mcp -ietf

This MCP server provides access to IETF RFC documents. It downloads and caches an index of RFCs and the documents themselves, supports keyword-based RFC title searches, and serves RFC content with pagination support. Once the server is running, you can use the MCP inspector or other MCP clients to interact with the server’s tools: list_docs_number to see how many RFCs are available, get_doc to fetch a specific RFC by number with optional pagination (start_line and max_lines), and search_rfc_by_keyword to find RFCs by keywords in their titles. The server is designed to help language models access RFC content in a structured, queryable way, reducing the need for raw document scraping.

Prerequisites:

• Python 3.11 or higher
• git
• Development tools for Python (compiler toolchain, etc.)

Install from source:

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/tizee/mcp-server-ietf
cd mcp-server-ietf

# Install with editable mode (development mode)
pip install -e .

Optional for development tooling (if you want to run tests or use uvx-based workflows):

# Install development dependencies
uv install -e .[dev]

To run the server directly (after installation):

mcp-server-ietf

If you prefer running via the MCP inspector (requires Node.js and npx):

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector uv run mcp-server-ietf

Tips and notes:

• The server caches RFC documents and index by default at ~/.cache/ietf-doc-server. If you have limited disk space, monitor this directory or configure a different cache location if supported by your environment.
• The environment variable LOG_LEVEL can be set to control log verbosity (e.g., INFO, DEBUG, WARNING).
• If you encounter network timeouts while downloading RFCs, ensure stable network access or pre-warm the cache by allowing the initial fetch to complete.
• The server exposes tools for listing, retrieving with pagination, and keyword searching; consider adding authentication or rate limiting in production deployments if needed.
• Ensure you are using a compatible MCP inspector or client to interact with the server’s endpoints.