu(hall: str, date?: str) — normalized dining menus
• get_parking_availability(day?: str, lot?: str) — official weekday parking availability estimates from TAPS; not a live occupancy feed
• get_gym_capacity() — East Gym occupancy and open/closed status
• get_available_library_rooms(library?: str, category?: str) — currently available study rooms
• get_bengaged_events(limit?: int, offset?: int, search?: str) — upcoming B-Engaged events
• test_tool(message: str) — the existing protocol smoke-test tool

Every tool returns a structured result. When an upstream source is unavailable, the tool returns:

{
  "status": "unavailable",
  "reason": "..."
}

Bearcat Dining integration

The dining tools use Binghamton’s current Bearcat Dining provider through the official Dine On Campus Binghamton site, not the retired Sodexo integration.

The adapter dynamically resolves the Binghamton site and dining-location IDs, so it is resilient to provider-side ID changes. It reads:

• public site metadata and dining locations;
• weekly schedules for current hall hours and open/closed status;
• meal periods and per-period menu data, including stations, items, portions, calories, dietary filters, nutrients, and allergens.

Supported resident halls and aliases include Hinman, CIW (College-in-the-Woods), C4 (Chenango Champlain), and Appalachian/ACC. Dining-hours status also resolves current Bearcat Dining retail locations such as Starbucks, B3, Chick-n-Bap, Dunkin', Panera Bread, The Quiet Cup, and Bearcat Express. Retail locations intentionally support hours/status only; get_dining_menu remains resident-hall-only. get_dining_menu accepts these date formats:

• YYYY-MM-DD
• MM-DD-YYYY
• MM/DD/YYYY
• YYYY/MM/DD

The public API base URL and site slug can be overridden for testing with BEARCAT_DINING_API_URL and BEARCAT_DINING_SITE_SLUG.

Project layout

BingMCP/
  server.py
  cache.py
  run.sh
  requirements.txt
  test_dining.py
  test_parking.py
  test_mcp.py
  test_tools.py
  tools/
    bus/tool.py
    dining/tool.py
    events/tool.py
    gym/tool.py
    laundry/tool.py
    library/tool.py
    parking/tool.py
    test_tool/tool.py

Requirements and setup

• Python 3.10+

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
python -m pip install -r requirements.txt

Or use the helper script:

./run.sh

Running the server

stdio (default)

python server.py

Use stdio for local MCP clients that launch the server as a subprocess.

Streamable HTTP

python server.py --transport http
# or
./run.sh --transport http

The HTTP server listens on localhost:8000 and exposes MCP at:

http://localhost:8000/mcp

For a frontend, run the backend with --transport http. If tools appear stale or the endpoint returns 404, stop any older process still using port 8000 and start the server again.

Testing

Run the deterministic Bearcat adapter contract tests:

python -m unittest -v test_dining.py

Run the deterministic parking adapter contract tests:

python -m unittest -v test_parking.py

To test the full MCP protocol over HTTP, start the server in one terminal and run this in a second terminal:

python server.py --transport http
python test_mcp.py

test_mcp.py discovers the registered tools and calls each endpoint, including Bearcat retail hours, parking availability, and the smoke-test tool. test_tools.py is the live upstream smoke test; it calls the external campus APIs and therefore depends on network access and the current operating hours of each service.

Other data sources

• Laundry: LaundryView
• Bus: ETA Spot
• Gym: https://binggym.com/api/gym
• Library: Binghamton LibCal
• Events: B-Engaged mobile events endpoint
• Parking: Binghamton TAPS parking availability

Each source has its own in-memory TTL and background refresh interval in cache.py. A tool fetch registers the requested key with the server; later calls are served from memory while the server refreshes that key before its TTL expires. Concurrent calls for the same uncached key share one upstream request, so the API is not queried once per MCP request. The events tool uses the same server-lifetime approach with a full upcoming-event snapshot that is refreshed every 15 minutes.

Current cache policy:

Source	Cache TTL	Background refresh
Bus	20 seconds	15 seconds
Laundry	45 seconds	30 seconds
Gym	2 minutes	90 seconds
Library	1 minute	45 seconds
Dining	5 minutes	4 minutes
Parking	15 minutes	12 minutes

The cache is process-local and is cleared when the server restarts. Only keys that have been requested are refreshed, avoiding polling unused buildings, room categories, or menu dates.