Mcp Dino

io.github.shennawardana23Published by GitHub account shennawardana23v0.1.0Updated Nov 3, 2026

MCP server with an interactive dinosaur dashboard (MCP Apps UI). No API keys required.

The publisher's own server: dino.markets

VerifiedSTDIODesktop onlyDeveloper Tools AI & ML

Server details

Identifier: io.github.shennawardana23/mcp-dino
Transport: STDIO
Runtime: Desktop only
Trust: Verified
Published: Sep 16, 2026

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Overview

AI-generated overview

A Go reference MCP server that gives an assistant three dinosaur tools, including an interactive HTML dashboard rendered as an MCP App.

What you can do: Get a random dinosaur fact with the species name
Ask a dinosaur question and receive a general dinosaur-era overview
Render an interactive dashboard of 12 dinosaur species, filterable by diet and period, as an HTML card grid inside the client
Serve the same dashboard and a JSON dinosaur API over HTTP for direct browser access
When to use it: Useful as a demo or learning project for the MCP Apps protocol and Go/Gin MCP server structure, or for a lightweight dinosaur fact and dashboard toy in Claude Desktop. Not intended for real research or production data work.
Requirements: Runs as a local process over stdio; the README also documents an HTTP mode on port 9010. The published package is a macOS arm64 build. Building from source needs Go 1.25 or later and Node.js 18 or later for the UI; no API keys or environment variables are required.

Before you install

The dashboard filter is applied server-side when the tool is called, so in-app buttons can only narrow the initial result set. The ask tool returns the same overview regardless of the question. The README's tunnel target exposes the local server through a public Cloudflare URL, which makes it reachable from outside your machine.

Installation

In SourceWeft

Open Mcp Dino in the dashboard and add it to a workspace.
Enable the server for the chats that should use its tools.

Desktop only via STDIO. STDIO servers start a local process, so they need the SourceWeft desktop host.

Other MCP clients

Follow the launch instructions in the repository.

README

[dino-mcp]

A production-grade MCP server with interactive HTML dashboard UI — written in Go, styled for delight.

[Go] [MCP Go SDK] [Gin] [Tests] [License] [Binary Size]

📋 Table of Contents

🦕 What — and Why

dino-mcp is a reference implementation of the Model Context Protocol (MCP) in Go that demonstrates every layer of the modern MCP stack:

Layer	Implementation	Why it matters
Transport	`stdio` + `Streamable HTTP`	Works in Claude Desktop AND web browsers
MCP Apps	`@modelcontextprotocol/ext-apps` `App` class	Interactive HTML UIs in Claude Desktop iframes
Tools	`dino_think`, `dino_ask`, `dino_dashboard`	Typed Go handlers, structured JSON results
Resources	`//go:embed` HTML → `text/html;profile=mcp-app`	Self-contained ~11MB binary, zero deps at runtime

Whether you're building an MCP server from scratch, learning the MCP Apps protocol, or need a Go — Gin — ext-apps SDK integration blueprint, this project has you covered.

⚡ Quick Start

bash

# Clone & entergit clone https://github.com/shennawardana23/mcp-dino.git && cd mcp-dino
# Build & run in one shot (≈2 seconds)make build-fast && make dev-http
# Open the standalone dashboardopen http://localhost:9010/dashboard

# Clone & entergit clone https://github.com/shennawardana23/mcp-dino.git && cd mcp-dino
# Build & run in one shot (≈2 seconds)make build-fast && make dev-http
# Open the standalone dashboardopen http://localhost:9010/dashboard

Expected output — click to expand

=== dino-mcp server ===Transport: httpListening on :9010
[GIN] 2026/06/21 - 12:30:00 | 200 | 4.2ms | ::1 | GET "/dashboard"[GIN] 2026/06/21 - 12:30:01 | 200 | 2.1ms | ::1 | GET "/api/dinosaurs"

=== dino-mcp server ===Transport: httpListening on :9010
[GIN] 2026/06/21 - 12:30:00 | 200 | 4.2ms | ::1 | GET "/dashboard"[GIN] 2026/06/21 - 12:30:01 | 200 | 2.1ms | ::1 | GET "/api/dinosaurs"

