What is Mcp Alchemy

MCP-Alchemy is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that connects large language models (LLMs) like Claude to various relational databases, including SQLite, PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, Oracle, and MS-SQL. It enables LLMs to access and understand database structures, write SQL queries, and analyze data.

Use cases

MCP-Alchemy can be used in various scenarios, such as database exploration, SQL query assistance, data analysis, report generation, and visualizations. It is particularly useful for data analysts, developers, and researchers working with large datasets.

How to use

To use MCP-Alchemy, clone the repository from GitHub, install the required dependencies, and configure your database connection in the ‘claude_desktop_config.json’ file. Set the appropriate environment variables such as ‘DB_URL’ for your database connection and run the server using the provided command.

Key features

Key features of MCP-Alchemy include the ability to explore database structures, validate SQL queries, display table relationships, analyze large datasets, and generate reports. It also supports integration with ‘claude-local-files’ for handling extensive result sets.

Where to use

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MCP Alchemy

Status: Works great and is in daily use without any known bugs.

Status2: I just added the package to PyPI and updated the usage instructions. Please report any issues :)

Let Claude be your database expert! MCP Alchemy connects Claude Desktop directly to your databases, allowing it to:

• Help you explore and understand your database structure
• Assist in writing and validating SQL queries
• Displays relationships between tables
• Analyze large datasets and create reports
• Claude Desktop Can analyse and create artifacts for very large datasets using claude-local-files.

Works with PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, SQLite, Oracle, MS SQL Server, CrateDB, Vertica,
and a host of other SQLAlchemy-compatible databases.

Installation

Ensure you have uv installed:

# Install uv if you haven't already
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

Usage with Claude Desktop

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json. You need to add the appropriate database driver in the --with parameter.

Note: After a new version release there might be a period of up to 600 seconds while the cache clears locally
cached causing uv to raise a versioning error. Restarting the MCP client once again solves the error.

SQLite (built into Python)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "my_sqlite_db": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "--from",
        "mcp-alchemy==2025.6.19.201831",
        "--refresh-package",
        "mcp-alchemy",
        "mcp-alchemy"
      ],
      "env": {
        "DB_URL": "sqlite:////absolute/path/to/database.db"
      }
    }
  }
}

PostgreSQL

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "my_postgres_db": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "--from",
        "mcp-alchemy==2025.6.19.201831",
        "--with",
        "psycopg2-binary",
        "--refresh-package",
        "mcp-alchemy",
        "mcp-alchemy"
      ],
      "env": {
        "DB_URL": "postgresql://user:password@localhost/dbname"
      }
    }
  }
}

MySQL/MariaDB

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "my_mysql_db": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "--from",
        "mcp-alchemy==2025.6.19.201831",
        "--with",
        "pymysql",
        "--refresh-package",
        "mcp-alchemy",
        "mcp-alchemy"
      ],
      "env": {
        "DB_URL": "mysql+pymysql://user:password@localhost/dbname"
      }
    }
  }
}

Microsoft SQL Server

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "my_mssql_db": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "--from",
        "mcp-alchemy==2025.6.19.201831",
        "--with",
        "pymssql",
        "--refresh-package",
        "mcp-alchemy",
        "mcp-alchemy"
      ],
      "env": {
        "DB_URL": "mssql+pymssql://user:password@localhost/dbname"
      }
    }
  }
}

Oracle

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "my_oracle_db": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "--from",
        "mcp-alchemy==2025.6.19.201831",
        "--with",
        "oracledb",
        "--refresh-package",
        "mcp-alchemy",
        "mcp-alchemy"
      ],
      "env": {
        "DB_URL": "oracle+oracledb://user:password@localhost/dbname"
      }
    }
  }
}

CrateDB

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "my_cratedb": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "--from",
        "mcp-alchemy==2025.6.19.201831",
        "--with",
        "sqlalchemy-cratedb>=0.42.0.dev1",
        "--refresh-package",
        "mcp-alchemy",
        "mcp-alchemy"
      ],
      "env": {
        "DB_URL": "crate://user:password@localhost:4200/?schema=testdrive"
      }
    }
  }
}

For connecting to CrateDB Cloud, use a URL like
crate://user:[email protected]:4200?ssl=true.

