Install & registration

Install & registration¶

Prerequisites¶

The .NET 8 SDK, to install and run the vouchfx-mcp tool itself.
For run_suite only: the vouchfx CLI installed and on PATH, at the exact version this server is pinned to (see the engine pin), plus a running Docker engine for any suite it executes. Every other tool works without either.

Install the vouchfx-mcp tool¶

dotnet tool install --global Vouchfx.Mcp --prerelease

Not yet published. As of this writing, Vouchfx.Mcp has not had a tagged release pushed to NuGet.org — the command above is the intended, documented install path once it has, and is exactly what the packaging (PackAsTool, ToolCommandName=vouchfx-mcp) already supports. Until then, build and install it from a source checkout instead:

bash git clone https://github.com/tomas-rampas/vouchfx-mcp.git cd vouchfx-mcp dotnet pack src/Vouchfx.Mcp -c Release -o ./nupkg dotnet tool install --global --add-source ./nupkg Vouchfx.Mcp --prerelease

Track publication status on the source repository.

Install the vouchfx CLI (required by `run_suite`)¶

dotnet tool install --global vouchfx --version 1.0.0-rc.1

Unlike vouchfx-mcp itself, the vouchfx engine CLI is published and installable today. Match the version to this server's ENGINE_PIN exactly — run_suite performs a handshake against the installed CLI's own --version output before every run and refuses to proceed on a mismatch (see Troubleshooting).

Register with an MCP client¶

Add an entry to your client's .mcp.json (Claude Code, Claude Desktop, and most other MCP-aware agents use this shape):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vouchfx": {
      "command": "vouchfx-mcp"
    }
  }
}

No arguments or environment variables are required. The server speaks MCP over stdio and locates its own ENGINE_PIN file and vendored documentation relative to the installed tool's own location — wherever dotnet tool install placed it — so the registration entry above is complete as written.

What each tool needs at runtime¶

Requirement	`validate_suite`, `list_step_types`, `describe_step_type`, `search_docs`	`run_suite`	`explain_run`
`vouchfx` CLI on PATH	Not needed	Required, version-checked	Not needed
Docker engine running	Not needed	Required for any suite it runs	Not needed
Reads a local events file	No	Writes one, then reads it back	Required — its whole job

The four schema/catalogue/documentation tools work entirely from this server's own embedded, vendored artefacts, and keep working even on a machine with no vouchfx CLI or Docker installed at all.

Verifying the install¶

Once registered, ask your agent to call list_step_types (no arguments) — a working install returns all 25 Core provider step types grouped by family. If instead your MCP client reports it could not start the vouchfx-mcp process, confirm vouchfx-mcp resolves on PATH (dotnet tool list --global should list Vouchfx.Mcp) and that the .NET 8 runtime is installed.