MCP Chat System

A practical example of integrating Model Context Protocol (MCP) with OpenAI's function calling API, featuring a custom HTTP server implementation.

Why this project? FastMCP primarily uses STDIO transport, which isn't ideal for HTTP-based clients. This project demonstrates how to build a complete HTTP transport layer for MCP, enabling RESTful API access and better integration with web applications.

📋 Table of Contents

• Architecture
• Key Features
• Quick Start
• Usage
• HTTP API Endpoints
• Technical Details
• Example Tools
• Troubleshooting
• License

🏗️ Architecture

This project demonstrates how to build a complete MCP-powered chat system with the following components:

• server.py: Base MCP server defining tools, resources, and prompts for sales analytics
• http_server.py: FastAPI-based HTTP server exposing MCP functionality via REST API
• http_client.py: HTTP client for communicating with the MCP server
• chat.py: Interactive REPL chat client integrating OpenAI with MCP over HTTP

✨ Key Features

• ✅ Proper tool call handling: Correctly formats OpenAI function calls for MCP
• ✅ HTTP transport: Custom HTTP implementation for MCP (FastMCP uses STDIO by default)
• ✅ Dynamic tool execution: LLM automatically decides when to use tools based on user queries
• ✅ Rich terminal UI: Beautiful formatting with colors, markdown, and loading animations
• ✅ Resource management: Static and templated resources
• ✅ Optional prompt templates: Reusable templates for multi-client scenarios (not required for single chatbot)
• ✅ Error handling: Comprehensive error handling and informative messages

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Python 3.12+
• uv package manager
• OpenAI API key

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone <repository-url>
cd mcptests

1. Install dependencies:

uv sync

1. Create a .env file in the project root:

# .env
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-your-api-key-here
OPENAI_MODEL=gpt-4o-mini
MCP_BASE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:8001/mcp
DOCS_DB=biz.sqlite

# Optional server configuration
MCP_SERVER_NAME=biz-server
DEFAULT_TOP_N=5

Note: Never commit your .env file to version control. It contains sensitive API keys.

Running the System

Terminal 1 - Start the MCP Server:

chmod +x start_server.sh
./start_server.sh

Or manually:

uv run python http_server.py

Terminal 2 - Start the Chat Client:

chmod +x start_chat.sh
./start_chat.sh

Or manually:

uv run python chat.py

📚 Usage

Available Commands

• /tools - List available tools
• /resources - List available resources
• /read <uri> - Read a specific resource
• /prompt <name> key=value ... - Prepare a prompt template
• /exit or /quit - Exit the chat

Example Session

you> /tools
- find_products: Return products whose name or id contains the query...
- sales_between: Aggregate sales between [date_start, date_end]...
- top_products: Top-N products by sales amount...

you> Find products containing "laptop"
assistant> [Uses find_products tool and displays results]

you> /prompt summarize_sales date_start=2024-01-01 date_end=2024-01-31
✅ Prompt 'summarize_sales' prepared for the next message.

you> Analyze the sales
assistant> [Generates analysis using the prepared prompt]

🔌 HTTP API Endpoints

The HTTP server exposes the following endpoints:

• GET /mcp/tools - List all available tools
• GET /mcp/prompts - List all available prompts
• GET /mcp/resources - List all available resources
• POST /mcp/tools/call - Execute a tool

  {"name": "tool_name", "arguments": {...}}
  

• POST /mcp/prompts/get - Get a prompt with parameters

  {"name": "prompt_name", "arguments": {...}}
  

• GET /mcp/resources/read/{uri} - Read a resource
• GET /health - Health check

🛠️ Technical Details

How It Works

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                          INTERACTION FLOW                               │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

