ctext-mcp-server

MCP Server for querying standardized English translations of Chinese classical texts via the ctext.org translation corpus.

Features

• search_passage: Multi-stage matching (exact → normalized → fuzzy) of Chinese classical text passages to English translations
• get_translation: Direct lookup by work ID and chapter reference
• list_works: Browse the catalog of available translated works with filtering
• Fuzzy matching engine: Normalizes variant characters, punctuation differences, and missing/extra characters using edit distance + TF-IDF hybrid strategy
• SQLite caching: Local cache with configurable TTL (default 30 days) to reduce API calls
• Multi-translator support: Returns available translators list with default selection
• Dual transport: stdio (Claude Desktop / Claude Code) and streamable HTTP modes

Installation

pip install ctext-mcp-server

Prerequisites

Set your ctext.org API key as an environment variable:

export CTEXT_API_KEY="your_api_key_here"

Optional configuration:

# Custom cache directory (default: ~/.cache/ctext-mcp/)
export CTEXT_CACHE_DIR="/path/to/cache"

# Cache TTL in days (default: 30, set to 0 to disable)
export CTEXT_CACHE_TTL_DAYS=30

Usage

Claude Desktop / Claude Code

Add to your MCP configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ctext": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["ctext-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "CTEXT_API_KEY": "your_api_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Standalone HTTP Server

python -m ctext_mcp_server --transport streamable-http --port 8000

Tools

search_passage

Search for English translations of a Chinese classical text passage using multi-stage matching.

get_translation

Retrieve English translation and metadata by work ID and chapter reference.

list_works

List all available Chinese classical works in the ctext.org translation corpus.

License

MIT