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Setting Up Your DocuMCP Development Environment

This guide will help you set up a complete development environment for contributing to DocuMCP, including the MCP server, documentation tools, and testing infrastructure.

Prerequisites​

DocuMCP requires Node.js 20+ for optimal performance with the MCP SDK and TypeScript compilation.

Installing Node.js​

Using Node Version Manager (nvm) - Recommended​

  1. Install nvm:

    curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/latest/install.sh | bash

  2. Install and use Node.js 20 (required by DocuMCP):

    nvm install 20
    nvm use 20

  3. Verify installation:

    node --version  # Should show v20.x.x
    npm --version   # Should show 10.x.x or higher

Clone and Setup DocuMCP​

  1. Clone the repository:

    git clone https://github.com/tosin2013/documcp.git
    cd documcp

  2. Install dependencies:

    npm install

  3. Build the project:

    npm run build

  4. Verify the MCP server works:

    npm start

Development Tools​

  • ESLint: Code quality and style enforcement
  • Prettier: Code formatting
  • TypeScript and JavaScript Language Features: Enhanced TypeScript support
  • GitLens: Git integration and history
  • MCP Protocol Support: For MCP server development (if available)

Debugging the MCP Server​

Create a .vscode/launch.json file for debugging DocuMCP:

{
  "version": "0.2.0",
  "configurations": [
    {
      "type": "node",
      "request": "launch",
      "name": "Debug DocuMCP Server",
      "skipFiles": ["<node_internals>/**"],
      "program": "${workspaceFolder}/src/index.ts",
      "preLaunchTask": "tsc: build - tsconfig.json",
      "outFiles": ["${workspaceFolder}/dist/**/*.js"],
      "env": {
        "NODE_ENV": "development"
      }
    },
    {
      "type": "node",
      "request": "launch",
      "name": "Debug MCP Tools",
      "skipFiles": ["<node_internals>/**"],
      "program": "${workspaceFolder}/src/tools/analyze-repository.ts",
      "preLaunchTask": "tsc: build - tsconfig.json",
      "outFiles": ["${workspaceFolder}/dist/**/*.js"]
    }
  ]
}

Testing Your Setup​

  1. Run the test suite:

    npm test

  2. Test MCP server locally:

    npm run dev

  3. Test documentation generation:

    npm run test:docs

MCP Client Integration​

To test DocuMCP with AI clients during development:

  1. Build the development version:

    npm run build

  2. Link for local testing:

    npm link

  3. Configure Claude Desktop for development:

    {
      "mcpServers": {
        "documcp-dev": {
          "command": "node",
          "args": ["/path/to/documcp/dist/index.js"],
          "env": {
            "DOCUMCP_TARGET_REPO": "/path/to/test/project"
          }
        }
      }
    }

Next Steps​