# Testing Simplenote MCP Server with Claude Desktop
**Production Validation Guide for v1.9.0**
This guide helps you test the new v1.9.0 release with its **98% startup performance improvement** and verify that Claude Desktop integration works flawlessly.
---
## 🎯 What's New in v1.9.0
- ✅ **Sub-second startup** (was 55+ seconds, now < 1 second)
- ✅ **Fixed Claude Desktop timeout** issue completely
- ✅ **Non-blocking cache initialization** with background loading
- ✅ **Graceful empty cache handling** during startup
- ✅ **Zero regressions** - all existing functionality maintained
---
## ✅ Prerequisites
1. **Claude Desktop** installed on your system
2. **Simplenote account** with email and password
3. **Python 3.10+** installed
4. **Git repository** updated to latest version with the timeout fix
---
## 🚀 Installation Steps
### Option 1: Direct Python Installation (Recommended for Testing)
1. **Update to latest version**:
```bash
cd simplenote-mcp-server
git pull origin main
```
2. **Install in development mode**:
```bash
pip install -e .
```
3. **Verify installation**:
```bash
python -c "from simplenote_mcp.server import run_main; print('✅ Installation successful')"
```
### Option 2: Install from PyPI
```bash
pip install --upgrade simplenote-mcp-server
```
---
## ⚙️ Configuration
### 1. Set Environment Variables
**macOS/Linux**:
```bash
export SIMPLENOTE_EMAIL="your-email@example.com"
export SIMPLENOTE_PASSWORD="your-password"
export SIMPLENOTE_LOG_LEVEL="INFO" # Optional: DEBUG for more details
```
**Windows (PowerShell)**:
```powershell
$env:SIMPLENOTE_EMAIL="your-email@example.com"
$env:SIMPLENOTE_PASSWORD="your-password"
$env:SIMPLENOTE_LOG_LEVEL="INFO"
```
### 2. Configure Claude Desktop
Edit your Claude Desktop configuration file:
**macOS**: `~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`
**Windows**: `%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json`
Add the following configuration:
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"simplenote": {
"command": "python",
"args": ["-m", "simplenote_mcp.server"],
"env": {
"SIMPLENOTE_EMAIL": "your-email@example.com",
"SIMPLENOTE_PASSWORD": "your-password",
"SIMPLENOTE_LOG_LEVEL": "INFO"
}
}
}
}
```
**Using absolute path** (if Python not in PATH):
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"simplenote": {
"command": "/full/path/to/python",
"args": ["-m", "simplenote_mcp.server"],
"env": {
"SIMPLENOTE_EMAIL": "your-email@example.com",
"SIMPLENOTE_PASSWORD": "your-password"
}
}
}
}
```
---
## 🧪 Testing Steps
### 1. Restart Claude Desktop
1. **Quit Claude Desktop completely** (Cmd+Q on macOS)
2. **Wait 5 seconds**
3. **Relaunch Claude Desktop**
### 2. Check Connection Status
In Claude Desktop, look for:
- ✅ **"simplenote" server listed** in available MCP servers
- ✅ **Green/connected status indicator**
- ✅ **No error messages** in the UI
### 3. Test Basic Functionality
Try these commands in Claude Desktop:
**List Notes**:
```
Show me my Simplenote notes
```
**Search Notes**:
```
Search my notes for "project"
```
**Create Note**:
```
Create a new note with content: "Test note from Claude Desktop v1.9.0"
```
---
## ⚡ v1.9.0 Specific Validation
### Performance Testing
**Expected**: Server should start in **< 1 second**
1. **Check Startup Time**:
```bash
# Time the server startup
time python -m simplenote_mcp.server --help
# Expected output: real < 1.0s
```
2. **Monitor Claude Desktop Startup**:
- Launch Claude Desktop
- **Expected**: Immediate response, no timeout errors
- **Expected**: Tools available within 1-2 seconds
- **Previous issue**: 55+ second timeout and failure
### Functionality Validation
Test all major features to ensure no regressions:
1. **Cache Operations** (Background Loading):
```
# Immediately after startup
Show me all my notes
```
- **Expected**: May return empty initially, then populate
- **Expected**: No errors or crashes
- **New behavior**: Graceful empty cache handling
2. **Search During Background Sync**:
```
Search for "test"
```
- **Expected**: Works immediately even during cache load
- **Expected**: Results improve as cache populates
- **New behavior**: Non-blocking operations
3. **Large Note Collections** (if you have 500+ notes):
- **Expected**: Startup still < 1 second
- **Expected**: Search remains responsive
- **Monitor**: Memory usage should be reasonable
### Log Validation
Check logs for clean operation:
**macOS**:
```bash
tail -f ~/Library/Logs/Claude/mcp*.log
```
**Windows**:
```powershell
Get-Content "$env:APPDATA\Claude\logs\mcp*.log" -Tail 50 -Wait
```
**Expected in logs**:
- ✅ "Server starting" message
- ✅ "Cache initialized (background loading)" message
- ✅ "Background sync started" message
- ✅ No "timeout" errors
- ✅ No "BrokenResourceError" messages
- ✅ No unawaited coroutine warnings
**Should NOT see**:
- ❌ Timeout errors
- ❌ BrokenResourceError
- ❌ RuntimeWarning about coroutines
- ❌ Authentication failures (if credentials correct)
---
## 📊 Success Criteria
Your v1.9.0 installation is working correctly if:
- [ ] ✅ Server starts in < 1 second
- [ ] ✅ Claude Desktop shows "simplenote" server connected
- [ ] ✅ Can list notes immediately
- [ ] ✅ Can search notes without delay
- [ ] ✅ Can create new notes
- [ ] ✅ Can update existing notes
- [ ] ✅ No timeout errors in logs
- [ ] ✅ No error messages in Claude Desktop
- [ ] ✅ Background sync completes without issues
---
## 📊 Expected Behavior
### ✅ Success Indicators
1. **Fast Startup** (< 2 seconds):
- Server connects immediately
- No timeout errors
- Notes appear within 30 seconds as cache loads
2. **Clean Logs**:
```
INFO - MCP server ready in 0.8s (cache loading in background)
INFO - Background cache initialization starting...
