mcp-apps-lab

One FastMCP app server (Python) — a single MCP server that hosts three interactive Prefab apps (quiz, weather, news) plus MCP resources and prompts. Each app tool returns a Prefab UI (buttons, cards, tabs, progress) instead of raw JSON; any MCP host renders them, and the LLM sees a text summary.

Apps

Also exposed server-side: live resources (news://{source}/feed, news://{source}/briefing, weather://{city}/current) and a prompt (morning-briefing).

Related MCP server: MCP + CrewAI Agentic Integration

Layout

src/mcp_apps_lab/
├── server.py          # the ONE FastMCP server — wires apps, tools, resources, prompts
├── apps/              # the FastMCPApp UIs (LLM-facing entry points)
│   ├── quiz.py        #   take_quiz UI
│   ├── weather.py     #   weather_app UI
│   └── news.py        #   news_curator UI
├── tools/             # backend tool functions the UIs call via the tool proxy
│   ├── quiz.py        #   submit_answer
│   ├── weather.py     #   get_weather
│   └── news.py        #   get_feed (live RSS fetch + offline fallback)
├── resources/         # MCP resources over the shared data (news:// live feeds, weather://)
├── prompts/           # MCP prompt templates (morning-briefing)
└── data/              # feed definitions + offline fallback data

Setup

uv sync          # installs the package (editable) + fastmcp[apps] + dev tools

Running

Plain streamable-HTTP server

uv run python -m mcp_apps_lab   # streamable HTTP at http://127.0.0.1:8090/mcp
                                # (MCP_APPS_LAB_PORT to override)

Browser dev UI (fastmcp dev apps)

uv run fastmcp dev apps src/mcp_apps_lab/server.py --mcp-port 8090

• MCP server: http://127.0.0.1:8090/mcp (auto-reload on save)

• Dev UI: http://localhost:8080 — pick take_quiz, weather_app, or news_curator, fill in arguments, and play the rendered app in a new tab

• The left inspector panel shows the JSON-RPC traffic (including the hashed backend-tool calls the UIs make)

Wiring into the ai-backend-lab agent

One server, one entry — the agent sees all three UI tools plus the resources and prompt:

{
  "mcp-apps-lab": {
    "url": "http://127.0.0.1:8090/mcp",
    "transport": "streamable_http"
  }
}

Then ask the agent something like "give me a quiz about Python", "show me the weather in Tokyo", or "curate today's financial news" — it calls the UI tool, and the agent's reply streams a structured tool event the frontend renders as the interactive app.

How it's structured

# server.py — one server, three apps as providers, plus resources & prompts
mcp = FastMCP("mcp-apps-lab", providers=[quiz_app, weather_app, news_app])
register_resources(mcp)   # news://{source}/feed, weather://{city}/current, ...
register_prompts(mcp)     # morning-briefing

# apps/weather.py — the UI app owns its backend tool
app = FastMCPApp("Weather")
app.add_tool(get_weather)          # from mcp_apps_lab.tools — hashed to this app

@app.ui()                          # LLM-facing entry point — returns a PrefabApp
def weather_app(city: str) -> PrefabApp: ...

• @app.ui() tools are the only ones advertised to the LLM; their result is a Prefab UI the host renders (the model sees a text summary).

• Backend tools (tools/) are plain functions registered with app.add_tool(...): the renderer calls them over the MCP server under a hashed name (<sha256(app+tool)>_<tool>), so the UI can grade, look up, or compile without the LLM being in the loop — and the tool proxy never sees the mapping.

• providers=[...] lets one server host several apps; resources and prompts are registered server-side and shared.

Adding to the lab

1. App: create apps/<name>.py (a FastMCPApp with an @app.ui() entry point), register its backend tool(s) from tools/, and add the app to providers=[...] in server.py.

2. Backend tool: add a plain function to tools/<name>.py; register it with app.add_tool(...) in the owning app.

3. Resource / prompt: add a register(mcp) function in resources/<name>.py / prompts/<name>.py and call it from the corresponding register_* in server.py.

4. Keep it lint-clean and tested: uv run ruff check . and uv run pytest (smoke tests live in tests/test_server.py).