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jackwillis
by jackwillis

Prolog Debug MCP Server

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that exposes SWI-Prolog as a debugging and diagnostic reasoning engine. Claude parses errors and symptoms, Prolog does logical deduction to find root causes.

Architecture

┌─────────────┐     stdio/SSE      ┌─────────────────┐
│   Claude    │ ◄─────────────────► │   MCP Server    │
│  (or LLM)   │      (MCP)         │   (Python)      │
└─────────────┘                    └────────┬────────┘
                                            │
                                            │ janus-swi
                                            ▼
                                   ┌─────────────────┐
                                   │   SWI-Prolog    │
                                   │  (swipl engine) │
                                   └─────────────────┘

Related MCP server: GenZ MCP Server

Prerequisites

  • SWI-Prolog 9.1.12+: Required by janus-swi

    # macOS
    brew install swi-prolog
    
    # Ubuntu/Debian
    sudo apt install swi-prolog
  • Python 3.10+

  • uv: For project management

Installation

cd prolog-debug-mcp
uv sync

Usage

Configure in Claude Code

Add to ~/.claude/settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "prolog-debug": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["run", "--directory", "/path/to/prolog-debug-mcp", "python", "-m", "prolog_debug_mcp.server"]
    }
  }
}

Available Tools

Tool

Description

assert_dependency

Add a dependency: service depends on depends_on

assert_error

Record an observed error/symptom for a service

find_root_causes

Find all possible root causes for a service's errors

suggest_checks

Get suggested services to check based on dependencies

impact_analysis

Find all services affected if a given service fails

check_cycles

Check for dependency cycles involving a service

get_status

Get current session status (all services, dependencies, errors)

clear_session

Clear all asserted facts, start fresh

query

Run arbitrary Prolog query (advanced)

Example Session

User: "My web app is returning 500 errors. It talks to a postgres
       database and a redis cache. The redis pod is in CrashLoopBackOff."

Claude: Let me set up the dependency model and record the errors.

[Calls assert_dependency("webapp", "postgres")]
[Calls assert_dependency("webapp", "redis")]
[Calls assert_error("webapp", "500_error")]
[Calls assert_error("redis", "crashloopbackoff")]
[Calls find_root_causes("webapp")]

Result:
{
  "service": "webapp",
  "root_causes": [
    {"symptom": "crashloopbackoff", "path": ["webapp", "redis"]}
  ]
}

Claude: The root cause traces to Redis being in CrashLoopBackOff.
        The webapp depends on Redis, so when Redis crashes, the
        webapp returns 500s. Check the Redis pod logs for why
        it's crash-looping.

Testing

# Run all tests
uv run pytest

# Run with verbose output
uv run pytest -v

# Run specific test file
uv run pytest tests/test_prolog.py

How It Works

Core Prolog Rules

The server uses a knowledge base with these key predicates:

  • depends(Service, DependsOn) - Service depends on DependsOn

  • error(Service, Symptom) - Service has an observed error/symptom

  • root_cause(Service, Symptom, Path) - Traces errors through dependencies to find root causes

  • has_cycle(Service) - Detects dependency cycles

Root Cause Logic

A root cause is found when:

  1. A service has an error AND

  2. Either it has no dependencies with errors (it's the root), OR

  3. We can trace through dependencies to find a deeper error

This allows the system to answer "why is X failing?" by following the dependency chain to the actual source of the problem.

Tech Stack

Component

Choice

Rationale

MCP Framework

mcp (official SDK)

Official Python SDK for MCP

Prolog Bridge

janus-swi

5x faster than pyswip, C API, actively maintained

Prolog Engine

SWI-Prolog 9.1.12+

Required by janus, robust, good docs

Python

3.10+

Type hints, async support

License

CC0 1.0 Universal - Public Domain

A
license - permissive license
-
quality - not tested
D
maintenance

Maintenance

Maintainers
Response time
Release cycle
Releases (12mo)
Commit activity

Resources

Unclaimed servers have limited discoverability.

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If you are the server author, to access and configure the admin panel.

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