INFO - Background cache initialization completed successfully
```
3. **Responsive Operations**:
- List notes returns results immediately (or empty during initial load)
- Search works as cache populates
- Create/update operations succeed
### ❌ Failure Indicators (Should NOT Happen)
1. **Timeout Error**:
```
McpError: MCP error -32001: Request timed out
```
2. **Long Startup** (> 10 seconds):
- Server takes forever to connect
- Claude Desktop shows "Connecting..." for extended time
3. **Error Messages**:
```
anyio.BrokenResourceError
unhandled errors in a TaskGroup
```
---
## 🔍 Monitoring & Logs
### View Real-Time Logs
**macOS**:
```bash
tail -f ~/Library/Logs/Claude/mcp-server-simplenote.log
```
**Windows**:
```powershell
Get-Content "$env:APPDATA\Claude\logs\mcp-server-simplenote.log" -Wait
```
### Key Log Messages to Look For
**✅ Good (Expected)**:
```
INFO - Starting MCP server STDIO transport
INFO - Server components started in 0.12s
INFO - MCP server ready in 0.85s (cache loading in background)
INFO - Background cache initialization starting...
DEBUG - Simplenote API connection successful, received 4031 items
INFO - Background cache initialization completed successfully
```
**❌ Bad (Report if seen)**:
```
ERROR - Error creating STDIO server: unhandled errors
ERROR - Request timed out
RuntimeWarning: coroutine 'LogPatternMonitor._process_log_line' was never awaited
anyio.BrokenResourceError
```
---
## 🐛 Troubleshooting
### Issue: Server Not Connecting
**Check**:
1. Environment variables are set correctly
2. Python path is correct in config
3. Simplenote credentials are valid
**Solution**:
```bash
# Test authentication manually
python -c "from simplenote import Simplenote; s = Simplenote('email', 'pass'); print(s.get_note_list())"
```
### Issue: Slow Startup (But Eventually Works)
**This might be expected** if you have many notes (4000+):
- Initial connection should be < 2 seconds
- Cache loading happens in background (may take 20-30 seconds)
- Server remains responsive during loading
**Not expected**:
- Startup taking > 10 seconds before responding
- Timeout errors before connection established
### Issue: Notes Not Appearing
**Check**:
1. Look at logs - is cache initialization completing?
2. Wait 30-60 seconds for initial load
3. Try creating a new note to verify write access
---
## 📈 Performance Benchmarks
### Expected Timing
| Operation | Time | Notes |
|-----------|------|-------|
| **Server Startup** | < 1s | Server ready to accept requests |
| **First Response** | < 2s | Initial handshake complete |
| **Cache Load** | 20-30s | Background, non-blocking |
| **List Notes** | < 0.5s | After cache loaded |
| **Search Notes** | < 1s | After cache loaded |
| **Create Note** | 1-3s | API call + cache update |
### Your Results
Fill in after testing:
| Operation | Your Time | Status |
|-----------|-----------|--------|
| Server Startup | ___ s | ✅/❌ |
| First Response | ___ s | ✅/❌ |
| Cache Load | ___ s | ✅/❌ |
| List Notes | ___ s | ✅/❌ |
---
## 🎯 Test Checklist
- [ ] Configured environment variables
- [ ] Updated `claude_desktop_config.json`
- [ ] Restarted Claude Desktop
- [ ] Server appears in MCP servers list
- [ ] Server connects within 2 seconds
- [ ] No timeout errors in logs
- [ ] Can list notes (empty or populated)
- [ ] Can search notes
- [ ] Can create new note
- [ ] Background cache loads successfully
- [ ] All notes appear after cache load
---
## 📞 Getting Help
### If Testing Fails
1. **Check the fix is applied**:
```bash
git log --oneline -1
# Should show: "fix: resolve Claude Desktop timeout..."
```
2. **Verify version**:
```bash
python -c "from simplenote_mcp import __version__; print(__version__)"
# Should be 1.8.1 or higher
```
3. **Review documentation**:
- `CLAUDE_DESKTOP_TIMEOUT_FIX.md` - Technical details
- `PROJECT_IMPROVEMENTS_SUMMARY_2025_01.md` - Complete summary
4. **Report issue**:
- Include log output from `mcp-server-simplenote.log`
- Note timing of each operation
- Specify number of notes in your Simplenote account
---
## ✅ Success!
If all tests pass, you should see:
```
✅ Server starts in < 1 second
✅ No timeout errors
✅ Notes load in background
✅ All operations work smoothly
✅ Clean logs with no warnings
```
**Congratulations!** Your Simplenote MCP Server is working correctly with Claude Desktop.
---
**Last Updated**: January 26, 2025
**Fix Version**: 1.8.1+
**Status**: Ready for Testing
