The strands-mcp-server provides a bidirectional MCP integration for Strands Agents. It exposes the Strands Agent as an MCP server so that external MCP clients can connect over HTTP or stdio and invoke tools exposed by the agent, including the built-in mcp_server tool. The setup enables you to connect to the server from Claude Desktop or other MCP clients, call tools such as calculators or shell commands, and forward results back through the MCP channel. The CLI (uvx strands-mcp-server) can run in local mode or proxy mode to an upstream MCP server, making it convenient to test locally or route traffic through another MCP gateway. The recommended usage pattern is to install strands-mcp-server in your Strands project, enable the mcp_server tool, and run uvx strands-mcp-server with an appropriate working directory. You can then configure clients to connect to http://<host>:<port>/mcp and begin interacting with the exposed tools.

Prerequisites:

• Python 3.8+ (recommended)
• pip (Python package installer)
• Internet access to install the package

Installation steps:

1. Create a Python environment (optional but recommended): python3 -m venv venv source venv/bin/activate # on Unix/macOS

   Windows: venv\Scripts\activate

2. Install the strands-mcp-server package from PyPI: pip install strands-mcp-server

3. Verify installation: python -m pip show strands-mcp-server

4. Run the MCP server (example): uvx strands-mcp-server --cwd /path/to/project

Note: The server integrates with a Strands Agent. Ensure your agent is set up and that you have the necessary tools enabled (e.g., mcp_server) to expose MCP capabilities.

Tips and troubleshooting:

• If you encounter port conflicts, specify a different port for the MCP server and update your client configuration accordingly.
• Use the proxy/--upstream-url option in the CLI to route traffic through another MCP gateway for testing or deployment in multi-node environments.
• Make sure the Strands Agent has the mcp_server tool enabled so that MCP calls can be routed to the local agent.
• For Claude Desktop or other clients, you typically configure the MCP connection with the server URL and transport (http/stdio). The example configuration in the README shows an mcpServers entry with command 'uvx' and appropriate cwd.
• Check logs if issues arise: Claude logs and the console output from uvx strands-mcp-server can help diagnose missing tools, authentication issues, or connectivity problems.