Holochain Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server built with Effect TS that provides AI agents with access to Holochain documentation, including:

• Holochain Developer Documentation
• HDK (Holochain Development Kit) Rust Documentation
• HDI (Holochain Deterministic Integrity) Rust Documentation

Features

• Built with Effect TS: Leverages Effect's powerful type-safe error handling, concurrent operations, and functional programming patterns
• Search across all Holochain docs: Find relevant information across developer guides, HDK, and HDI documentation
• Fetch complete documentation pages: Get the full content of specific documentation pages
• HDK function lookup: Get detailed documentation for specific HDK functions
• Concept explanations: Access explanations of key Holochain concepts like source chain, DHT, links, etc.
• Module listing: Browse available HDK modules and their functions
• Robust error handling: Type-safe error management with Effect's error model

Available Tools

1. search_holochain_docs

Search across all Holochain documentation sources.

Parameters:

• query (string, required): Search query
• source (string, optional): Specific source to search ("all", "developer", "hdk", "hdi")

2. fetch_holochain_doc

Fetch the complete content of a specific documentation page.

Parameters:

• url (string, required): URL of the documentation page

3. get_hdk_function

Get documentation for a specific HDK function.

Parameters:

• functionName (string, required): Name of the HDK function (e.g., "create_entry", "get_links")

4. get_holochain_concept

Get documentation for Holochain concepts.

Parameters:

• concept (string, required): Concept name (e.g., "source chain", "dht", "links")

5. list_hdk_modules

List available HDK modules and their main functions.

Parameters: None

Installation

1. Clone this repository:

git clone https://github.com/soushi888/holochain-mcp
cd holochain-mcp

2. Install dependencies:

npm install

3. Build the project:

npm run build

Usage

With Claude Desktop

Add the following to your Claude Desktop configuration file (~/claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "holochain-docs": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/holochain-mcp/build/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

With Claude Code CLI

claude mcp add-json holochain-docs '{
  "command": "node",
  "args": ["/absolute/path/to/holochain-mcp/build/index.js"],
  "env": {}
}' -s user

With other MCP clients

Run the server directly:

npm start

Or use it as a module in your MCP-compatible application.

Development

Running in development mode

npm run dev

Testing with MCP Inspector

npm run inspector

Then open http://localhost:4000 in your browser to test the tools interactively.

Examples

Search for information about entries

Use the search_holochain_docs tool with query "create entry"

Get specific HDK function documentation

Use the get_hdk_function tool with functionName "create_entry"

Learn about Holochain concepts

Use the get_holochain_concept tool with concept "source chain"

Fetch a specific documentation page

Use the fetch_holochain_doc tool with url "https://developer.holochain.org/concepts/3_source_chain"

Architecture

The server is built using:

• Effect TS: Functional programming library with type-safe error handling and concurrency
• @effect/platform: Effect's platform abstractions for HTTP and other system operations
• @modelcontextprotocol/sdk: Official MCP TypeScript SDK
• cheerio: Server-side jQuery for parsing HTML content
• puppeteer: Browser automation for dynamic content fetching
• Effect Schema: Schema validation and parsing for tool inputs
• fuse.js: Fuzzy search functionality

Effect TS Benefits

This implementation showcases Effect TS features:

• Type-safe error handling: All errors are typed and handled explicitly
• Dependency injection: Services are properly layered and injected
• Concurrent operations: Multiple documentation sources are searched concurrently
• Functional composition: Clean, composable code using Effect's pipe and combinators
• Resource management: Automatic cleanup and resource management

Dual Fetching Strategy

The server uses two different approaches for fetching documentation:

• Puppeteer: Used for developer.holochain.org to handle dynamic content and JavaScript-rendered pages
• Standard HTTP: Used for docs.rs (HDK/HDI) static Rust documentation

The HolochainDocumentationService handles:

• Searching developer documentation by scraping common pages
• Searching Rust documentation (HDK/HDI) by checking module pages
• Fetching and parsing complete documentation pages
• Mapping function names and concepts to their documentation URLs

All operations are wrapped in Effect programs with proper error handling and resource management.

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Add tests if applicable
5. Submit a pull request

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Related Projects

• Effect MCP - MCP server for Effect documentation (inspiration for this project)
• Model Context Protocol - Official MCP repositories
• Holochain - The Holochain core repository

Support

• Holochain Forum
• Holochain Discord
• Issues