┌──────────┐
│  USER    │  "What products do we have?"
└────┬─────┘
     │
     ▼
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  CHAT CLIENT (chat.py)                                         │
│                                                                │
│  1️⃣  On Startup:                                               │
│     • Connect to MCP server (http_client.py)                   │
│     • Fetch available tools → self.cached_tools                │
│     • Convert to OpenAI format → self.oai_tools_spec           │
│                                                                │
│  2️⃣  On User Message:                                          │
│     messages = [                                               │
│         {"role": "system", "content": "You are..."},           │
│         {"role": "user", "content": "What products..."}        │
│     ]                                                          │
│                                                                │
│     ⚡ TOOLS INJECTION HAPPENS HERE:                            │
│     ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────┐       │
│     │ openai.chat.completions.create(                  │       │
│     │     messages=messages,                           │       │
│     │     tools=self.oai_tools_spec  ← 🔧 MCP TOOLS!   │       │
│     │ )                                                │       │
│     └──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘       │
└────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────┘
                         │
                         ▼
                    ┌─────────────────┐
                    │  OPENAI API     │
                    │  (GPT-4o-mini)  │
                    │                 │
                    │  Analyzes:      │
                    │  • User message │
                    │  • Available    │
                    │    tools 🔧     │
                    │                 │
                    │  Decides:       │
                    │  "I need to use │
                    │   find_products"│
                    └────────┬────────┘
                             │
                             │ Returns tool_calls
                             ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  CHAT CLIENT (chat.py)                                          │
│                                                                 │
│  3️⃣  Receives tool_calls from OpenAI:                           │
│     {                                                           │
│       "tool_calls": [{                                          │
│         "function": {                                           │
│           "name": "find_products",                              │
│           "arguments": '{"query": ""}'                          │
│         }                                                       │
│       }]                                                        │
│     }                                                           │
│                                                                 │
│  4️⃣  Execute tools via HTTP:                                    │
│     result = await mcp.call_tool("find_products", {"query":""}) │
└────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────┘
                         │
                         │ POST /mcp/tools/call
                         ▼
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  HTTP SERVER (http_server.py)                                  │
│                                                                │
│  Receives: {"name": "find_products", "arguments": {...}}       │
│                                                                │
│  Calls: tool.fn(**args)  ────────────────┐                     │
└──────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────┘
                                           │
                                           ▼
                         ┌─────────────────────────────┐
                         │  MCP SERVER (server.py)     │
                         │                             │
                         │  @mcp.tool                  │
                         │  def find_products(...):    │
                         │      # Execute SQL          │
                         │      # Return products      │
                         └──────────────┬──────────────┘
                                        │
                   Returns: [{"id": "p-100", ...}, ...]
                                        │
                                        ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  CHAT CLIENT (chat.py)                                          │
│                                                                 │
│  5️⃣  Receives tool results                                      │
│                                                                 │
│  6️⃣  Sends back to OpenAI:                                      │
│     messages = [                                                │
│         {"role": "system", ...},                                │
│         {"role": "user", "content": "What products..."},        │
│         {"role": "assistant", "tool_calls": [...]},             │
│         {"role": "tool", "content": "[{products...}]"} ← 📊     │
│     ]                                                           │
└────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────┘
                         │
                         ▼
                    ┌─────────────────┐
                    │  OPENAI API     │
                    │  (GPT-4o-mini)  │
                    │                 │
                    │  Synthesizes:   │
                    │  "Here are the  │
                    │   products: ..."│
                    └────────┬────────┘
                             │
                             │ Final response
                             ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  CHAT CLIENT (chat.py)                                          │
│                                                                 │
│  7️⃣  Displays formatted response with Rich                      │
└────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────┘
                         │
                         ▼
                    ┌──────────┐
                    │  USER    │  Sees beautiful formatted response
                    └──────────┘

Key Points

1. Tools are injected ONCE at startup - fetched from MCP server and cached
2. Tools are sent with EVERY message to OpenAI as available options
3. OpenAI decides which tools to call based on the user query
4. Chat executes the tools via HTTP to MCP server
5. Results flow back through the same path to create the final response

Understanding Tools vs Prompts

🔧 Tools (The Core Functionality)

• What they are: Functions that the LLM can call automatically
• When to use: Always needed for dynamic data and actions
• Who decides: The LLM (GPT) decides when to call them based on user queries
• Example flow:

  User: "Show me the products"
  → LLM decides to call find_products()
  → Tool executes and returns data
  → LLM synthesizes natural response
  

💬 Prompts (Optional Templates)

• What they are: Pre-configured message templates with specific instructions
• When to use:
  • ✅ Multiple applications consuming the same MCP server (web app, Slack bot, API)
  • ✅ Standardizing responses across different teams/tools
  • ✅ Clients without their own LLM (using MCP prompts as instructions)
  • ❌ NOT needed for a single chatbot with GPT (like this example)
• How to use: Manually activated with /prompt command
• Example use case:

  # Useful for internal tools with multiple consumers:
  Web Dashboard ─┐
  Slack Bot ─────┼─→ MCP Server (consistent prompts)
  Mobile App ────┘
  

💡 For Building a ChatGPT-style Assistant

If you're building a conversational assistant (like this project), you only need Tools:

• ✅ Tools provide the data and actions
• ✅ GPT handles the conversation and decides when to use tools
• ❌ Prompts are optional (mainly for demonstration/multi-client scenarios)

The prompts in this project serve as examples of MCP's capabilities, but aren't required for the chat to work.

