Umd MCP server

umd-mcp

An MCP server exposing University of Maryland data: courses and grades (PlanetTerp, the Schedule of Classes, the Testudo student portal, ELMS), dining menus and news, Shuttle-UM routes and timetables, athletics, the campus calendar, TerpLink organizations and events, RecWell facilities, the University Senate, and the campus directory.

Development

pnpm install
pnpm dev        # run the server on stdio with hot reload
pnpm inspect    # open the MCP Inspector against the dev server
pnpm test       # run tests
pnpm check      # typecheck + lint + format check + knip (dead code) + tests
pnpm build      # emit dist/

Using with a client

Add to your MCP client config (e.g. Claude Desktop, Claude Code):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "umd": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/umd-mcp/dist/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Signing in

Some UMD services need a signed-in user. The login tool opens a browser window that umd-mcp controls (Chrome or Edge, on its own profile under ~/.umd-mcp/browser-profile) at the UMD Shibboleth IdP, with a CAS service URL pointing at a one-shot listener on 127.0.0.1. Once the user finishes signing in (including Duo) the IdP redirects back with a service ticket, which the server validates against serviceValidate to learn who signed in.

While that single sign-on session is fresh, login then visits every connected service (see below) in the same window so each app can set its own session cookie, and copies those cookies into a per-service Session. The window closes by itself. The profile persists, so later logins are usually silent. logout forgets everything and clears the profile's cookies.

Why a browser: CAS only issues a ticket for the service named in the login URL, and each app turns its ticket into a cookie for its own origin. The only way for the server to hold those cookies is to be the browser that receives them.

The callback host is localtest.dev.umd.edu, a public DNS name UMD IT publishes that resolves to 127.0.0.1. It is used instead of localhost because the IdP sits behind an AWS WAF that rejects any service URL containing localhost with a 403.

Environment variables:

ELMS tools use it as a bearer token and need no browser sign-in.

• UMDMCPBROWSER: path to a Chromium executable, if Chrome or Edge are not installed.
• UMDMCPPROFILE_DIR: where to keep the browser profile.
• CANVAS_TOKEN: a Canvas personal access token (from ELMS profile settings). When set, the

Tools

Tool names are _, except the sign-in tools. Integrations marked "(login)" need the login tool first; the rest work anonymously.

shibboleth

planetterp

Shortened. The full README is on GitHub.