TA-Lib MCP Server

Technical analysis indicators MCP server and HTTP API for the Model Context Protocol.

Quick Start

# Install dependencies
uv sync --dev

# Copy logging configuration
cp logging.conf.example logging.conf

# Run MCP server with STDIO transport (default)
uv run python -m mcp_talib.cli --mode mcp --transport stdio

# Run MCP server with HTTP transport
uv run python -m mcp_talib.cli --mode mcp --transport http --port 8000

# Run HTTP API server only
uv run python -m mcp_talib.cli --mode api --port 8001

# Run CLI tools directly
uv run python -m mcp_talib.cli_tools list
uv run python -m mcp_talib.cli_tools call sma --close '[1,2,3,4,5]' --timeperiod 3

Architecture

This project provides three independent access methods:

1. MCP Server (--mode mcp)

• Pure MCP protocol implementation exposing all TA-Lib indicators as MCP tools
• Supports both STDIO and HTTP transports
• For use with MCP clients (Claude Desktop, MCP Inspector, MCP.js, etc.)
• No REST endpoints

Run with STDIO (for Claude Desktop):

uv run python -m mcp_talib.cli --mode mcp --transport stdio

Run with HTTP (for MCP Inspector or web clients):

uv run python -m mcp_talib.cli --mode mcp --transport http --port 8000
# Then connect MCP Inspector to http://localhost:8000/mcp

2. HTTP API Server (--mode api)

• Pure REST API with /api/tools/* JSON endpoints
• For programmatic HTTP access to indicators
• No MCP protocol, just clean REST

Run HTTP API:

uv run python -m mcp_talib.cli --mode api --port 8001

Example request:

curl -X POST http://localhost:8001/api/tools/sma \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"close": [1,2,3,4,5], "timeperiod": 3}'

3. CLI Tools

Direct command-line access to all indicators via Typer:

uv run python -m mcp_talib.cli_tools list
uv run python -m mcp_talib.cli_tools call sma --close '[1,2,3,4,5]' --timeperiod 3

Features

• All TA-Lib Overlap Studies: BBANDS, DEMA, EMA, HT_TRENDLINE, KAMA, MA, MAMA, MAVP, MIDPOINT, MIDPRICE, SAR, SAREXT, SMA, T3, TEMA, TRIMA, WMA
• Three Access Methods: MCP, HTTP REST, CLI
• Dual Transport: STDIO and HTTP for MCP
• Cross-platform: Works on Linux, macOS, Windows
• Comprehensive Testing: 26+ unit and integration tests
• Error Handling: Detailed error messages and validation

Logging Configuration

The server requires a logging.conf file for configuration. Copy the example:

cp logging.conf.example logging.conf

Customize logging levels, format, and output file in logging.conf. The server logs to console.log to maintain MCP protocol compliance.

Client Configuration

Claude Desktop Integration

1. Create a configuration file at ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or appropriate location for your OS.

2. Add the MCP server configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "talib": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "python",
        "-m",
        "mcp_talib.cli",
        "--mode",
        "mcp",
        "--transport",
        "stdio"
      ],
      "cwd": "/path/to/mcp-talib"
    }
  }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop to load the TA-Lib server.

4. Verify installation by asking Claude: "What technical analysis tools do you have?"

MCP Inspector (HTTP)

For HTTP transport, configure MCP Inspector to connect to:

http://localhost:8000/mcp

Run the MCP server with HTTP:

uv run python -m mcp_talib.cli --mode mcp --transport http --port 8000

Important: The HTTP transport includes CORS middleware to support browser-based MCP clients like MCP Inspector. If you're behind a reverse proxy or need to restrict access, update the allow_origins setting in transport/http.py.

