moses-mcp

An MCP server for discovering degree programs and modules in Moses — TU Berlin's course, exam, and module planning system. It scrapes the public Modulverzeichnis (MTS) section, which requires no login and is meant to be browsed by students and staff.

There's no official Moses API, so this works by parsing the public MTS web pages directly.

Scope

• Search and browse degree programs (Studiengänge) and their curriculum structure (Pflichtbereich, Wahlpflichtbereich, ...).

• Search modules and read full module descriptions, including exam type (Prüfungsform) and which other degree programs use a given module.

• Out of scope: Vorlesungsverzeichnis (VVZ)/timetables, and anything requiring login (exam registration, editing module data).

Related MCP server: OpenAlex MCP Server

Tools

Example things you can ask an MCP client connected to this server:

• "Which modules are mandatory (Pflichtmodul) for the Informatik B.Sc.?"

• "Of those, which use a Portfolioprüfung instead of a written exam?"

• "Recommend some Computer Vision modules for the Computer Science Master's."

• "What other degree programs can take module 40022?"

• "Make me a 6-semester study plan for the Informatik B.Sc. specializing in Theoretical Computer Science" (respects each area's StuPO passing rules, not just credit totals)

Requirements

• Node.js 20 or later

Setup

git clone <this-repo>
cd moses-mcp
npm install
npm run build

This produces a runnable server at dist/index.js, which communicates over stdio (standard MCP transport).

Using it with an MCP client

Claude Code

claude mcp add moses -- node /absolute/path/to/moses-mcp/dist/index.js

This registers the server at local scope (just this project, just you). Use -s user to make it available in every project, or -s project to check a shared .mcp.json into this repo for teammates. Check claude mcp list or run /mcp inside a session to confirm it's connected.

Claude Desktop / other stdio clients

Add it to your client's MCP server config, pointing at the built dist/index.js. For example, in Claude Desktop's claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "moses": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/moses-mcp/dist/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Any MCP client that supports stdio servers can use this the same way — point it at node dist/index.js.

A note on robots.txt

moseskonto.tu-berlin.de/robots.txt disallows automated access site-wide (Disallow: /), even though the MTS pages themselves require no authentication and are intended for public browsing. This tool is built for personal, low-volume use — not bulk crawling:

• Requests are serialized (no concurrency) with a delay between them.

• A descriptive User-Agent is sent.

• Results are cached locally (default 24h TTL) so repeat lookups don't re-hit the server.

If you plan to use this beyond personal/occasional lookups, consider reaching out to innoCampus (who run Moses) about proper API access instead.

Development

npm install
npm run dev     # run the MCP server via stdio (tsx, no build step)
npm run build   # compile to dist/
npm test        # run parser unit tests against saved HTML fixtures

Since Moses is a stateful server-rendered app (Jakarta Faces/PrimeFaces) rather than a REST API, most of the scraping logic lives in src/parsers/ (HTML/XML parsing with cheerio) and src/mosesClient.ts (a small, polite HTTP client with a session cookie jar). scripts/prototype-area-expand.ts is a standalone script documenting/validating the one stateful AJAX interaction the tool replicates (expanding a curriculum area). scripts/e2e-check.ts runs the built server end-to-end against the live site.

Troubleshooting

• A degree program's curriculum looks empty / mapped: false: not every Studien-/Prüfungsordnung (StuPO) has a curriculum mapped for every semester yet. get_degree_program_structure automatically tries a few StuPOs to find one with data if you don't specify stupo/semester explicitly.

• Stale results after a Moses update: pass refresh: true to any tool to bypass the cache, or delete the .cache/ directory.

• A tool errors on an unfamiliar page structure: Moses' HTML can change between semesters/releases. Since this scrapes public pages rather than using a stable API, parsers in src/parsers/ may need small updates if that happens — issues/PRs welcome.