lisply

Lisply-MCP is a middleware layer that lets an MCP-capable AI agent (for example Claude Desktop) interact with Lisp-based backends via a lightweight Lisply protocol. The MCP wrapper exposes multiple Lisply backends as independent MCP servers, each with its own tool namespace to avoid conflicts when running several Lisp environments simultaneously. After starting the containers or processes, you’ll connect your agent to the configured MCP server endpoints and begin issuing Lisp evaluation, file operations, and HTTP requests through MCP tools such as lisply__lisp_eval and related utilities. The default setup demonstrates running a Gendl-based Lisp backend and a default skewed-emacs backend, each accessible via its own port and server-name prefix.

Prerequisites:

• Node.js (18+ recommended)
• Docker (optional for containerized runs)
• Access to clone the lisply-mcp repository and place it where your MCP-capable agent can reach it

Install steps:

1. Install Node.js

• On Windows/macOS/Linux, download and install from https://nodejs.org or use your system package manager.

2. Clone the lisply-mcp repository

git clone https://github.com/gornskew/lisply-mcp.git
cd lisply-mcp

3. Install dependencies (if applicable)

npm install

4. Configure your MCP-capable agent

• Create or edit your agent configuration to include an mcpServers section like the examples below, pointing to the lisply-mcp wrapper script on your filesystem.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "lisply-gendl-ccl": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": [
        "/path/to/cloned/lisply-mcp/scripts/mcp-wrapper.js",
        "--server-name", "lisply-gendl-ccl",
        "--http-port", "9080"
      ]
    },
    "lisply-gendl-sbcl": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": [
        "/path/to/cloned/lisply-mcp/scripts/mcp-wrapper.js",
        "--server-name", "lisply-gendl-sbcl",
        "--http-port", "9090"
      ]
    },
    "lisply-skewed-emacs": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": [
        "/path/to/cloned/lisply-mcp/scripts/mcp-wrapper.js",
        "--server-name", "lisply-skewed-emacs",
        "--http-port", "7080"
      ]
    }
  }
}

5. Start the LISPLY MCP servers

npm run start

Optional: If you’re running in a Windows host with WSL or in a containerized setup, follow the specific containerized run instructions in the project’s docs to start the Lisply-MCP environment and connect Claude Desktop or another MCP-capable agent to the configured endpoints.

Notes and tips:

• The Lisply-MCP wrapper is designed to host multiple Lisp backends (e.g., Gendl, Emacs Lisp) under separate server-names. Each server exposes its own tool namespace (e.g., lisply__lisp_eval) to avoid conflicts.
• If you plan to run in containers, the README suggests using the Containerized Runnings approach from the skewed-emacs project. This typically yields a Docker Compose setup that preconfigures Lisply-MCP alongside a Gendl backend.
• When using Windows hosts with Claude Desktop, you can point to the wrapper script path or use WSL as shown in the README examples. Ensure proper path formatting for your environment.
• Environment variables you may configure include any backend-specific endpoints, Docker host/port overrides, and the HTTP port to listen on for each server. For example, you can customize --http-port per server instance as shown in the examples.
• If you encounter issues starting containers automatically, rely on the Containerized Runnings approach and ensure the Lisply backend container is reachable from the MCP wrapper.