Magisterium

[ARCHIVED] Built in 2025 before an official Magisterium MCP server existed, for personal use in Cursor. Archived now that I've moved tooling and the gap this filled has closed. Kept as a reference example of an MCP server integrating an external API — demonstrating early MCP adoption, end-to-end deployment, and AI-assistant integration.

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Magisterium MCP Server

An MCP server that provides AI assistants with access to the Magisterium API for authoritative Catholic Church teaching with citations.

Exposes one tool — magisterium_query — that any MCP-compatible client (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, etc.) can call.

Remote MCP Endpoint

The server is hosted at https://magisterium.stephens.page/mcp — no local install required.

Claude Code

Add to ~/.claude/settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "magisterium": {
      "type": "url",
      "url": "https://magisterium.stephens.page/mcp"
    }
  }
}

OpenClaw

Add to ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json. OpenClaw's URL-based transport is in the schema but not yet fully supported at runtime (#55087), so use the stdio transport with a local install for now:

{
  mcp: {
    servers: {
      "magisterium": {
        command: "/bin/bash",
        args: ["/path/to/magisterium_mcp_server/run-magisterium.sh"],
      },
    },
  },
}

Once OpenClaw ships native HTTP MCP support, you can switch to the remote endpoint:

{
  mcp: {
    servers: {
      "magisterium": {
        url: "https://magisterium.stephens.page/mcp",
      },
    },
  },
}

See the Local Setup section below for install instructions.

Claude Desktop / Cursor / Other MCP Clients

Use the Streamable HTTP URL https://magisterium.stephens.page/mcp in your client's MCP configuration. Refer to your client's docs for the exact format.

Local Setup (Optional)

If you prefer to run the server locally via stdio:

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ (check with node --version)
• Magisterium API key from magisterium.com

Install

git clone https://github.com/JacobStephens2/magisterium_mcp_server.git
cd magisterium_mcp_server
npm install
npm run build

Create a .env file with your API key (see .env.example):

MAGISTERIUM_API_KEY=sk_your_key_here

Verify it works:

npm test

Configuring MCP Clients for Local Use

Add to your MCP config (claude_desktop_config.json for Desktop, ~/.claude/settings.json for Claude Code):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "magisterium": {
      "command": "/bin/bash",
      "args": ["/path/to/magisterium_mcp_server/run-magisterium.sh"]
    }
  }
}

Tool: magisterium_query

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
query	string	yes	—	Question about Catholic Church teaching
model	string	no	magisterium-1	Model to use
return_related_questions	boolean	no	true	Include related questions in response

Example

{
  "name": "magisterium_query",
  "arguments": {
    "query": "What does the Catholic Church teach about the Eucharist?"
  }
}

The response includes the formatted teaching text, citations with document titles and authors, and optionally related follow-up questions.

Architecture

The server runs as a single Express process serving three endpoints:

• / — Static frontend
• /api/query — REST API for the frontend
• /mcp — Streamable HTTP MCP endpoint for AI agents

Apache reverse-proxies /api and /mcp to the Node.js backend; TLS is terminated at the edge via Let's Encrypt.

Development

npm run build    # Compile TypeScript to dist/
npm run dev      # Watch mode — auto-rebuild on changes
npm start        # Run the stdio MCP server
npm run web      # Run the web server (REST API + MCP endpoint)
npm test         # Test server responds to MCP handshake

The main source files are web-server.ts (Express server with REST + MCP endpoints) and mcp-magisterium.ts (stdio MCP server). After editing, run npm run build to recompile.

Troubleshooting

"Cannot find module" errors — Run npm install then npm run build.

"MAGISTERIUM_API_KEY environment variable is not set" — Ensure .env exists in the project root with your API key. The run-magisterium.sh wrapper script cds to the correct directory so dotenv can find it.

Server works manually but not in MCP client — Use the run-magisterium.sh wrapper script (not node directly). It ensures the working directory is correct regardless of how the client spawns the process.

"0 tools enabled" in Cursor — Fully quit and restart Cursor after adding the config. Check that the path in your config is correct and run-magisterium.sh is executable (chmod +x run-magisterium.sh).