posit-dev / posit-dev/mcptools

"pre-connected" servers and sessions

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Dominant language
R
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1h 14m
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Description

@gadenbuie suggested something I thought was interesting...

Do I need to be careful about how many btw_mcp_servers() are running on a machine? Like would it be valid to do something like this?

# In a user-facing R sesssion
btw::btw_mcp_session()

# In a bg job session
proc_mcp_server <- callr::r_bg(btw::btw_mcp_server)
btw::btw_app()

with btw_app() swapping out btw_tools() for tools from the mcp server?

I guess the problem is that we’d also need to go through the “select R session process”. Maybe it’d be nice if there were a version of mcp server+session that come pre-connected, with some kind of way to check the connection status from the app session so we could either tell the user how to reconnect or do the reconnecting ourselves

Part of me feels like this could be quite useful, part of me thinks that situations like this (two R sessions, one launched by the other) are best addressed not with MCP but with simpler nanonext back-and-forth.

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Research direction

Start by reviewing the named entry points btw_mcp_session(), btw_mcp_server(), btw_app(), btw_tools(), and the callr::r_bg example. Determine whether pre-connected servers and sessions fit the project’s MCP approach or require simpler session communication, then define connection-status and reconnection behavior as the completion criteria.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
r
Domain
backend-api-design
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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