Code-Level Implementation

Where Tools Get Injected

Step 1: Startup - Fetch Tools from MCP Server

# chat.py - ChatHost.start()
async def start(self):
    self.mcp = MCPHttpClient(MCP_BASE_URL)
    
    # Fetch tools from MCP server via HTTP
    self.cached_tools = await self.mcp.list_tools()
    # Returns: [{"name": "find_products", "description": "...", "inputSchema": {...}}, ...]
    
    # Convert to OpenAI function calling format
    self.oai_tools_spec = as_openai_tools(self.cached_tools)
    # Converts to: [{"type": "function", "function": {"name": "...", "parameters": {...}}}, ...]

Step 2: Every Message - Send Tools to OpenAI

# chat.py - ChatHost.chat_round()
async def chat_round(self, user_text: str):
    messages = [
        {"role": "system", "content": "You are..."},
        {"role": "user", "content": user_text}
    ]
    
    # 🔧 TOOLS INJECTED HERE - sent to OpenAI with every message
    first = self.oai.chat.completions.create(
        model=OPENAI_MODEL,
        messages=messages,
        tools=self.oai_tools_spec,      # ← MCP tools in OpenAI format
        tool_choice="auto"               # ← Let OpenAI decide when to use them
    )
    
    # OpenAI returns either:
    # - Regular response, OR
    # - Response with tool_calls

Step 3: Execute Tools When OpenAI Requests Them

# chat.py - ChatHost.chat_round()
if first_msg.tool_calls:
    for tc in first_msg.tool_calls:
        fn = tc.function.name        # e.g., "find_products"
        args = json.loads(tc.function.arguments)  # e.g., {"query": ""}
        
        # Execute tool on MCP server via HTTP
        result = await self.mcp.call_tool(fn, args)
        # ↓
        # POST http://127.0.0.1:8001/mcp/tools/call
        # {"name": "find_products", "arguments": {"query": ""}}

Correct Tool Call Handling

The system properly handles OpenAI's function calling by including tool_calls in the assistant message:

# Build assistant message with tool_calls (REQUIRED by OpenAI)
asst_msg = {"role": "assistant"}
if first_msg.content:
    asst_msg["content"] = first_msg.content

if first_msg.tool_calls:
    # Include tool_calls in assistant message (required by OpenAI API)
    asst_msg["tool_calls"] = [
        {
            "id": tc.id,
            "type": "function", 
            "function": {"name": tc.function.name, "arguments": tc.function.arguments}
        } for tc in first_msg.tool_calls
    ]
    convo.append(asst_msg)
    
    # Then append tool results
    for tc in first_msg.tool_calls:
        result = await mcp.call_tool(...)
        convo.append({
            "role": "tool", 
            "tool_call_id": tc.id,  # Must match the tool_call id
            "content": json.dumps(result)
        })

HTTP Transport for MCP

Since FastMCP 2.x primarily uses STDIO transport, this project implements a custom HTTP layer:

• FastAPI server wraps MCP tools/prompts/resources
• HTTP client provides async interface to the server
• Chat client uses HTTP client instead of FastMCP's STDIO client

🧪 Example Tools

The system includes sample business analytics tools:

• find_products: Search products by name or category
• sales_between: Aggregate sales data for a date range
• top_products: Get top N products by sales volume
• sales_report: Comprehensive sales report with KPIs

📝 Available Prompts (Optional)

Note: These prompts are optional examples. For a single chatbot with GPT (like this project), you only need the Tools above. Prompts are useful when multiple applications share the same MCP server.

• summarize_sales: Generate sales summary for a period
• sales_overview_json: Get JSON-formatted sales overview
• compare_periods_json: Compare two time periods
• category_insights_json: Category-specific analysis
• product_deepdive_markdown: Detailed product analysis
• merchandising_actions_json: Actionable merchandising recommendations
• natural_language_sales_summary: Human-friendly summary (supports multiple languages)

How to use: /prompt <name> key=value ... then ask your question

🐛 Troubleshooting

"Failed to connect to MCP server"

• Ensure the server is running in Terminal 1
• Check that port 8001 is available: lsof -i :8001
• Verify the URL in .env: MCP_BASE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:8001/mcp

"Missing OPENAI_API_KEY"

• Create a .env file with your OpenAI API key
• Format: OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• FastMCP - The MCP framework this project builds upon
• Model Context Protocol - The protocol specification
• OpenAI - For the function calling API

🔗 Related Resources

• Model Context Protocol Specification
• FastMCP Documentation
• OpenAI Function Calling Guide
• FastAPI Documentation

📧 Support

• Check QUICKSTART.md for a quick setup guide
• Review the code comments and docstrings for implementation details
• Open an issue for questions or bug reports

Made with ❤️ as a practical example of MCP integration