elog-mcp

OpenAPI/MCP server giving LLM agents read-only access to ELOG electronic logbooks over HTTP. Works with any standard elogd instance.

• Search entries by full text (regex), attributes, and date range
• Read entries in full (attributes + body + attachments)
• Download attachments, discover logbooks

Strictly read-only: only HTTP GET requests are issued. TLS verification is on by default. Credentials come from the environment only and are never logged or echoed.

Installation

Requires Python >= 3.10.

uvx (recommended -- runs elog-mcp in an isolated environment, no setup):

uvx elog-mcp

pipx:

pipx install elog-mcp

pip:

pip install elog-mcp

For the OpenAPI/REST transport, install with the openapi extra:

uvx --extra openapi elog-mcp
pipx install "elog-mcp[openapi]"
pip install "elog-mcp[openapi]"

From source (development):

git clone https://github.com/ast0815/elog-mcp.git
cd elog-mcp
uv sync
uv run elog-mcp

Configuration

All settings are environment variables (ELOG_ prefix):

Variable	Required	Meaning
ELOG_URL	yes	Base URL incl. subdir, e.g. https://elog.example.org/elog
ELOG_USER / ELOG_PASSWORD	no	Shared credentials
ELOG_LOGBOOKS	no	Comma-separated allow-list used by search * / listing order
ELOG_SSL_VERIFY	no	true (default) / false — never disable outside local tests
ELOG_TIMEOUT	no	HTTP timeout seconds (default 30)
ELOG_MCP_TRANSPORT	no	stdio (default) · streamable-http · openapi
ELOG_MCP_HOST / ELOG_MCP_PORT	no	Bind address/port in HTTP modes (default 127.0.0.1:8000)
ELOG_API_KEY	no	Require Authorization: Bearer <key> on all OpenAPI endpoints
ELOG_CORS_ORIGINS	no	Comma-separated CORS origins for openapi mode (default *)
ELOG_MCP_CERTFILE / ELOG_MCP_KEYFILE	no	TLS cert/key (PEM) — serves HTTPS in HTTP modes

Common prefix for every deployment:

export ELOG_URL=https://elog.example.org/elog
export ELOG_USER=your-shared-user
export ELOG_PASSWORD=your-shared-password

Deployment

ELOG_MCP_TRANSPORT picks how clients talk to the server:

Transport	Clients	Endpoint
stdio (default)	Claude Desktop, opencode, other local MCP hosts	spawned process
streamable-http	Web UIs speaking MCP over HTTP (LibreChat, …)	http://<host>:<port>/mcp
openapi	OpenAPI tool servers (Open WebUI, …)	spec at /openapi.json, docs at /docs, base / answers a liveness JSON

stdio (local MCP clients)

The command you put in the client config depends on how you installed elog-mcp:

Installation	Command
uvx (no install needed)	uvx elog-mcp
pipx	elog-mcp (or full path — see below)
pip / from source	elog-mcp (must be on PATH)
From source (dev)	uv run elog-mcp

Finding the binary path. If which elog-mcp does not print a path (e.g. you installed with pipx but your client runs in a different shell environment), use:

pipx runpip show elog-mcp | grep Location
# → …/site-packages
# then:  find …/site-packages/../../bin -name elog-mcp

or on most systems simply:

ls ~/.local/bin/elog-mcp

Use the absolute path in that case.

