mcp

name	mcp
description	Manage the HAL MCP server lifecycle and AI client configuration. Use when the user asks to start MCP, configure an AI client (Copilot, Claude), check MCP health, or understand the MCP transport options.

HAL MCP Skill

The hal mcp namespace manages the HAL MCP server — the runtime bridge between AI clients and the live HAL lab environment.

Transport Modes

Mode	Command	Protocol
stdio (local/dev)	hal mcp serve	2024-11-05
streamable-HTTP (container)	hal mcp serve --transport streamable-http --http-host 0.0.0.0 --http-port 8080 --http-path /mcp	2025-03-26

Primary Commands

hal mcp create          # scaffold AI client config (stdio, local dev)
hal mcp create --http   # pull ghcr.io/hashimiche/hal-mcp:latest and run container
hal mcp serve           # start MCP server in stdio mode (used by HAL Plus)
hal mcp status          # check MCP readiness
hal mcp delete          # remove MCP managed artifacts
hal mcp policy          # print runtime answer/tool policy (read-only)

Key Flags

• --http — run the MCP server as a streamable-HTTP container instead of stdio
• --http-tag <tag> — override the pulled image tag (default latest)

Architecture Notes

• The hal-mcp container does not mount the host container engine socket and does not run as root.
• Tool calls requiring engine access (hal_status_baseline) return engine-unavailable in rootless Podman — this is expected.
• AI clients must treat engine-unavailable as runtime unknown, not product down.
• There is no SSH-based MCP transport. Do not suggest SSH tunnelling for MCP.
• hal mcp create configures the AI client config scaffold; it does not start a persistent server process unless --http is used.

Lab Assumptions

• MCP runs on hal-net alongside HAL Plus.
• HAL Plus spawns hal mcp serve (stdio) internally — no manual hal mcp serve needed when using HAL Plus.
• For standalone AI client use (Copilot, Claude Desktop), run hal mcp create to generate the client config.