Alpaca Official MCP Server
Installation
0. Prerequisites
- Python (version requirements can be found at: https://modelcontextprotocol.io/quickstart/server)
- GitHub account
- Alpaca API keys (with paper or live trading access)
- Claude for Desktop or another compatible MCP client
1. Installation
-
Clone the repository and navigate to the directory:
git clone https://github.com/alpacahq/alpaca-mcp-server.git cd alpaca-mcp-server -
Create and activate a virtual environment and Install the required packages:
Option A: Using pip (traditional)
python3 -m venv myvenv source myvenv/bin/activate # On Windows: myvenv\Scripts\activate pip install -r requirements.txtOption B: Using uv (modern, faster)
To use uv, you'll first need to install it. See the official uv installation guide for detailed installation instructions for your platform.
uv venv myvenv source myvenv/bin/activate # On Windows: myvenv\Scripts\activate uv pip install -r requirements.txtNote: The virtual environment will use the Python version that was used to create it. If you run the command with Python 3.10 or newer, your virtual environment will also use Python 3.10+. If you want to confirm the version, you can run
python3 --versionafter activating the virtual environment.
Project Structure
After cloning and activating the virtual environment, your directory structure should look like this:
alpaca-mcp-server/ ← This is the workspace folder (= project root)
├── alpaca_mcp_server.py ← Script is directly in workspace root
├── .github/ ← VS Code settings (for VS Code users)
│ ├── core/ ← Core utility modules
│ └── workflows/ ← GitHub Actions workflows
├── .vscode/ ← VS Code settings (for VS Code users)
│ └── mcp.json
├── venv/ ← Virtual environment folder
│ └── bin/python
├── .env.example ← Environment template (use this to create `.env` file)
├── .gitignore
├── Dockerfile ← Docker configuration (for Docker use)
├── .dockerignore ← Docker ignore (for Docker use)
├── requirements.txt
└── README.md
2. Create and edit a .env file for your credentials in the project directory
-
Copy the example environment file in the project root by running this command:
cp .env.example .env -
Replace the credentials (e.g. API keys) in the
.envfile:ALPACA_API_KEY = "your_alpaca_api_key_for_paper_account" ALPACA_SECRET_KEY = "your_alpaca_secret_key_for_paper_account" ALPACA_PAPER_TRADE = True TRADE_API_URL = None TRDE_API_WSS = None DATA_API_URL = None STREAM_DATA_WSS = None
3. Start the MCP Server
Open a terminal in the project root directory and run the following command:
For local usage (default - stdio transport):
python alpaca_mcp_server.py
For remote usage (HTTP transport):
python alpaca_mcp_server.py --transport http
Available transport options:
--transport stdio(default): Standard input/output for local client connections--transport http: HTTP transport for remote client connections (default: 127.0.0.1:8000)--transport sse: Server-Sent Events transport for remote connections (deprecated)--host HOST: Host to bind the server to for HTTP/SSE transport (default: 127.0.0.1)--port PORT: Port to bind the server to for HTTP/SSE transport (default: 8000)
Note: For more information about MCP transport methods, see the official MCP transport documentation.
Server Config
{
"mcpServers": {
"alpaca": {
"command": "<project_root>/venv/bin/python",
"args": [
"/path/to/alpaca-mcp-server/alpaca_mcp_server.py"
],
"env": {
"ALPACA_API_KEY": "your_alpaca_api_key_for_paper_account",
"ALPACA_SECRET_KEY": "your_alpaca_secret_key_for_paper_account"
}
}
}
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