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What is MCP?

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is a standard for connecting AI models to external data sources. PrefID provides an MCP server that lets you access user preferences directly from Claude Desktop, Cursor, and other MCP-compatible tools.

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Quick Setup for Claude Desktop

1

Install the MCP Server

npm install -g @prefid/mcp-server
2

Configure Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude Desktop config (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json):
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "prefid": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@prefid/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "PREFID_API_KEY": "your-api-key"
      }
    }
  }
}
3

Restart Claude Desktop

Restart Claude Desktop to load the MCP server.

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Available Tools

Once configured, Claude can use these PrefID tools:

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get_preferences

Fetch user preferences for a specific domain. 
Use the get_preferences tool to get my music preferences

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get_agent_hints

Get optimized hints for context injection. 
Use get_agent_hints to understand my preferences before recommending

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search_preferences

Search across all preference domains. 
Search my preferences for anything related to "vegetarian"

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Cursor Setup

For Cursor IDE, add to your .cursor/mcp.json: 
{
  "servers": {
    "prefid": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@prefid/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "PREFID_API_KEY": "your-api-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

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Self-Hosted MCP Server

Run your own MCP server: 
# Clone the server
git clone https://github.com/prefid/mcp-server
cd mcp-server

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Configure
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your credentials

# Run
npm start

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MCP Server Configuration

Environment variables:
VariableDescriptionRequired
PREFID_API_KEYYour PrefID API keyYes
PREFID_USER_IDDefault user IDNo
PREFID_BASE_URLCustom API URLNo

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Example Conversations

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With Claude Desktop

User: “Recommend me some songs for my morning commute” Claude: Uses get_preferences tool for music_preferences “Based on your preferences for AR Rahman and Indian classical music, here are some morning commute songs:
  1. ‘Jai Ho’ - AR Rahman
  2. ‘Tum Hi Ho’ - Arijit Singh …”

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With Cursor

User: “Refactor this code to match my coding style” Cursor: Uses get_preferences tool for coding_profile “Based on your coding preferences (TypeScript, functional style, Prettier formatting), here’s the refactored code…”

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Building Custom MCP Tools

Create your own MCP tools that use PrefID: 
import { Server } from '@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/server/index.js';
import { PrefID } from '@prefid/sdk';

const server = new Server({
  name: 'my-prefid-tool',
  version: '1.0.0',
});

const prefid = new PrefID({
  apiKey: process.env.PREFID_API_KEY
});

server.setRequestHandler('tools/call', async (request) => {
  if (request.params.name === 'personalized_recommendation') {
    const prefs = await prefid.getPreferences('music_preferences');
    
    // Use preferences to generate recommendations
    return {
      content: [{ 
        type: 'text', 
        text: `Based on love for ${prefs.preferences.favorite_artists[0]}...` 
      }]
    };
  }
});

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Troubleshooting

  • Check that the server is running: npx @prefid/mcp-server --test
  • Verify your API key is correct
  • Restart Claude Desktop / Cursor
  • Check Claude Desktop logs: ~/Library/Logs/Claude/
  • Verify config JSON syntax is valid
  • Ensure MCP server is in PATH
  • Verify your API key has the required scopes
  • Check that the user has granted access