FTIR.fun MCP Server

MCP server for FTIR spectral-library work and material identification. Connects AI assistants to 135,000+ FTIR reference spectra with hosted tools for unknown-spectrum analysis, peak explanation, reference-spectrum lookup, and historical-result fetch.

Tools

analyze_ftir_spectrum

Search the FTIR.fun spectral library for one unknown FTIR spectrum.

Returns: Ranked candidate materials with library similarity scores, peak-by-peak explanations linked to published literature (DOI), confidence levels, and uncertainty disclosures.

explain_peaks

Explain one or more FTIR peaks without requiring a full library search.

Returns: Structured peak explanations with supporting assignments and uncertainty wording when available.

find_spectra

Find FTIR library reference spectra by substance name, CAS number, spectrum number, or keywords.

Returns: Matching reference spectra with num, names, CAS, peak markers, and library curve data.

fetch_result

Fetch one historical FTIR.fun result by report number.

Returns: Structured historical result context with report_url, headline, summary, report_view, and result_context.

Related MCP server: Chemspace MCP Server

Hosted MCP (Recommended)

Connect directly to the production endpoint — no local install required:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ftirfun": {
      "url": "https://ftir.fun/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer <YOUR_FTIRFUN_API_KEY>"
      }
    }
  }
}

One-line setup for Claude Code:

claude mcp add ftirfun https://ftir.fun/mcp

The hosted endpoint exposes four FTIR tools (analyze_ftir_spectrum, explain_peaks, find_spectra, fetch_result) and is the canonical production service.

Self-Hosted (Local Wrapper)

This repository provides a lightweight local MCP wrapper that proxies to the hosted API. The local wrapper exposes the same four FTIR tools as the hosted server.

Configuration

export FTIRFUN_API_KEY="your-ftirfun-api-key"

Optional:

export FTIRFUN_API_BASE_URL="https://ftir.fun"
export FTIRFUN_API_TIMEOUT_SECONDS="120"

Run Locally (stdio)

python -m venv .venv
. .venv/bin/activate
pip install .
ftirfun-mcp

Run Streamable HTTP

FTIRFUN_API_KEY="your-ftirfun-api-key" \
ftirfun-mcp --transport streamable-http --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8001

Docker

docker build -t ftirfun-mcp .
docker run --rm -p 8001:8001 -e FTIRFUN_API_KEY="your-ftirfun-api-key" ftirfun-mcp

Push This Repo To GitHub

This repo includes its own push helper:

bash push_github_main.sh origin main "your commit message"

Token resolution order:

1. GITHUB_ENV_FILE=/path/to/env

2. ./.env

3. shared fallback /home/bob/projects/ftirfun/.env

For registry introspection, the server can start without an API key. Tool calls that require the hosted API return a structured api_key_required error until FTIRFUN_API_KEY is configured.

Tool Boundary

Use this MCP server for FTIR spectral-library screening only.

Do not use for:

• Non-FTIR spectroscopy

• General chemistry Q&A

• Institutional AI-only review of existing third-party reports

• Accredited laboratory certification

Registry Links

• Hosted MCP: https://ftir.fun/mcp

• Server Card: https://ftir.fun/.well-known/mcp/server-card.json

• Smithery: https://smithery.ai/servers/hlin2097/ftirfun

• MCP.so: https://mcp.so/server/ftir-spectral-search/ftir_fun

• PyPI: https://pypi.org/project/ftirfun-mcp/

• Website: https://ftir.fun