🏗 Architecture at a Glance

mermaid

flowchart TB  subgraph CLI["CLI Layer"]    STDIO["stdio subcommand"]    HTTP["http subcommand"]  end
  subgraph SERVER["Server (internal/server/)"]    GIN["Gin Router :9010"]    MCPH["MCP StreamableHTTPHandler"]    CORS["CORS Middleware"]    TOOLS["Tools: think · ask · dashboard"]    RES["Resources: //go:embed HTML"]  end
  subgraph UI["View (ui/src/)"]    APP["ext-apps App class"]    POST["postMessage protocol"]  end
  subgraph FALLBACK["Standalone Fallback"]    DASH["/dashboard (HTML)"]    API["/api/dinosaurs (JSON)"]  end
  CLI --> GIN  GIN --> CORS  CORS --> MCPH  MCPH --> TOOLS  TOOLS --> RES  RES --> APP  APP --> POST  MCPH -.->|"MCP Apps"| APP  GIN -.->|"direct route"| DASH  GIN -.->|"direct route"| API
  style CLI fill:#1a1a2e,color:#e0e0e0,stroke:#2d2a44  style SERVER fill:#1a1a2e,color:#e0e0e0,stroke:#2d2a44  style UI fill:#1a1a2e,color:#e0e0e0,stroke:#2d2a44  style FALLBACK fill:#1a1a2e,color:#e0e0e0,stroke:#2d2a44  style STDIO fill:#2d2a44,color:#a78bfa  style HTTP fill:#2d2a44,color:#a78bfa  style GIN fill:#0099e5,color:#fff  style MCPH fill:#a78bfa,color:#fff  style TOOLS fill:#22c55e,color:#fff  style RES fill:#22c55e,color:#fff  style APP fill:#facc15,color:#000  style POST fill:#facc15,color:#000  style DASH fill:#f87171,color:#fff  style API fill:#f87171,color:#fff

flowchart TB  subgraph CLI["CLI Layer"]    STDIO["stdio subcommand"]    HTTP["http subcommand"]  end
  subgraph SERVER["Server (internal/server/)"]    GIN["Gin Router :9010"]    MCPH["MCP StreamableHTTPHandler"]    CORS["CORS Middleware"]    TOOLS["Tools: think · ask · dashboard"]    RES["Resources: //go:embed HTML"]  end
  subgraph UI["View (ui/src/)"]    APP["ext-apps App class"]    POST["postMessage protocol"]  end
  subgraph FALLBACK["Standalone Fallback"]    DASH["/dashboard (HTML)"]    API["/api/dinosaurs (JSON)"]  end
  CLI --> GIN  GIN --> CORS  CORS --> MCPH  MCPH --> TOOLS  TOOLS --> RES  RES --> APP  APP --> POST  MCPH -.->|"MCP Apps"| APP  GIN -.->|"direct route"| DASH  GIN -.->|"direct route"| API
  style CLI fill:#1a1a2e,color:#e0e0e0,stroke:#2d2a44  style SERVER fill:#1a1a2e,color:#e0e0e0,stroke:#2d2a44  style UI fill:#1a1a2e,color:#e0e0e0,stroke:#2d2a44  style FALLBACK fill:#1a1a2e,color:#e0e0e0,stroke:#2d2a44  style STDIO fill:#2d2a44,color:#a78bfa  style HTTP fill:#2d2a44,color:#a78bfa  style GIN fill:#0099e5,color:#fff  style MCPH fill:#a78bfa,color:#fff  style TOOLS fill:#22c55e,color:#fff  style RES fill:#22c55e,color:#fff  style APP fill:#facc15,color:#000  style POST fill:#facc15,color:#000  style DASH fill:#f87171,color:#fff  style API fill:#f87171,color:#fff

Data flows through three pipes:

Pipe	Protocol	Client	Use case
MCP Tools	JSON-RPC over stdio	Claude Desktop	Text tools (`dino_think`, `dino_ask`)
MCP Apps	JSON-RPC over stdio + postMessage	Claude Desktop iframe	Interactive UI (`dino_dashboard`)
Standalone	HTTP GET	Browser	Direct access (`/dashboard`, `/api/dinosaurs`)

✨ Features

MCP Standards Compliance

Feature	Status	Notes
Tools (`tools/list`, `tools/call`)	✅ Complete	3 typed tools with structured JSON responses
Resources (`resources/list`, `resources/read`)	✅ Complete	`//go:embed` HTML served at `ui://` URIs
MCP Apps protocol	✅ Complete	`_meta.ui.resourceUri` + `ui/initialize` handshake
stdio transport	✅	Claude Desktop, Cursor, Copilot
Streamable HTTP	✅	MCP Inspector, curl, browser, tunnel
SSE transport	❌ Removed	Deprecated in MCP spec v2025-11-25

