What is Mcp Webmvc Server

mcp-webmvc-server is a sample project that demonstrates how to create an MCP server using the Spring AI MCP Server Boot Starter with WebMVC transport. It provides a weather service that retrieves weather information via the National Weather Service API.

Use cases

Use cases include providing weather forecasts for specific locations, sending weather alerts to users based on their geographic location, and integrating weather data into other applications or services.

How to use

To use mcp-webmvc-server, build the project using Maven with the command ‘./mvnw clean install -DskipTests’. Run the server in WebMVC SSE mode by executing ‘java -jar target/mcp-weather-starter-webmvc-server-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar’. For STDIO mode, set the properties accordingly and run the server.

Key features

Key features include integration with spring-ai-mcp-server-webmvc-spring-boot-starter, support for both SSE and STDIO transports, automatic tool registration with Spring AI’s @Tool annotation, and two weather-related tools for retrieving forecasts and alerts.

Where to use

mcp-webmvc-server can be used in applications that require real-time weather data retrieval, such as mobile apps, web applications, and IoT devices that need weather information.

Spring AI MCP Weather Server Sample with WebMVC Starter

This sample project demonstrates how to create an MCP server using the Spring AI MCP Server Boot Starter with WebMVC transport. It implements a weather service that exposes tools for retrieving weather information using the National Weather Service API.

For more information, see the MCP Server Boot Starter reference documentation.

Overview

The sample showcases:

• Integration with spring-ai-mcp-server-webmvc-spring-boot-starter
• Support for both SSE (Server-Sent Events) and STDIO transports
• Automatic tool registration using Spring AI’s @Tool annotation
• Two weather-related tools:
  • Get weather forecast by location (latitude/longitude)
  • Get weather alerts by US state

Dependencies

The project requires the Spring AI MCP Server WebMVC Boot Starter:

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.springframework.ai</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-ai-mcp-server-webmvc-spring-boot-starter</artifactId>
</dependency>

This starter provides:

• HTTP-based transport using Spring MVC (WebMvcSseServerTransport)
• Auto-configured SSE endpoints
• Optional STDIO transport
• Included spring-boot-starter-web and mcp-spring-webmvc dependencies

Building the Project

Build the project using Maven:

./mvnw clean install -DskipTests

Running the Server

The server supports two transport modes:

WebMVC SSE Mode (Default)

java -jar target/mcp-weather-starter-webmvc-server-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar

STDIO Mode

To enable STDIO transport, set the appropriate properties:

java -Dspring.ai.mcp.server.stdio=true -Dspring.main.web-application-type=none -jar target/mcp-weather-starter-webmvc-server-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar

Configuration

Configure the server through application.properties:

# Server identification
spring.ai.mcp.server.name=my-weather-server
spring.ai.mcp.server.version=0.0.1

# Server type (SYNC/ASYNC)
spring.ai.mcp.server.type=SYNC

# Transport configuration
spring.ai.mcp.server.stdio=false
spring.ai.mcp.server.sse-message-endpoint=/mcp/message

# Change notifications
spring.ai.mcp.server.resource-change-notification=true
spring.ai.mcp.server.tool-change-notification=true
spring.ai.mcp.server.prompt-change-notification=true

# Logging (required for STDIO transport)
spring.main.banner-mode=off
logging.file.name=./target/starter-webmvc-server.log

Available Tools

Weather Forecast Tool

• Name: getWeatherForecastByLocation
• Description: Get weather forecast for a specific latitude/longitude
• Parameters:
  • latitude: double - Latitude coordinate
  • longitude: double - Longitude coordinate

Weather Alerts Tool

• Name: getAlerts
• Description: Get weather alerts for a US state
• Parameters:
  • state: String - Two-letter US state code (e.g., CA, NY)

Server Implementation

The server uses Spring Boot and Spring AI’s tool annotations for automatic tool registration:

@SpringBootApplication
public class McpServerApplication {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SpringApplication.run(McpServerApplication.class, args);
    }

    @Bean
    public ToolCallbackProvider weatherTools(WeatherService weatherService){
      return MethodToolCallbackProvider.builder().toolObjects(weatherService).build();
    }
}

The WeatherService implements the weather tools using the @Tool annotation:

@Service
public class WeatherService {
    @Tool(description = "Get weather forecast for a specific latitude/longitude")
    public String getWeatherForecastByLocation(double latitude, double longitude) {
        // Implementation using weather.gov API
    }

    @Tool(description = "Get weather alerts for a US state. Input is Two-letter US state code (e.g., CA, NY)")
    public String getAlerts(String state) {
        // Implementation using weather.gov API
    }
}

MCP Clients

You can connect to the weather server using either STDIO or SSE transport:

Manual Clients

WebMVC SSE Client

For servers using SSE transport:

var transport = new HttpClientSseClientTransport("http://localhost:8080");
var client = McpClient.sync(transport).build();

STDIO Client

For servers using STDIO transport:

var stdioParams = ServerParameters.builder("java")
        .args("-Dspring.ai.mcp.server.stdio=true",
                "-Dspring.main.web-application-type=none",
                "-Dspring.main.banner-mode=off",
                "-Dlogging.pattern.console=",
                "-jar",
                "target/mcp-weather-starter-webmvc-server-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar")
        .build();

var transport = new StdioClientTransport(stdioParams);
var client = McpClient.sync(transport).build();

The sample project includes example client implementations:

• SampleClient.java: Manual MCP client implementation
• ClientStdio.java: STDIO transport connection
• ClientSse.java: SSE transport connection

For a better development experience, consider using the MCP Client Boot Starters. These starters enable auto-configuration of multiple STDIO and/or SSE connections to MCP servers. See the starter-default-client project for examples.

Boot Starter Clients

Let’s use the starter-default-client client to connect to our weather starter-webmvc-server.

Follow the starter-default-client readme instruction to build a mcp-starter-default-client-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar client application.

STDIO Transport

1. Create a mcp-servers-config.json configuration file with this content:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "weather-starter-webmvc-server": {
      "command": "java",
      "args": [
        "-Dspring.ai.mcp.server.stdio=true",
        "-Dspring.main.web-application-type=none",
        "-Dlogging.pattern.console=",
        "-jar",
        "/absolute/path/to/mcp-weather-starter-webmvc-server-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar"
      ]
    }
  }
}

2. Run the client using the configuration file:

java -Dspring.ai.mcp.client.stdio.servers-configuration=file:mcp-servers-config.json \
 -Dai.user.input='What is the weather in NY?' \
 -Dlogging.pattern.console= \
 -jar mcp-starter-default-client-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar

SSE (WebMVC) Transport

1. Start the mcp-weather-starter-webmvc-server:

java -jar mcp-weather-starter-webmvc-server-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar

starts the MCP server on port 8080.

2. In another console start the client configured with SSE transport:

java -Dspring.ai.mcp.client.sse.connections.weather-server.url=http://localhost:8080 \
 -Dlogging.pattern.console= \
 -Dai.user.input='What is the weather in NY?' \
 -jar mcp-starter-default-client-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar

Additional Resources

• Spring AI Documentation
• MCP Server Boot Starter
• MCP Client Boot Starter
• Model Context Protocol Specification
• Spring Boot Auto-configuration