University Course Catalog MCP Server

Project overview

This project is a production-ready MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for a university course catalog. It exposes catalog data via MCP tools, MCP resources, and MCP prompt templates on top of a FastAPI application.

MCP explanation

MCP servers provide structured access to data and capabilities through tools, resources, and prompt templates. This server makes course data available to MCP clients so models can search courses, inspect prerequisites, and generate comparisons.

Architecture

• FastAPI app with an embedded MCP low-level Server and SSE transport

• SQLite database with SQLAlchemy ORM models

• Seed data loaded automatically when the database is empty

• NetworkX used to build prerequisite graphs

• Dockerized runtime with a mounted data volume

Setup steps (local)

1. Create a virtual environment: python -m venv .venv

2. Activate it: source .venv/bin/activate

3. Install dependencies: pip install -r requirements.txt

4. Run the server: uvicorn main:app --app-dir src --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8080

Docker usage

Start the full stack with:

docker-compose up --build

MCP tools

search_courses

Input:

{
  "query": "data",
  "department_code": "CS"
}

get_prerequisites

Input:

{
  "course_code": "CS301"
}

lookup_instructor

Input:

{
  "instructor_name": "Reynolds"
}

get_prerequisite_graph

Input:

{
  "course_code": "CS301"
}

MCP resources

• course_descriptions

• department_directory

MCP prompt templates

• course_comparison_template

Example natural language queries

• "Find introductory CS courses with 4 credits."

• "Show the prerequisite chain for CS301."

• "Who teaches Database Systems?"

• "Compare CS201 and CS301."

API examples

Health check:

curl http://localhost:8080/health

MCP transport endpoints

• SSE connect: http://localhost:8080/sse

• SSE message POST: http://localhost:8080/messages

Testing instructions

• Run docker-compose up --build and confirm the health endpoint responds with status ok.

• Use the MCP Inspector to validate tools, resources, and prompt templates.

MCP Inspector usage

1. Start the server locally or with Docker.

2. Open MCP Inspector and set the server URL to http://localhost:8080/sse.

3. Verify tools, resources, and prompts are visible.