DEVCONTEXT MCP

SmartVault MCP (also known as DevContext MCP) is a lightweight, persistent local memory vault and developer scratchpad built on top of the Model Context Protocol (MCP) using the FastMCP framework.

Standard AI chat sessions are inherently stateless — once a chat window closes or context limits are hit, valuable architectural decisions, debugging notes, code snippets, and key project context are lost. SmartVault MCP solves this problem by giving AI assistants (such as Claude Desktop, Cursor, or custom MCP clients) a secure, local structured storage system to read, write, search, and manage notes across chat sessions.

Hands-On MCP Experience

Developer Reflection:
Before building SmartVault MCP, I explored existing MCP implementations (such as the standard Filesystem and Memory MCP servers) within Claude Desktop. Experiencing how MCP standardizes communication via stdio JSON-RPC highlighted the power of context-aware AI tooling.

Key takeaways from using existing MCP servers:

• Seamless Tool Execution: The AI client automatically infers when to trigger specific tools (e.g., searching or writing files) based on natural language intent without explicit function syntax.

• Continuous Context Stream: Utilizing MCP resources provides persistent background context to the model across multiple chat turns, eliminating the need to re-paste instructions or notes.

• Local First Privacy: Running MCP servers locally ensures all sensitive developer notes and code snippets remain stored securely on the host machine.

Related MCP server: Memento

Key Features

• Persistent Local Memory: Stores all notes structured cleanly in JSON (~/.smartvault/notes.json), ensuring your data remains entirely on your local file system.

• Full Tool Set: Enables LLMs to execute CRUD operations (Create, Read, Update, Delete), text searches, and pin high-priority notes.

• Dynamic Resource Stream (vault://all): Exposes an auto-generated Markdown digest resource that AI assistants can pull directly into their context window for instant workspace awareness.

• Zero Heavy Dependencies: Built natively using modern Python standard libraries and the official mcp FastMCP SDK.

• Seamless Local & Marketplace Integration: Configured for local usage in Claude Desktop and containerized deployment on platforms like Glama or Smithery.

System Architecture

┌───────────────────────────────┐
│       AI Assistant Client     │
│  (Claude Desktop / Cursor)    │
└───────────────┬───────────────┘
                │
                │ JSON-RPC (stdio)
                ▼
┌───────────────────────────────┐
│        SmartVault MCP         │
│     (src/smartvault_mcp)      │
│                               │
│  ┌───────────┐ ┌───────────┐  │
│  │ MCP Tools │ │ Resources │  │
│  └─────┬─────┘ └─────┬─────┘  │
└────────┼─────────────┼────────┘
         │             │
         ▼             ▼
┌───────────────────────────────┐
│     Storage Engine (JSON)     │
│   (~/.smartvault/notes.json)   │
└───────────────────────────────┘

MCP Capabilities

SmartVault exposes both MCP Tools (callable actions) and MCP Resources (readable context streams).

1. MCP Tools

2. MCP Resources

Repository Structure

DEVCONTEXT-MCP/
├── src/
│   └── smartvault_mcp/
│       ├── __init__.py
│       └── server.py          # Core FastMCP server implementation & handlers
├── tests/
│   └── demo_client.py         # Local client test script verifying tools & resources
├── .gitignore                 # Standard Python & environment exclusions
├── Dockerfile                 # Container deployment specification
├── LICENSE                    # MIT Open Source License
├── pyproject.toml             # Python package configuration & entry points
├── README.md                  # Detailed documentation
└── smithery.yaml              # Smithery deployment manifest

Quick Start & Local Setup

Prerequisites

• Python 3.10 or higher

• pip or uv package manager

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/ghostrekon1999/DEVCONTEXT-MCP.git
cd DEVCONTEXT-MCP

2. Set Up Virtual Environment & Install Dependencies

Using standard venv:

python -m venv .venv
# On Windows PowerShell:
.\.venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1
# On macOS/Linux:
source .venv/bin/activate

pip install -e .

Testing Your Local Setup

To verify that the MCP server initializes correctly and handles tool calls without launching Claude Desktop, run the included demo test client:

python tests/demo_client.py

This test client will:

1. Initialize the SmartVault MCP server via stdio.

2. Save a test note using add_note.

3. Query the vault using list_notes and search_notes.

4. Read the vault://all resource stream.

5. Clean up by executing delete_note.

Integrating with Claude Desktop

To connect SmartVault MCP to your local Claude Desktop application:

1. Open your Claude Desktop configuration file:

   • Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

   • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add the smartvault server definition under mcpServers:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "smartvault": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": [
        "-m",
        "smartvault_mcp.server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "PYTHONPATH": "D:\SPIRAL-WorkFlows\DEVCONTEXT-MCP\src"
      }
    }
  }
}

(Note: Replace the PYTHONPATH path above with the absolute path to your project's src folder).

3. Restart Claude Desktop. You will see a hammer icon indicating that the 5 SmartVault tools and 1 resource are active and ready for use.

Example AI Prompts

Once integrated, you can ask your AI assistant:

• Save context: "Save a note under the category 'Backend' titled 'Database Schema' with the contents 'Users table uses UUID v4 for primary keys'."

• Recall notes: "List all my saved notes in SmartVault."

• Search vault: "Search my notes for anything related to API endpoints."

• Pin priority context: "Pin my note about project deployment guidelines."

• Read resource: "Load the vault://all resource and summarize my active project notes."

Marketplace Publishing

SmartVault MCP is structured for instant listing and containerized hosting across MCP registries:

• Glama: Simply submit the repository URL https://github.com/ghostrekon1999/DEVCONTEXT-MCP under the Add Server tab.

• Smithery: Contains a validated smithery.yaml and Dockerfile for single-command bundle builds and deployment.

License

This project is open-source software licensed under the MIT License.