mcp-context-engineering
Provides tools for accessing Amazon product data, including product details and pricing, as part of the web-data tool catalog.
Provides tools for accessing eBay product listings and related e-commerce data.
Provides tools for accessing GitHub data as part of the web-data tool catalog.
Provides tools for accessing Google Shopping product data.
Provides tools for accessing TikTok data and social media content.
Provides tools for accessing Zillow real estate and property listing data.
Click on "Install Server".
Wait a few minutes for the server to deploy. Once ready, it will show a "Started" state.
In the chat, type
@followed by the MCP server name and your instructions, e.g., "@mcp-context-engineeringScope to ecommerce tools and strip markdown"
That's it! The server will respond to your query, and you can continue using it as needed.
Here is a step-by-step guide with screenshots.
mcp-context-engineering
A small, runnable project that demonstrates context engineering for MCP servers: keeping a Model Context Protocol server's footprint in the model's context window small, so agents are cheaper and more accurate.
The problem
When an MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, an SDK app) connects to an MCP server, it pulls every advertised tool definition - name, description and full input schema - into the model's context. A server with 30-60+ tools can burn well over 10k tokens on definitions before the agent does anything. That causes two problems:
Wasted tokens. You pay for tool definitions the agent will never call.
Reduced accuracy. The model gets distracted by irrelevant tools and is more likely to pick the wrong one or hallucinate parameters.
The two techniques
This project implements both halves of the fix on a catalog of 33 mock "web-data" tools (Amazon, LinkedIn, TikTok, GitHub, Zillow, browser automation, batch scraping, ...) organised into logical groups.
Scope the tools you advertise. Load only the capabilities an agent needs - either by whole group (
GROUPS=social) or by hand-picking individual tools (TOOLS=web_data_amazon_product,...). Only those definitions ever reach the context.Optimise the output those tools return. Strip token-wasting Markdown (bold/italic, image syntax, heading markers, code fences, link URLs) from scraped pages before they enter the context, keeping every word the model actually reads.
Measured impact (from the bundled offline report)
Full catalog = 33 tools ≈ 4,556 tokens of definitions if loaded un-scoped.
Configuration | Tools | Def. tokens | Saved vs. all |
default (base tools only) | 3 | 506 | 89% |
| 9 | 1,318 | 71% |
| 11 | 1,566 | 66% |
| 14 | 1,973 | 57% |
| 3 | 416 | 91% |
| 6 | 917 | 80% |
| 33 | 4,556 | 0% |
Strip-markdown on a scraped page: 243 → 149 tokens (~39% fewer).
Numbers use a built-in heuristic token estimator; pass --tiktoken to the
report for exact counts if tiktoken is installed. The point is the ratios,
which are stable.
The pattern in one sentence
Scope the tools you load, trim the output they return, and let the MCP server handle the hard parts.
Code map
mcp-context-engineering/
├── src/mcp_context_engineering/
│ ├── __init__.py # Public API re-exports + version.
│ ├── tool_groups.py # Source of truth for groups: BASE_TOOLS + 8 logical
│ │ # groups (ecommerce, social, business, research,
│ │ # finance, app_stores, browser, advanced_scraping)
│ │ # and helpers (all_tool_names, total_tool_count).
│ ├── tool_catalog.py # Full catalog of 33 ToolSpecs: name, description,
│ │ # JSON input schema, and an OFFLINE mock handler
│ │ # each. Also MARKDOWN_TOOLS (which outputs to strip)
│ │ # and a SAMPLE_MARKDOWN_PAGE for the demo.
│ ├── context_config.py # The scoping brain. Reads PRO_MODE / GROUPS / TOOLS,
│ │ # resolves the exact tool set (resolve_context),
│ │ # and defines named PRESETS.
│ ├── strip_markdown.py # Dependency-free output optimiser: strips Markdown
│ │ # formatting, keeps words + code, links optional.
│ ├── token_utils.py # Lightweight offline token estimator + tool-def
│ │ # token counting (tiktoken optional).
│ └── server.py # The MCP server (official SDK low-level Server,
│ │ # stdio). Advertises only scoped tools; strips
│ │ # Markdown output. build_server() for tests.
├── scripts/
│ ├── run_server.py # Launch the server over stdio (what a client runs).
