VirtualFlyBrain MCP server

VFB3-MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Virtual Fly Brain (VFB): query Drosophila melanogaster neuroanatomy, connectomics, expression and reagent data from Claude, Copilot or any other MCP client.

Canonical repository: VirtualFlyBrain/VFB3-MCP (this one) — maintained by the Virtual Fly Brain team. Hosted service: https://vfb3-mcp.virtualflybrain.org — no installation, no API key, no account.

claude mcp add --transport http virtual-fly-brain https://vfb3-mcp.virtualflybrain.org

The earlier copy at Robbie1977/VFB3-MCP is archived at v1.3.0 and is not maintained; use this repository and the URL above.

This server provides tools to query VFB data, run queries, and search for terms. In HTTP mode it runs statelessly (no session tracking), so any replica can handle any request and standard load balancing works.

🚀 Quick Start

Use the Live Service (Recommended)

The easiest way to use VFB3-MCP is through our hosted service at https://vfb3-mcp.virtualflybrain.org. This requires no installation or setup on your machine.

Claude Desktop Setup

1. Open Claude Desktop and go to Settings
2. Navigate to the MCP section
3. Add a new MCP server with these settings:

• Server Name: virtual-fly-brain (or any name you prefer)
• Type: HTTP
• Server URL: https://vfb3-mcp.virtualflybrain.org

Configuration JSON (alternative method):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "virtual-fly-brain": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://vfb3-mcp.virtualflybrain.org",
      "tools": ["*"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code Setup

1. Locate your Claude configuration file:

• macOS/Linux: ~/.claude.json
• Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.claude.json

1. Add the VFB3-MCP server to your configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "virtual-fly-brain": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://vfb3-mcp.virtualflybrain.org",
      "tools": ["*"]
    }
  }
}

1. Restart Claude Code for changes to take effect

GitHub Copilot Setup

1. Open VS Code with GitHub Copilot installed
2. Open Settings (Ctrl/Cmd + ,)
3. Search for "MCP" in the settings search
4. Find the MCP Servers setting
5. Add the server URL: https://vfb3-mcp.virtualflybrain.org
6. Give it a name like "Virtual Fly Brain"

Alternative JSON configuration (in mcp.json):

{
  "servers": {
    "virtual-fly-brain": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://vfb3-mcp.virtualflybrain.org"
    }
  }
}

Visual Studio Code (with MCP Extension)

1. Install the MCP extension for VS Code from the marketplace
2. Open the Command Palette (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + P)
3. Type "MCP: Add server" and select it
4. Choose "HTTP" as the server type
5. Enter the server details:

• Name: virtual-fly-brain
• URL: https://vfb3-mcp.virtualflybrain.org

1. Save and restart VS Code if prompted

Other MCP Clients

For any MCP-compatible client that supports HTTP servers:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "virtual-fly-brain": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://vfb3-mcp.virtualflybrain.org",
      "tools": ["*"]
    }
  }
}

Gemini Setup

To use the Virtual Fly Brain (VFB) Model Context Protocol (MCP) server with Google Gemini, you can connect through custom Python/Node.js clients that support MCP.

Note: Direct Gemini web interface integration with MCP is not currently supported. Developer tools are needed to connect the two.

Option 1: Using Python

For application development, use the mcp and google-genai libraries to connect.

Setup: pip install google-genai mcp

Implementation: Use a streamable HTTP transport in JSON response mode (e.g. enableJsonResponse: true) to connect to the VFB URL, list its tools, and pass their schemas to the Gemini model as Function Declarations.

Testing the Connection

Shortened. The full README is on GitHub.