Follow-along: Run the MCP server

Step 1: Configure the MCP server

1. Create a new file called mcp-config.yaml in the root of the project.

2. Add the following content to the file:

   mcp-config.yaml

   endpoint: ${env.GRAPHQL_ENDPOINT:-https://flyby-edu-router.up.railway.app/}
   
   schema:
     source: local
     path: schema.graphql
   introspection:
     introspect:
       enabled: true
     execute:
       enabled: true
   transport:
     type: streamable_http
     stateful_mode: false
     # This is for development. In production, you probably want to remove this!
     host_validation:
       enabled: false
   overrides:
     mutation_mode: "all"

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This configures the MCP server to:

• Connect to the graph at the endpoint specified in the endpoint key.
• Reference a local schema file (schema.graphql).
• Enable introspection and execution of GraphQL operations.
• Use the streamable HTTP transport.
• Disable host validation for development purposes.
• Allow all mutations to run.

Step 2: Download the MCP server

If you haven't already, run ./install.sh. This script downloads the latest MCP server binary apollo-mcp-server using curl -sSL https://mcp.apollo.dev/download/nix/latest | sh.

Step 3: Run the MCP server

In your terminal, run the following command:

You can peek inside the script for the details, but this script will:

• Update schema.graphql with the latest schema from the graph.
• Run the apollo-mcp-server binary with the mcp-config.yaml file.
• Watch for changes to the apps/ folder (which we'll get into with MCP Apps) and restart the server as needed.

You should see logs in your terminal indicating that the MCP server is running and listening for requests.

Step 4: Inspect with MCP Jam

MCP Jam is a convenient way to test MCP locally, including the App Builder tab you will use after UI is wired up.

1. From a terminal (with the MCP server running), launch the inspector pointed at your local endpoint:

   npx @mcpjam/inspector@latest --url http://localhost:8000/mcp --name "Flyby" --tab app-builder

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2. Your browser should automatically open to the MCP Jam inspector with the correct URL.

   http://127.0.0.1:6274/#app-builder

   

   It will have two tools available based on our MCP configuration: execute and introspect.

3. The chat defaults to a Claude emulator. Ask it questions about the schema and you'll get text-only responses.

   • "What data is available in my graph?"
   • "Show me all the space tourism locations"
   • "Tell me more about Krypton"

4. Explore the logs which shows the requests and results from the MCP server. You can also dig into each detail of the tool call.

Up next

Text answers are useful, but you already invested in a UI! Let's dive into MCP Apps and see how we can display our UI in the chat window.