MCP.js Client Example

import { MCPServerClient } from '@modelcontextprotocol/client';

const client = new MCPServerClient({
  name: 'talib',
  command: 'uv',
  args: ['run', 'python', '-m', 'mcp_talib.cli', '--mode', 'mcp', '--transport', 'stdio'],
  cwd: process.cwd()
});

// List available tools
const tools = await client.listTools();
console.log('Available tools:', tools.map(t => t.name));

// Calculate SMA
const smaResult = await client.callTool('calculate_sma', {
  close_prices: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10],
  timeperiod: 5
});
console.log('SMA result:', smaResult);

HTTP API Client (Python)

import requests

# List available tools
response = requests.get('http://localhost:8001/api/tools')
tools = response.json()['tools']
print('Available tools:', tools)

# Calculate SMA
payload = {
    'close': [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10],
    'timeperiod': 5
}
response = requests.post('http://localhost:8001/api/tools/sma', json=payload)
result = response.json()
print('SMA result:', result['values'])

Available Tools

The server provides MCP tools and HTTP endpoints for all TA-Lib overlap studies:

• calculate_sma - Simple Moving Average
• calculate_ema - Exponential Moving Average
• calculate_rsi - Relative Strength Index
• calculate_bbands - Bollinger Bands
• calculate_dema - Double Exponential Moving Average
• calculate_ht_trendline - Hilbert Transform Trendline
• calculate_kama - Kaufman Adaptive Moving Average
• calculate_ma - Moving Average (with matype)
• calculate_mama - MESA Adaptive Moving Average
• calculate_mavp - Moving Average Variable Period
• calculate_midpoint - Midpoint
• calculate_midprice - Midpoint Price
• calculate_sar - Parabolic SAR
• calculate_sarext - Parabolic SAR Extended
• calculate_t3 - T3 Moving Average
• calculate_tema - Triple Exponential Moving Average
• calculate_trima - Triangular Moving Average
• calculate_wma - Weighted Moving Average

Development

# Run all tests
uv run pytest

# Run specific test file
uv run pytest tests/unit/test_sma.py -v

# Run with coverage
uv run pytest --cov=src/mcp_talib

# Format code
uv run black src/ tests/
uv run isort src/ tests/

# Lint code
uv run ruff check src/ tests/

TA-Lib Platform Requirements

This project uses the ta-lib Python bindings which require the native TA-Lib C library. On CI or developer machines, you must install the system TA-Lib library before installing Python dependencies.

Links and notes:

• TA-Lib (C library): https://ta-lib.org/ (download and build instructions)
• ta-lib-python (Python bindings): https://github.com/TA-Lib/ta-lib-python

Example (Ubuntu) CI steps:

# Install build dependencies
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y build-essential wget

# Download and build TA-Lib C library
wget http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/ta-lib/ta-lib-0.4.0-src.tar.gz
tar -xzf ta-lib-0.4.0-src.tar.gz
cd ta-lib
./configure --prefix=/usr
make
sudo make install

# Then install Python package
pip install TA-Lib

If you prefer not to build the C library, use pre-built wheels where available or run tests in an environment that provides TA-Lib (e.g., manylinux CI images).

HTTP API & CLI

This project exposes the same MCP tools as both HTTP JSON endpoints and a Typed CLI (Typer).

HTTP Endpoint

POST /api/tools/{tool_name}

Request JSON: { "close": [..], ...params } (e.g., timeperiod)

Response JSON: { "success": true, "values": [...], "metadata": {...} }

Example:

curl -X POST http://localhost:8000/api/tools/sma \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"close": [1,2,3,4,5], "timeperiod": 3}'

MCP Endpoint

The MCP endpoint remains at /mcp for MCP clients (MCP Inspector, MCP.js, etc.). The HTTP API mounts the MCP app so both APIs coexist.

CLI (Typer)

Access tools from the command line via src/mcp_talib/cli_tools.py:

List available tools:

uv run python -m mcp_talib.cli_tools list

Call a tool:

uv run python -m mcp_talib.cli_tools call sma --close '[1,2,3,4,5]' --timeperiod 3

Implementation Notes

• Requests are validated using Pydantic
• The underlying indicator implementations are the single source of truth (registered in the MCP registry)
• HTTP API and CLI call the same code so results match exactly
• For browser clients, CORS is enabled and mcp-session-id is exposed in responses

License

MIT