Task tutorial

Verify a local MCP SMILES tool over stdio

Start the local MCP server, send a legacy JSON-RPC handshake and parse request, and inspect the structured result without a hosted endpoint.

You will make

A proven local stdio response for benzene before registering the command in an MCP client.

Steps

Clone the source repository and enter its directory.
Send the three newline-delimited JSON-RPC messages shown to the local stdio server.
Confirm valid=true, atoms=6, bonds=6, and mol_weight=78.114 in the response.
Only then register cargo run -p chematic-mcp --release --quiet in your MCP client configuration.

git clone https://github.com/kent-tokyo/chematic.git
cd chematic
printf '%s\n' \
  '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"initialize","params":{"protocolVersion":"2024-11-05","capabilities":{}}}' \
  '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"notifications/initialized","params":{}}' \
  '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":3,"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"parse_smiles","arguments":{"smiles":"c1ccccc1"}}}' \
  | cargo run -p chematic-mcp --release --quiet

Expected result

The final JSON-RPC response contains a text payload with valid=true, atoms=6, bonds=6, mol_weight=78.114, and the canonical input SMILES.

If it does not work

This is a local stdio server, not a remote URL. If no response appears, check the working directory and make sure the client or shell is not adding interactive prompts to the server command.

Next action

Read the local MCP integration guide