Tidymodels MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides tools and resources for working with the tidymodels ecosystem in R.

Overview

While this MCP server is extensible for use with tool-agnostic agentic AI workflows, in it's current form it can be paired with Cline.bot and Claude Desktop as a local MCP server. The purpose of this MCP is to monitor the tidymodels ecosystem, specifically the GitHub repositories under the tidymodels organization, providing comprehensive information about tidymodels packages, functions, and common workflows.

Currently, I'm getting better MCP performance when paired with Cline to:

List all packages in the tidymodels ecosystem
Provide detailed information about specific packages
Search for R functions across tidymodels packages
Generate template code for common tidymodels tasks
Search for issues in tidymodels repositories

Installation

Prerequisites

Node.js (v14 or later)
npm

Setup

Clone this repository:
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/tidymodels-mcp.git cd tidymodels-mcp
Install dependencies:
npm install
Build the server:
npm run build

Configuration

GitHub Token (Optional)

The server can use a GitHub token to avoid rate limits when accessing the GitHub API. To provide a token:

Create a personal access token with the public_repo scope.
Add it to your configuration as shown below.

Adding to Cline in Visual Studio Code, Positron, and OSS Code IDEs

After you've installed Cline's VS Code extension, navigate to its MCP Servers marketplace where you can configure local MCP server settings. Then, add the JSON to Cline's cline_mcp_settings.json (if you want to autoapprove the core tools within this MCP server library, keep the names shown in the autoApprove list):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tidymodels": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/tidymodels-mcp/js/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_TOKEN": "your-github-token"
      },
      "disabled": false,
      "autoApprove": [
        "list_tidymodels_packages",
        "get_package_details",
        "search_r_functions",
        "generate_tidymodels_code",
        "search_issues"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Adding to Claude Desktop

To use this MCP server with Claude Desktop, add it to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tidymodels": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/tidymodels-mcp/js/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_TOKEN": "your-github-token"
      },
      "disabled": false,
      "autoApprove": []
    }
  }
}

The config file is typically located at:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Available Tools

The server provides the following tools:

list_tidymodels_packages

Lists all packages in the tidymodels ecosystem.

Arguments:
- refresh (optional): Force a refresh of the repository cache

get_package_details

Get detailed information about a specific tidymodels package.

Arguments:
- package (required): Package name

search_r_functions

Search for R functions in tidymodels packages.

Arguments:
- query (required): Function name or keyword to search for
- package (optional): Limit search to a specific package

generate_tidymodels_code

Generate R code for common tidymodels tasks.

Arguments:
- task (required): Description of the task
- template (optional): Type of template (recipe, model, tune, evaluation)

search_issues

Search for issues in tidymodels repositories.

Arguments:
- query (required): Search query
- repo (optional): Limit search to a specific repository
- state (optional): Issue state (open, closed, all)

Available Resources

The server also provides access to:

All repositories in the tidymodels GitHub organization
Documentation about tidymodels packages
Template code for common tasks

Usage Examples

Here are some examples of how to use this MCP server with Cline:

Listing Tidymodels Packages

I'd like to know what packages are available in the tidymodels ecosystem.

Getting Package Details

Can you tell me about the parsnip package in tidymodels?

Searching for Functions

I need to find R functions related to cross-validation in tidymodels.

Generating Code Templates

Generate code for a tidymodels workflow that predicts housing prices using random forests.

Searching Issues

Show me open issues related to recipe preprocessing in tidymodels.

Development

Project Structure

js/: Contains the JavaScript/Node.js server implementation
src/: Contains the TypeScript source (if using TypeScript)
build/: Output directory for build files

Building from Source

If you've made changes to the TypeScript files, you can rebuild the server with:

npm run build

License

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

Acknowledgments

The tidymodels team for their excellent R packages
The Model Context Protocol for enabling enhanced AI capabilities

Integrations