│ └── token_report.py # Offline demo: prints the savings tables above.
├── examples/
│ ├── claude_desktop_social_agent.json # config: one group
│ ├── claude_desktop_price_monitor.json # config: hand-picked tools
│ └── claude_desktop_pro_mode.json # config: everything (baseline)
├── tests/
│ └── test_context_engineering.py # 23 offline tests (unittest)
├── requirements.txt # Just the official `mcp` SDK (tiktoken optional).
├── .env.example # All config vars, documented.
└── .gitignoreHow the pieces fit
tool_groups.py defines which tool names belong to which group.
tool_catalog.py gives each name a full definition (description + schema) and a
mock handler. context_config.py reads the environment and decides the exact
subset of names to expose. server.py asks context_config for that subset,
advertises only those definitions via tools/list, and - when a
MARKDOWN_TOOLS tool is called - runs its output through strip_markdown.py
before returning it. token_utils.py powers the offline token_report.py,
which quantifies both wins without touching the network.
Data flow
flowchart TD
subgraph Config["Configuration (env vars)"]
E["PRO_MODE / GROUPS / TOOLS<br/>STRIP_MARKDOWN"]
end
E --> RC["context_config.resolve_context()"]
TG["tool_groups.py<br/>(group -> tool names)"] --> RC
RC -->|"scoped list of tool names"| SRV["server.py (MCP Server)"]
TC["tool_catalog.py<br/>(name -> description, schema, handler)"] --> SRV
subgraph MCP["MCP session (stdio)"]
CLIENT["MCP client / LLM agent"]
SRV
end
SRV -->|"tools/list: ONLY scoped definitions"| CLIENT
CLIENT -->|"tools/call(name, args)"| SRV
SRV -->|"handler() output"| STRIP["strip_markdown.py<br/>(markdown tools only)"]
STRIP -->|"trimmed text"| CLIENT
RC -.offline.-> REPORT["scripts/token_report.py"]
TC -.offline.-> REPORT
TU["token_utils.py"] -.-> REPORT
REPORT -.-> OUT["savings tables"]Quick start
# 1. (optional) create a virtualenv
python -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate # Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate
# 2. install the one dependency
pip install -r requirements.txt
# 3. see the token savings - fully offline, no key, no network
python scripts/token_report.py
python scripts/token_report.py --json # machine-readable
# 4. run the tests
python -m unittest discover -s tests -vRunning the MCP server
The server speaks MCP over stdio and is configured entirely through environment variables:
# default: just the small base tool set
python scripts/run_server.py
# a focused social-media agent
GROUPS=social python scripts/run_server.py
# hand-pick exactly the tools a price monitor needs
TOOLS=web_data_amazon_product,web_data_ebay_product,web_data_google_shopping \
python scripts/run_server.py
# the un-scoped baseline (loads everything)
PRO_MODE=true python scripts/run_server.py
# disable output trimming
STRIP_MARKDOWN=false GROUPS=social python scripts/run_server.pyValid group ids: ecommerce, social, business, research, finance,
app_stores, browser, advanced_scraping. See .env.example for the full
list of variables.
Wiring into an MCP client
Copy one of the files in examples/ into your client's server config (for
Claude Desktop that is claude_desktop_config.json), replace /ABSOLUTE/PATH
with the path to your checkout, and restart the client. The three examples show
a scoped group, a hand-picked set, and the load-everything baseline.
Notes on the tools
Every tool handler in this project returns canned, offline sample data.
There is no API key and no network access anywhere - the goal is to demonstrate
the context-engineering pattern, not to scrape live sites. To make it real, swap
the handlers in tool_catalog.py for calls to an actual web-data backend and
read its credentials from an environment variable (a placeholder,
WEB_DATA_API_KEY, is documented in .env.example).
Built on / inspired by
Model Context Protocol Python SDK - the official SDK this server uses: https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/python-sdk
Protocol docs & spec: https://modelcontextprotocol.io
Bright Data MCP server - an open-source MCP server that popularised the tool-group scoping and strip-markdown output optimisation modelled here: https://github.com/brightdata/brightdata-mcp
License
MIT (see LICENSE if present, or treat the sample code as MIT-licensed).
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