Memory Alpha MCP Server

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that brings Star Trek knowledge from Memory Alpha into your AI sessions. Search articles, look up episodes, compare starships, simulate battles, build away teams, take trivia quizzes, and get your code reviewed by Q himself.

Disclaimer: This is an unofficial fan project. Not affiliated with CBS, Paramount, or Memory Alpha. All content is dynamically fetched from Memory Alpha's public API (CC-BY-SA licensed). No copyrighted material is embedded or redistributed.

Installation

Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude Desktop config (claude_desktop_config.json):

{ 
  "mcpServers": {
    "memory-alpha": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "memory-alpha-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

claude mcp add memory-alpha -- npx -y memory-alpha-mcp

Manual

npm install -g memory-alpha-mcp
memory-alpha-mcp

Requirements

• Node.js 18+ (uses built-in fetch)

How It Works

The server dynamically fetches content from Memory Alpha's public MediaWiki API (no authentication required). Raw wikitext is parsed into clean structured data using wtf_wikipedia, with custom regex fallbacks for Memory Alpha's {{sidebar ...}} templates.

Architecture

src/
  index.ts              # Entry point: MCP server + stdio transport + graceful shutdown
  api/                   # MediaWiki API client layer
    client.ts            #   HTTP client with rate limiting (5 req/s), retry, 10s timeout, caching
    parse.ts             #   action=parse (wikitext retrieval)
    search.ts            #   action=query&list=search
    categories.ts        #   action=query&list=categorymembers
    random.ts            #   action=query&list=random
    types.ts             #   TypeScript interfaces for API responses
  parser/                # Wikitext parsing pipeline
    wikitext.ts          #   Main parser: wtf_wikipedia wrapper, disambiguation detection
    infobox.ts           #   Brace-balanced sidebar/infobox extraction with regex fallback
    sections.ts          #   Section extraction by heading
  tools/                 # 31 MCP tool implementations
  prompts/               # 22 Trek-themed prompt templates
  resources/             # 7 static reference resources
  utils/
    cache.ts             #   In-memory TTL cache with LRU eviction (5min TTL, 100 entries)
    logger.ts            #   console.error wrapper (never console.log - corrupts stdio)
    text.ts              #   Wikitext cleaning, HTML stripping, truncation, template stripping
    attribution.ts       #   CC-BY-SA attribution footer appended to all responses
    shuffle.ts           #   Fisher-Yates shuffle

Key Design Decisions

Decision	Rationale
Dynamic API fetch only	Legal safety: we're an API client, not a content host
wtf_wikipedia for parsing	Best-in-class wikitext parser with zero transitive dependencies
Brace-balanced template matching	Memory Alpha's {{sidebar}} templates nest, breaking naive regex
In-memory cache (not disk)	Simple, no extra dependencies, sufficient for session-length usage
console.error only	console.log corrupts the stdio MCP transport
All responses as formatted text	Better for LLM consumption than raw JSON

Tools (31)

Core Tools

search_memory_alpha

Search Memory Alpha for Star Trek articles, characters, ships, episodes, and more.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
query	string	yes	Search query (e.g. "Jean-Luc Picard", "USS Enterprise")
limit	number (1-20)	no	Max results to return (default: 10)

get_article

Get a full or partial article from Memory Alpha. Use exact article titles for best results.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
title	string	yes	Article title (e.g. "James T. Kirk", "Warp drive")
section	string	no	Specific section heading (e.g. "Background information")
summary_only	boolean	no	Return only the intro summary (default: false)

Automatically detects disambiguation pages and returns a list of available articles instead.

get_random_article

Get random Star Trek articles from Memory Alpha.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
count	number (1-5)	no	Number of random articles (default: 1)

browse_categories

Browse Memory Alpha articles by category.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
category	string	yes	Category name (e.g. "Federation starships", "Vulcans")
limit	number (1-50)	no	Max articles to list (default: 20)

Domain Tools

get_episode

Get details about a Star Trek episode: synopsis, writer, director, stardate, guest cast. Look up by title or by series + season + episode number.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
title	string	no	Episode title (e.g. "The Best of Both Worlds")
series	string	no	Series abbreviation (TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT, DIS, PIC, LD, PRO, SNW)
season	number	no	Season number
episode	number	no	Episode number within the season

Provide either title or all three of series + season + episode.

