The MCP Server exposes your analysis results to an AI client through the Model Context Protocol. It runs on your machine, reads your local files, and answers over stdio. No analysis data is uploaded by the server itself, though whatever the AI client then sends to its own model provider is governed by that client, not by MTC Skopos.
This is a different feature from the built-in AI Assistant, which runs inside the application and has its own anonymization layer. Use the MCP server when you want to work in Claude Code or Claude Desktop; use the AI Assistant when you want to stay in the application.
Prerequisites
- A valid licence. Every tool call checks it
- A
mtc-skopos.datafile in the same directory as the MCP server executable - At least one completed analysis, saved where that file points
The mtc-skopos.data file
This is the configuration the desktop application writes. Copy it next to the MCP server executable, or run the server from the application's own folder. The server reads two things from it:
| Key | Used for |
|---|---|
datasource | The configured data sources, their names and system types, so the server can load one on request |
analysis_criteria.save_directory | Where to look for analysis logs |
Because the configuration comes from the application, the normal setup is to run one analysis in MTC Skopos first, confirm the save directory, and only then point the MCP server at it. A missing or unreadable mtc-skopos.data does not stop the server starting, but every tool call fails with a message saying it cannot be loaded, which is the error to expect if the file is in the wrong place.
Transport
The server communicates over stdio. Standard output carries the protocol and standard error carries logging, which matters if you wrap the server in a script: anything your wrapper prints to stdout corrupts the protocol stream.
Clients differ in what they support. Claude Code launches stdio servers directly. Some desktop clients historically supported only HTTP transports, so check your client's current MCP documentation if a stdio server is not detected.
Registering the server
Claude Code:
claude mcp add skopos /path/to/mcp-server
Claude Desktop: add the server under MCP servers in settings, pointing at the executable.
Other clients: configure the executable path in whatever MCP configuration the client uses.
Confirming it works
Ask the client to call init_session. A working setup returns the list of configured data sources, each with its name and system type. An error naming mtc-skopos.data means the configuration file was not found or not readable; an error about the licence means the licence check failed.