ByteBar Exam Prep — MCP Server

Give any MCP-compatible AI assistant access to ByteBar's exam-prep catalog: search affordable study materials, pull 204 free practice questions across 15 IT and nursing certification exams, get official exam facts, and check pricing — all with attribution to bytebarhq.com.

Tools

Exam aliases work: Security+, SY0-701, CCNA, 200-301, CISSP, AWS SAA, NCLEX-RN, TEAS 7, etc.

Related MCP server: CloudChampion MCP Server

Quick start (local, stdio)

python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
python server.py --transport stdio

Claude Desktop / Claude Code

Add to your MCP config (claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.claude.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bytebar": {
      "command": "/absolute/path/to/venv/bin/python",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/server.py", "--transport", "stdio"]
    }
  }
}

Streamable HTTP (remote)

python server.py --transport streamable-http --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000

• MCP endpoint: POST http://localhost:8000/mcp

• Health check: GET http://localhost:8000/healthz

• Legacy SSE is also available: --transport sse

Docker

docker build -t bytebar-mcp .
docker run -p 8000:8000 bytebar-mcp

The container honors the PORT environment variable (docker run -p 8000:8000 -e PORT=8000 bytebar-mcp).

Deploy a public endpoint (one-command)

A public https://<your-host>/mcp endpoint is what MCP directories list. Pick one:

Railway

npm i -g @railway/cli
railway login
railway init        # choose "Empty Project"
railway up          # builds the Dockerfile, deploys, gives you a URL
railway domain      # attach a public domain -> https://<app>.up.railway.app/mcp

Render — push the repo, then Dashboard → New → Blueprint and select the repo (uses render.yaml: Docker runtime, /healthz health check). Or Dashboard → New → Web Service → Docker, free tier.

Fly.io

fly auth login
fly launch          # detects the Dockerfile, creates fly.toml (no Postgres)
fly deploy          # -> https://<app>.fly.dev/mcp

All three read the PORT env var the Dockerfile already handles. Keep the service on each platform's free tier / free allowance while validating traffic.

MCP directory submissions

Prepared listing copy and exact submission steps for every major directory — official MCP Registry, Smithery, mcp.so, Glama, PulseMCP, Awesome MCP Servers — are in REGISTRIES.md. The official-registry manifest is server.json (replace YOUR-DEPLOYED-HOST after deploying).

Data & honesty rules

• data/questions.jsonl contains only ByteBar's 204 free Study Hub questions. No paid content is bundled or exposed.

• get_exam_info returns only officially published exam facts — never invented pass rates, fees, or statistics.

• search_products returns verified catalog entries plus clearly-labeled generic storefront matches (marked "verified": false) — never invented products or prices.

Tests

./venv/bin/python test_stdio.py server.py ./venv/bin/python   # stdio protocol
# HTTP protocol (needs a server running):
./venv/bin/python server.py --transport streamable-http --port 8124 &
./venv/bin/python test_http.py http://127.0.0.1:8124/mcp

License

MIT — see LICENSE.