list_episodes

List all episodes for a Star Trek series season.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
series	string	yes	Series abbreviation (TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT, DIS, PIC, LD, PRO, SNW)
season	number (1-10)	yes	Season number

get_starship

Get details about a Star Trek starship: class, registry, armaments, crew complement.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
name	string	yes	Ship name (e.g. "USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)", "USS Defiant")

species_info

Get info about a Star Trek species: homeworld, physiology, culture, quadrant.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
species	string	yes	Species name (e.g. "Klingon", "Vulcan", "Borg", "Ferengi")

character_lookup

Get details about a Star Trek character: rank, species, affiliation, biography, career history, and memorable quotes.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
name	string	yes	Character name (e.g. "Jean-Luc Picard", "Worf", "Seven of Nine")

Extracts sidebar data from individual/character/personnel templates. Automatically detects disambiguation pages.

get_timeline

Get Star Trek events for a specific in-universe year.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
year	string	yes	Year or era (e.g. "2364", "22nd century", "2150s")

on_this_day

Get Star Trek events, air dates, and birthdays for a specific date.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
date	string	no	Date in "Month Day" format (e.g. "February 14"). Defaults to today.
timezone	string	no	IANA timezone (e.g. "America/New_York"). Defaults to UTC when no date is provided.

crew_manifest

Get the crew roster for a Star Trek starship or station.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
ship	string	yes	Ship or station name (e.g. "USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)", "Deep Space 9")

rules_of_acquisition

Look up Ferengi Rules of Acquisition by number, randomly, or search by keyword. Rules are dynamically parsed from Memory Alpha's article.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
rule_number	number	no	Specific rule number to look up
random	boolean	no	Get a random Rule of Acquisition (default: false)
search	string	no	Search rules by keyword

stardate_converter

Convert between stardates and real-world dates, or get the current stardate. Supports both TOS-era and TNG-era conversion formulas.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
date	string	no	Real-world date to convert (e.g. "2026-02-14", "March 5 1987"). Defaults to today.
stardate	number	no	Stardate to convert to a real-world date (e.g. 41153.7)
era	"TOS" | "TNG"	no	Era for conversion formula (default: "TNG")

Provide either date or stardate. If neither is given, converts today's date.

Fun Tools

compare

Compare two Star Trek subjects side-by-side with infobox data in a markdown table.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
subject1	string	yes	First subject (e.g. "USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)")
subject2	string	yes	Second subject (e.g. "USS Voyager")

trivia_quiz

Generate a Star Trek trivia question from random Memory Alpha facts.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
difficulty	"easy" | "medium" | "hard"	no	Difficulty level (default: "medium")

who_said_it

Quote attribution challenge - guess which Star Trek character said it.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
difficulty	"easy" | "medium" | "hard"	no	Difficulty level (default: "medium")

alien_phrases

Look up phrases and vocabulary from Star Trek alien languages. Extracts structured vocabulary sections (Common phrases, Vocabulary, Lexicon, etc.) when available, falling back to full article text.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
language	string	yes	Alien language (e.g. "Klingon", "Vulcan", "Ferengi", "Romulan")

Supports Klingon, Vulcan, Ferengi, Romulan, Bajoran, Cardassian, and Dominion with known article mappings. Other languages are searched dynamically.

prime_directive_check

Evaluate whether an action violates the Prime Directive, with a humorous Starfleet assessment.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
action	string	yes	The action to evaluate (e.g. "Giving warp technology to a pre-warp civilization")

Returns a violation probability, threat level, historical precedent, and context from the Prime Directive article.

red_shirt_analysis

Assess survival odds in classic Trek redshirt style.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
description	string	yes	Describe the mission or situation (e.g. "Exploring an uncharted planet with strange energy readings")

Analyzes keywords in the description to compute survival probability, risk factors, probable cause of demise, and recommended last words.

battle_simulator

Pit two Star Trek ships against each other in a tactical analysis based on their specs. Fetches real ship data from Memory Alpha, compares combat-relevant specifications, and generates a battle narrative.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
ship1	string	yes	First ship (e.g. "USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)")
ship2	string	yes	Second ship (e.g. "Borg cube")

Returns a spec comparison table, combat probability percentages, predicted victor, and a dramatic battle narrative.

away_team_builder

Recommend an optimal away team composition for a mission based on crew specialties. Analyzes mission keywords to determine needed roles, selects from a crew database, and assesses mission risk.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
mission	string	yes	Describe the mission (e.g. "Negotiate peace treaty with hostile species on a volcanic planet")
team_size	number (2-6)	no	Number of team members (default: 4)

Returns recommended crew, mission analysis, required equipment, and risk assessment.