Developer Experience

3-second build cycle — make build-fast && make dev-http
7 integration tests — make test exercises every protocol method
Interactive debugging — make test-inspector launches MCP Inspector
Remote testing — make run-tunnel creates a public trycloudflare.com URL
No API keys — all dinosaur data is built into the binary
Zero runtime deps — single static binary with embedded HTML

Interactive Dashboard

The dino_dashboard tool renders an HTML card grid inside Claude Desktop's iframe:

Filter by diet — Carnivore, Herbivore, or show All
Filter by period — Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous
12 dinosaur species — from T-Rex to Velociraptor
Fallback mode — open directly at http://localhost:9010/dashboard

Note: the filter is applied server-side at the time the tool is called. Once opened with a specific filter, the in-app filter buttons can only narrow further within that same result set — they can't widen back out to species the initial call excluded.

The HTML view is built with the official @modelcontextprotocol/ext-apps SDK and communicates via JSON-RPC over postMessage.

🎮 Try It

In Claude Desktop

→ Claude detects the MCP App → renders an iframe → you see filterable dinosaur cards

In your browser

→ Standalone HTML with all dinosaur data fetched from the built-in REST API

With MCP Inspector

→ Opens http://localhost:5173 → connects to http://localhost:9010/mcp

Via curl

bash

# Initializecurl -s -X POST http://localhost:9010/mcp \  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \  -H "Accept: application/json, text/event-stream" \  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"initialize","params":{"protocolVersion":"2025-06-18","capabilities":{},"clientInfo":{"name":"curl","version":"1.0"}}}' \  | python3 -m json.tool
# List toolsSID="<session-id-from-above>"curl -s -X POST http://localhost:9010/mcp \  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \  -H "Accept: application/json, text/event-stream" \  -H "Mcp-Session-Id: $SID" \  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":2,"method":"tools/list"}' \  | python3 -m json.tool
# Call dino_thinkcurl -s -X POST http://localhost:9010/mcp \  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \  -H "Accept: application/json, text/event-stream" \  -H "Mcp-Session-Id: $SID" \  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":3,"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"dino_think","arguments":{}}}' \  | python3 -m json.tool

# Initializecurl -s -X POST http://localhost:9010/mcp \  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \  -H "Accept: application/json, text/event-stream" \  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"initialize","params":{"protocolVersion":"2025-06-18","capabilities":{},"clientInfo":{"name":"curl","version":"1.0"}}}' \  | python3 -m json.tool
# List toolsSID="<session-id-from-above>"curl -s -X POST http://localhost:9010/mcp \  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \  -H "Accept: application/json, text/event-stream" \  -H "Mcp-Session-Id: $SID" \  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":2,"method":"tools/list"}' \  | python3 -m json.tool
# Call dino_thinkcurl -s -X POST http://localhost:9010/mcp \  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \  -H "Accept: application/json, text/event-stream" \  -H "Mcp-Session-Id: $SID" \  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":3,"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"dino_think","arguments":{}}}' \  | python3 -m json.tool

🔧 Tool Reference

Tool	Type	Input	Output	Example Prompt
`dino_think`	Text	`{}`	Random fact + species JSON	"Tell me a dinosaur fact"
`dino_ask`	Text	`{"question": "..."}`	Answer + question JSON	"What did T-Rex eat?"
`dino_dashboard`	MCP App	`{"filter": "Carnivore"}`	HTML iframe + JSON data	"Show me carnivore dinosaurs"

dino_ask currently returns the same general dinosaur-era overview regardless of the question asked — it doesn't yet branch on the question text. Tracked as a known limitation.

Example dino_think response:

json

{  "content": [    { "type": "text", "text": "🦕 Did you know? The Velociraptor was only about the size of a turkey!" }  ],  "structuredContent": {    "fact": "The Velociraptor was only about the size of a turkey",    "species": "Velociraptor"  }}

{  "content": [    { "type": "text", "text": "🦕 Did you know? The Velociraptor was only about the size of a turkey!" }  ],  "structuredContent": {    "fact": "The Velociraptor was only about the size of a turkey",    "species": "Velociraptor"  }}

Example dino_dashboard response:

json

{  "content": [    { "type": "text", "text": "Displaying dinosaur dashboard with 4 dinosaurs (filter: Carnivore)" }  ],  "structuredContent": {    "filter": "Carnivore",    "dinosaurs": [      {        "name": "Tyrannosaurus Rex",        "period": "Cretaceous",        "diet": "Carnivore",        "length": "40 ft (12 m)",        "weight": "9 tons (8,000 kg)",        "funFact": "T-Rex had the strongest bite of any land animal ever",        "imageStyle": "bg-red-900"      }    ],    "timestamp": "2026-06-21T12:00:00Z"  }}