Vertica

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "my_vertica_db": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "--from",
        "mcp-alchemy==2025.6.19.201831",
        "--with",
        "vertica-python",
        "--refresh-package",
        "mcp-alchemy",
        "mcp-alchemy"
      ],
      "env": {
        "DB_URL": "vertica+vertica_python://user:password@localhost:5433/dbname",
        "DB_ENGINE_OPTIONS": "{\"connect_args\": {\"ssl\": false}}"
      }
    }
  }
}

Environment Variables

• DB_URL: SQLAlchemy database URL (required)
• CLAUDE_LOCAL_FILES_PATH: Directory for full result sets (optional)
• EXECUTE_QUERY_MAX_CHARS: Maximum output length (optional, default 4000)
• DB_ENGINE_OPTIONS: JSON string containing additional SQLAlchemy engine options (optional)
  Note: When DB_ENGINE_OPTIONS is not set, the default behavior includes isolation_level='AUTOCOMMIT' for backward compatibility.

API

Tools

• all_table_names

  • Return all table names in the database
  • No input required
  • Returns comma-separated list of tables

  users, orders, products, categories
  

• filter_table_names

  • Find tables matching a substring
  • Input: q (string)
  • Returns matching table names

  Input: "user"
  Returns: "users, user_roles, user_permissions"
  

• schema_definitions

  • Get detailed schema for specified tables
  • Input: table_names (string[])
  • Returns table definitions including:
    • Column names and types
    • Primary keys
    • Foreign key relationships
    • Nullable flags

  users:
      id: INTEGER, primary key, autoincrement
      email: VARCHAR(255), nullable
      created_at: DATETIME
      
      Relationships:
        id -> orders.user_id
  

• execute_query

  • Execute SQL query with vertical output format
  • Inputs:
    • query (string): SQL query
    • params (object, optional): Query parameters
  • Returns results in clean vertical format:

  1. row
  id: 123
  name: John Doe
  created_at: 2024-03-15T14:30:00
  email: NULL
  
  Result: 1 rows
  

  • Features:
    • Smart truncation of large results
    • Full result set access via claude-local-files integration
    • Clean NULL value display
    • ISO formatted dates
    • Clear row separation

Claude Local Files

When claude-local-files is configured:

• Access complete result sets beyond Claude’s context window
• Generate detailed reports and visualizations
• Perform deep analysis on large datasets
• Export results for further processing

The integration automatically activates when CLAUDE_LOCAL_FILES_PATH is set.

Developing

First clone the github repository, install the dependencies and your database driver(s) of choice:

git clone [email protected]:runekaagaard/mcp-alchemy.git
cd mcp-alchemy
uv sync
uv pip install psycopg2-binary

Then set this in claude_desktop_config.json:

...
"command": "uv",
"args": ["run", "--directory", "/path/to/mcp-alchemy", "-m", "mcp_alchemy.server", "main"],
...

My Other LLM Projects

• MCP Redmine - Let Claude Desktop manage your Redmine projects and issues.
• MCP Notmuch Sendmail - Email assistant for Claude Desktop using notmuch.
• Diffpilot - Multi-column git diff viewer with file grouping and tagging.
• Claude Local Files - Access local files in Claude Desktop artifacts.

MCP Directory Listings

MCP Alchemy is listed in the following MCP directory sites and repositories:

• PulseMCP
• Glama
• MCP.so
• MCP Archive
• Playbooks MCP
• Awesome MCP Servers

Contributing

Contributions are warmly welcomed! Whether it’s bug reports, feature requests, documentation improvements, or code contributions - all input is valuable. Feel free to:

• Open an issue to report bugs or suggest features
• Submit pull requests with improvements
• Enhance documentation or share your usage examples
• Ask questions and share your experiences

The goal is to make database interaction with Claude even better, and your insights and contributions help achieve that.

License

Mozilla Public License Version 2.0