anaconda-assistant-mcp 0.2.0

The Anaconda Assistant MCP plugin

anaconda-assistant-mcp

This conda plugin provides a new subcommand called conda mcp serve that will spin up an MCP server.

Installation

This package is a conda plugin and must be installed in your base environment. Conda version 24.1 or newer is required.

conda install -n base -c anaconda-assistant-mcp

Setup for development

Ensure you have conda installed. Then run:

make setup

To run test commands, you don't want to run conda mcp serve since it'll pick up the version of conda on your system. You want the conda install for this repo so you can run the plugin. To do this, you run:

cd libs/anaconda-assistant-mcp
./env/bin/conda mcp serve

On Windows, you'll do:

.\env\Scripts\conda mcp serve

This will run the MCP server. Use it for sanity checking. To actually test fully, you'll want to add them MCP server into Claude Desktop or Cursor.

Cursor

The MCP config file is in your home directory at:

~/.cursor/mcp.json

Add this to your JSON under mcpServers:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "conda-mcp-dev": {
      "command": "<PATH_TO_SDK_REPO>/libs/anaconda-assistant-mcp/env/bin/conda",
      "args": ["mcp", "serve"]
    }
  }
}

To see code changes reflected in Cursor, go to the top right gear icon ⚙️ and click it, select "Tools & Integrations" in the left menu, then toggle the name of the MCP server on. In our case, that's "conda-mcp-dev", but it can be any string you choose. Every time you make changes to the code, you should toggle the sever off and on again so the changes are picked up.

Now, to test a feature. Open a new chat, remove all the context and type "mcp list packages". This should prompt you with the list_packages MCP tool. Press ⌘⏎ to run the tool.

Claude Desktop

Claude settings are the same, just under a different directory:

'~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json'

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "conda-mcp-dev": {
      "command": "<PATH_TO_SDK_REPO>/libs/anaconda-assistant-mcp/env/bin/conda",
      "args": ["mcp", "serve"]
    }
  }
}

Seeting changes reflected in Claude is more difficult than in Cursor. The most reliable way is to restart the Claude Desktop app.

Try using it by typing "mcp list packages". You should see it prompt you. After accepting, it should run the tool.

Notes

the name conda-mcp-dev can be any string. The purpose of it is to help you identify the MCP in the respective MCP host's UI whether it be Claude or Cursor.

Make sure to not enable MCP servers / tools with overlapping goals. Sometimes your MCP server won't get called because another MCP server will pick up the request.

Run the unit tests

make test

Run the unit tests across isolated environments with tox

NOTE: this may not run locally

make tox