---

Claude Desktop (claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "elog": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["elog-mcp"],
      "env": { "ELOG_URL": "…", "ELOG_USER": "…", "ELOG_PASSWORD": "…" }
    }
  }
}

If you installed with pipx and prefer the standalone binary:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "elog": {
      "command": "/home/YOU/.local/bin/elog-mcp",
      "env": { "ELOG_URL": "…", "ELOG_USER": "…", "ELOG_PASSWORD": "…" }
    }
  }
}

---

opencode (~/.config/opencode/opencode.json):

{
  "mcp": {
    "elog": {
      "type": "local",
      "command": ["uvx", "elog-mcp"],
      "environment": { "ELOG_URL": "…", "ELOG_USER": "…", "ELOG_PASSWORD": "…" }
    }
  }
}

If you installed with pipx and prefer the standalone binary:

{
  "mcp": {
    "elog": {
      "type": "local",
      "command": ["/home/YOU/.local/bin/elog-mcp"],
      "environment": { "ELOG_URL": "…", "ELOG_USER": "…", "ELOG_PASSWORD": "…" }
    }
  }
}

---

From source (without installing):

uv run elog-mcp

streamable-http (remote MCP clients)

ELOG_MCP_TRANSPORT=streamable-http elog-mcp

Register http://127.0.0.1:8000/mcp as a remote MCP server in your UI.

openapi (Open WebUI & friends)

ELOG_MCP_TRANSPORT=openapi \
ELOG_API_KEY=pick-a-random-secret \
elog-mcp

Five read-only endpoints mirror the tools below (operationIds equal the tool names). In Open WebUI: Settings → Tools → + (user-level, fetched by your browser) or Admin Settings → Tools (global, fetched by its backend), enter the server URL, and put your ELOG_API_KEY value in the Bearer key field.

HTTPS: pass ELOG_MCP_CERTFILE/ELOG_MCP_KEYFILE, or put a reverse proxy or tunnel (e.g. cloudflared tunnel --url http://localhost:8000) in front. For locally-trusted dev certs: mkcert -install && mkcert localhost 127.0.0.1 ::1, then feed the two files to the variables above (absolute paths).

Reachability rules of thumb:

• Everything binds 127.0.0.1 by default. Set ELOG_MCP_HOST=0.0.0.0 and an ELOG_API_KEY whenever someone else must reach the server.
• Client in Docker? 127.0.0.1 inside its container is not your machine — use http://host.docker.internal:<port> (--add-host=host.docker.internal:host-gateway on Linux).
• Hosted instance (e.g. a university WebUI)? It can never reach your laptop's loopback. User-level tool servers are additionally subject to that site's Content-Security-Policy — if DevTools shows the request as Transferred: CSP, the browser blocked it and only an IT-side connect-src change helps. The practical route: deploy elog-mcp somewhere reachable and let the admins register it once as a global tool server.

Tools

Same five operations on every transport (REST routes shown for openapi):

Tool	REST route	Purpose
elog_list_logbooks()	GET /logbooks	List logbooks
elog_search(text?, attributes?, date_from?, date_to?, last_days?, logbook="*", max_results=50, reverse=true)	GET /search (attributes = JSON object string)	Regex full-text + attribute + date filtering; returns excerpts
elog_get_entry(logbook, entry_id)	GET /logbooks/{logbook}/entries/{entry_id}	Full entry body, attributes, threading
elog_get_recent_entries(logbook, count=20)	GET /logbooks/{logbook}/recent?count=N	Newest-first shortcut
elog_get_attachment(logbook, filename)	GET /logbooks/{logbook}/attachments/{filename}	Base64 attachment content

Notes:

• Text and attribute filters are regular expressions (elogd semantics); ^value$ anchors give exact matches.
• Dates: YYYY-MM-DD[ HH:MM[:SS]], or use last_days instead of a range; logbook="*" searches all known logbooks.
• Errors surface uniformly: EntryNotFound, AuthFailed, ServerError, NetworkError, InvalidLogbook (REST status codes: 404/502/502/503/404, invalid query parameters → 400/422).

Development

uv run pytest                # unit tests, offline
uv run pytest -m live        # live suite (needs ELOG_TEST_URL)
uv run ruff check .          # lint
uv run ruff format --check . # formatting gate
uv run mypy src              # type check (strict)

Protocol details and wire-format references live in RESOURCES.md; architecture and tool contracts in SPEC.md.