{  "content": [    { "type": "text", "text": "Displaying dinosaur dashboard with 4 dinosaurs (filter: Carnivore)" }  ],  "structuredContent": {    "filter": "Carnivore",    "dinosaurs": [      {        "name": "Tyrannosaurus Rex",        "period": "Cretaceous",        "diet": "Carnivore",        "length": "40 ft (12 m)",        "weight": "9 tons (8,000 kg)",        "funFact": "T-Rex had the strongest bite of any land animal ever",        "imageStyle": "bg-red-900"      }    ],    "timestamp": "2026-06-21T12:00:00Z"  }}

💬 Claude Desktop Integration

CLI Mode (stdin/stdout)

Locate the binary and add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

json

{  "mcpServers": {    "dino-mcp": {      "command": "/absolute/path/to/mcp-dino/bin/dino-mcp",      "args": ["stdio"]    }  }}

{  "mcpServers": {    "dino-mcp": {      "command": "/absolute/path/to/mcp-dino/bin/dino-mcp",      "args": ["stdio"]    }  }}

After saving, restart Claude Desktop. You'll see hammer icons (🔨) on tools when chatting — click to invoke directly, or let Claude decide.

HTTP Mode (for debugging)

🛠 Development

Prerequisites

Commands

bash

# Build — three optionsmake build            # Full: Vite UI + Go binarymake build-fast       # Quick: Go binary only (reuses existing UI)make build-ui         # Vite UI only
# Runmake dev-http         # HTTP mode with verbose loggingmake run-stdio        # stdio mode for Claude Desktopmake run-tunnel       # HTTP + Cloudflare Tunnel
# Test & verifymake test             # 7 integration tests — all must passmake test-inspector   # Launch MCP Inspector in browsermake lint             # go vet + go fmt
# Utilitymake help             # All targets with descriptionsmake clean            # Remove all build artifacts

# Build — three optionsmake build            # Full: Vite UI + Go binarymake build-fast       # Quick: Go binary only (reuses existing UI)make build-ui         # Vite UI only
# Runmake dev-http         # HTTP mode with verbose loggingmake run-stdio        # stdio mode for Claude Desktopmake run-tunnel       # HTTP + Cloudflare Tunnel
# Test & verifymake test             # 7 integration tests — all must passmake test-inspector   # Launch MCP Inspector in browsermake lint             # go vet + go fmt
# Utilitymake help             # All targets with descriptionsmake clean            # Remove all build artifacts

Project Structure

mcp-dino/├── bin/                          # Go build output (~11MB static binary)├── cmd/dino-mcp/main.go          # CLI entry point (stdio | http | help)├── internal/│   ├── server/│   │   └── server.go             # Composition root: mcp.Server + Gin + CORS│   ├── tools/│   │   ├── tools.go              # Shared types, constants, helpers│   │   ├── think.go              # RegisterThink (dino_think tool)│   │   ├── ask.go                # RegisterAsk (dino_ask tool)│   │   └── dashboard.go          # RegisterDashboardTool + 12 dino species + REST API│   └── resources/│       ├── dashboard.go          # RegisterDashboardResource + //go:embed HTML│       └── dashboard_ui.html     # Vite-built HTML (354KB)├── ui/│   └── src/│       └── mcp-app.ts            # ext-apps App class + postMessage├── docs/                         # Diátaxis documentation (see below)├── test_mcp.sh                   # 7 integration tests├── AGENTS.md                     # AI agent instructions (canonical)├── ARCHITECTURE.md               # C4 diagrams + sequence flows├── TECH_DESIGN.md                # Interface contracts + data model├── Makefile                      # All targets├── go.mod + go.sum               # Go dependencies└── README.md                     # ← you are here

