Music Recommendation MCP Connector

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that turns Claude Code into a music recommendation agent. It's backed by the free Last.fm API and exposes 8 tools for artist/track search, similarity-based recommendations, genre/mood discovery, and personalized recommendations for a Last.fm user.

Tools exposed

Related MCP server: Spotify MCP

1. Get a free Last.fm API key

1. Go to https://www.last.fm/api/account/create

2. Fill in the form (app name can be anything, e.g. "My Music Agent")

3. Copy the API key it gives you

2. Install dependencies

A virtual environment is already set up in .venv. To reinstall from scratch:

python -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\pip install -r requirements.txt

3. Set your API key

Copy .env.example to .env and fill in your key, or set the environment variable directly. The server reads LASTFM_API_KEY from the process environment (it does not load .env files itself), so pass it via claude mcp add --env as shown below, or export it in your shell first:

$env:LASTFM_API_KEY = "your_key_here"

4. Register the connector with Claude Code

From this project directory:

claude mcp add music-recommendation --env LASTFM_API_KEY=your_key_here -- python "C:\Users\bhoomika\Documents\music-recommendation-mcp\server.py"

Verify it's registered:

claude mcp list

Restart/reopen Claude Code, then just ask it for music recommendations in plain language, e.g.:

• "Recommend artists similar to Tame Impala"

• "What are some good chill/lo-fi tracks?"

• "Build me a recommendation list based on Last.fm user rj" (a real Last.fm username with listening history)

• "What genre is Radiohead tagged as, and who's similar?"

Claude Code will call the connector's tools automatically as needed — this repo is the connector; Claude Code itself is the agent using it.

5. (Optional) Deploy to Render as a remote connector for claude.ai

claude mcp add (step 4) only works for Claude Code, since it spawns the script locally over stdio. claude.ai's web/desktop Settings > Connectors instead needs a server reachable over a URL. server.py supports both: it runs over stdio by default, and switches to streamable-HTTP automatically when a PORT environment variable is present (which Render sets for every web service).

1. Push this project to a GitHub repo (Render deploys from git):

   git init
   git add .
   git commit -m "Initial commit"

   Create a repo on GitHub and push to it (git remote add origin <url>, git push -u origin main).

2. On render.com, click New + → Blueprint, connect the GitHub repo. Render will detect render.yaml and configure the web service automatically (Python, pip install -r requirements.txt, python server.py).

3. When prompted (or afterwards under the service's Environment tab), set LASTFM_API_KEY to your Last.fm key. It's marked sync: false in render.yaml so it's never committed to the repo.

4. Wait for the deploy to finish. Render gives you a URL like https://music-recommendation-mcp.onrender.com.

5. In claude.ai (or the desktop app), go to Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector, and enter:

   https://music-recommendation-mcp.onrender.com/mcp

   (note the /mcp path suffix). Save, and the 8 tools should appear.

Notes:

• The free Render plan spins the service down after inactivity, so the first request after idling will be slow (cold start) while it wakes up.

• The server has no authentication of its own — anyone with the URL can call your Last.fm proxy. That's low-risk for a free, read-only API key, but don't put anything sensitive behind this same server later without adding auth.

6. (Optional) Test the server standalone

.venv\Scripts\python server.py

This starts the MCP server on stdio and waits for a client (like Claude Code) to connect — it won't print anything on its own, which is expected.

To sanity-check the Last.fm integration directly without an MCP client:

.venv\Scripts\python -c "import asyncio, server; print(asyncio.run(server.get_similar_artists(artist_name='Daft Punk')))"

Notes

• Built against mcp SDK v2.x (MCPServer, formerly FastMCP in v1.x).

• No paid services or OAuth required — Last.fm's API key is free and instant.

• To swap in a different data source (e.g. Spotify or MusicBrainz) later, only server.py's _lastfm_request helper and the tool bodies need to change; the MCP registration step stays the same.