MCP Integration

ralph-starter can run as an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server, allowing you to use it from Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or any MCP-compatible client.

What is MCP?

Model Context Protocol is a standard for connecting AI assistants to external tools and data sources. When ralph-starter runs as an MCP server, Claude can directly call ralph-starter tools.

Start the MCP Server

ralph-starter mcp

This starts ralph-starter as a JSON-RPC 2.0 server over stdio.

Available Tools

Tool	Description
ralph_init	Initialize Ralph Playbook in a project
ralph_plan	Create implementation plan from specs
ralph_run	Execute autonomous coding loop
ralph_status	Check playbook status and progress
ralph_validate	Run tests/lint/build validation

ralph_init

Initialize Ralph Playbook files in a project.

Parameters:

• path (required): Project path to initialize
• name (optional): Project name

Example:

{
  "tool": "ralph_init",
  "arguments": {
    "path": "/path/to/project",
    "name": "my-app"
  }
}

ralph_plan

Create an implementation plan from specs.

Parameters:

• path (required): Project path
• auto (optional): Run in automated mode

ralph_run

Execute the autonomous coding loop.

Parameters:

• path (required): Project path
• task (optional): Specific task to execute
• auto (optional): Run in automated mode
• commit (optional): Auto-commit changes
• validate (optional): Run validation after changes
• from (optional): Source to fetch spec from
• project (optional): Project filter for source
• label (optional): Label filter for source

ralph_status

Check the current status of Ralph Playbook in a project.

Parameters:

• path (required): Project path

Returns:

• Files present (AGENTS.md, specs/, etc.)
• Implementation progress
• Available specs

ralph_validate

Run validation commands (tests, lint, build).

Parameters:

• path (required): Project path

Available Resources

Resource URI	Description
ralph://project/implementation_plan	IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md content
ralph://project/agents	AGENTS.md content
ralph://project/prompt_build	PROMPT_build.md content
ralph://project/prompt_plan	PROMPT_plan.md content
ralph://project/specs/{name}	Individual spec files

Available Prompts

Prompt	Description
scaffold_project	Initialize and build a new project
continue_building	Continue from implementation plan
check_progress	Check project status
fetch_and_build	Fetch spec from source and build

Next Steps

• Claude Desktop Setup - Configure Claude Desktop to use ralph-starter