mcp-dino/├── bin/                          # Go build output (~11MB static binary)├── cmd/dino-mcp/main.go          # CLI entry point (stdio | http | help)├── internal/│   ├── server/│   │   └── server.go             # Composition root: mcp.Server + Gin + CORS│   ├── tools/│   │   ├── tools.go              # Shared types, constants, helpers│   │   ├── think.go              # RegisterThink (dino_think tool)│   │   ├── ask.go                # RegisterAsk (dino_ask tool)│   │   └── dashboard.go          # RegisterDashboardTool + 12 dino species + REST API│   └── resources/│       ├── dashboard.go          # RegisterDashboardResource + //go:embed HTML│       └── dashboard_ui.html     # Vite-built HTML (354KB)├── ui/│   └── src/│       └── mcp-app.ts            # ext-apps App class + postMessage├── docs/                         # Diátaxis documentation (see below)├── test_mcp.sh                   # 7 integration tests├── AGENTS.md                     # AI agent instructions (canonical)├── ARCHITECTURE.md               # C4 diagrams + sequence flows├── TECH_DESIGN.md                # Interface contracts + data model├── Makefile                      # All targets├── go.mod + go.sum               # Go dependencies└── README.md                     # ← you are here

🗺 Documentation Map

dino-mcp uses the Diátaxis framework — four documentation modes, each serving a different need.

For this audience	Start here	Audience
👋 New to the project	Quick Start	Everyone
🧑‍💻 Adding a tool	Your First Tool	Developers
🦕 Adding a dinosaur	Add a Dinosaur	Content editors
🧪 Testing with Inspector	Test with Inspector	QA / Developers
🔍 Reference needed	CLI Reference	Operators
🏗 Understanding design	Architecture	Architects
🤖 Implementing via AI	AGENTS.md	AI coding agents
📚 Deep architecture	ARCHITECTURE.md	Senior engineers
📐 Technical specs	TECH_DESIGN.md	Implementation teams
⏳ Development history	MEMORY.md	All contributors
📋 Roadmap	PLAN.md	Stakeholders
⚖️ Design trade-offs	DESIGN.md	Architects
🎯 Skills reference	SKILL.md	Developers / AI agents
🤝 How to contribute	CONTRIBUTOR.md	Contributors
📜 Code of conduct	CODE_CONDUCT.md	Community
📄 ADRs	docs/adr/	Decision historians
🤖 LLM full context	llms-full.txt	AI agents (RAG)

📊 Project Status

MVP ── Production ── Enhanced UI ── Ecosystem ── Advanced  ●                    ○               ○             ○

MVP ── Production ── Enhanced UI ── Ecosystem ── Advanced  ●                    ○               ○             ○

Phase	Status	Highlights
MVP	✅ Complete	3 tools, MCP Apps UI, 7 tests, docs
Production	🔄 In progress	Go unit tests, CI, rate limiting, Docker
Enhanced UI	📅 Planned	Real-time data, comparison, timeline
Ecosystem	📅 Planned	Homebrew, GitHub releases, MCP Registry
Advanced	💭 Future	Streaming tool inputs, WebSocket sync

Build Metrics

Metric	Value
Binary size	~11 MB (compressed)
Binary type	Mach-O 64-bit arm64
Go version	1.25
MCP SDK version	v1.7.0
Dependencies	30+ Go modules (all indirect)
UI bundle	354 KB embedded HTML (single-file Vite)
Test coverage	7/7 integration tests passing (shell-based; no Go unit tests yet)

📖 Further Reading

Resource	Link
MCP Specification	spec.modelcontextprotocol.io
MCP Go SDK	github.com/modelcontextprotocol/go-sdk
MCP Apps Protocol	modelcontextprotocol.io/docs/apps/overview
ext-apps SDK	github.com/modelcontextprotocol/ext-apps
Gin Web Framework	github.com/gin-gonic/gin
Go Programming Language	go.dev

Built with ❤️ using Go, Gin, MCP Go SDK, and @modelcontextprotocol/ext-apps

Source: README.md at commit da34724

Tools

SourceWeft has not started this package in its sandbox yet, so its tools are not known.

Version history

v0.1.0LatestSep 16, 2026

Score

40% of the applicable checks met

How complete this listing is, computed from the registry entry, the endpoint and public sources. Not a rating of the server and not a statement that it is safe or working today: reachability is a dated check, and no installs or reviews go into the score.

Reached in the last 30 days25 pts
Keep the endpoint answering the MCP handshake; SourceWeft probes it every 30 days.
Auth declared10 pts
Declare the credential headers in the registry entry, or keep the endpoint answering the probe so its auth can be classified.
Tools listed15 pts
Answer tools/list without a credential, or ship a package that starts in a sandbox without one.
DescriptionRequired15 pts
Logo10 pts
Documentation15 pts
License10 pts
Declare a license in the repository or the registry entry.

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Tool	Version	Purpose
Go	≥ 1.25	Server binary
Node.js	≥ 18	UI build (Vite)
cloudflared	any	Tunnel for remote testing