episode_recommender

Get episode recommendations based on a Star Trek episode you enjoyed. Analyzes the source episode's themes and categories to find related episodes.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
episode	string	yes	Episode title you liked (e.g. "The Inner Light", "In the Pale Moonlight")
count	number (1-10)	no	Number of recommendations (default: 5)

holodeck_program

Generate a Star Trek holodeck program designation, safety assessment, and malfunction probability. Analyzes the scenario to determine classification, complexity, and risks.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
scenario	string	yes	Describe the desired holodeck scenario (e.g. "A noir detective mystery in 1940s San Francisco")
safety_protocols	boolean	no	Whether safety protocols are enabled (default: true)

Returns program designation, classification, malfunction probability, environmental parameters, safety assessment, and known risks.

start_trivia_game

Generate a bundle of Star Trek trivia questions for a multi-player game session. Returns a game_id and question set for Clara to track scores per player.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
num_questions	number (3-10)	no	Number of questions to generate (default: 5)
difficulty	"easy" | "medium" | "hard"	no	Difficulty level (default: "medium")

check_trivia_answer

Check a player's trivia answer against the correct answer. Fully stateless — Clara passes the correct answer from the game bundle.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
player_answer	string	yes	The player's answer (letter or full text)
correct_answer	string	yes	The correct answer string (from start_trivia_game output)
player_name	string	no	Player name for personalized response

diplomatic_scenario

Generate a Star Trek diplomatic negotiation scenario between two factions, with positions, demands, and leverage points.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
faction_a	string	yes	First faction (e.g. "Federation", "Klingon Empire")
faction_b	string	yes	Second faction (e.g. "Romulan Star Empire")
dispute	string	no	Optional subject of the dispute

anomaly_of_the_week

Generate a Star Trek space anomaly with effects on the ship and possible resolutions — classic TNG vibes.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
severity	"minor" | "moderate" | "critical"	no	How dangerous the anomaly is (default: "moderate")

mirror_universe

Describe the mirror universe version of a character, ship, or event. Checks Memory Alpha for a dedicated mirror article.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
subject	string	yes	The character, ship, or event to look up (e.g. "Spock", "Benjamin Sisko")

first_contact_assessment

Given a species name, look it up and assess warp capability, government type, and recommended first contact approach.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
species	string	yes	The species to assess (e.g. "Bajoran", "Tamarian")

temporal_incursion

Look up a known Trek time-travel event and describe the temporal paradox and its resolution.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
event	string	no	Episode/event name (e.g. "City on the Edge of Forever"). Random if omitted.

Prompts (22)

Prompt	Parameters	Description
explain_like_spock	topic	Explain a topic with Vulcan logic and emotional detachment
star_trek_analogy	concept	Explain a coding/tech concept using Star Trek analogies
captains_log	summary, stardate?	Format a summary as a Captain's Log entry (auto-generates stardate if omitted)
technobabble	explanation	Transform a technical explanation into Star Trek technobabble
engage	plan	Summarize a plan with Picard's decisive authority. Ends with "Engage."
make_it_so	plan	Confirm a plan with Picard's commanding authority. Ends with "Make it so."
fascinating	topic	Perform a Spock-style analytical deep-dive
dammit_jim	task, role	McCoy-style scope creep objection: "I'm a {role}, not a..."
resistance_is_futile	process	Borg-style efficiency optimization of a process
kobayashi_maru	scenario	Analyze a no-win scenario and find creative Kirk-style solutions
live_long_and_prosper	session_summary	Vulcan salute session wrap-up with logical assessment
qs_judgment	code	Q's omnipotent, theatrically condescending roast of your code
scotty	task, actual_estimate?	Scotty-style engineering time estimate (multiply everything by 4 to look like a miracle worker)
guinan	situation	Guinan-style wise bartender advice — cryptic but exactly what you needed
worf	situation	Worf-style security assessment and tactical recommendation
counselor_troi	subject	Counselor Troi empathic analysis — sense the feelings in your code or situation
seven_of_nine	subject	Borg efficiency critique — precise, unsentimental, brutally optimal
kira_nerys	situation	Bajoran resistance perspective — morally direct, politically sharp, passionately principled
janeway	problem	Janeway-style determination — coffee, science, and sheer force of will
quark_deal	proposal	Ferengi contract negotiation — profit, loss, and hidden clauses
data_inquiry	topic	Data-style systematic analysis — thorough, earnest, peppered with probability estimates
holographic_doctor	subject	EMH-style assessment — brilliant, sarcastic, perpetually underappreciated

Resources (7)

Resource	URI	Description
Series Reference	trek://series	All Trek series (TOS through SNW) with years, seasons, setting, ship, and captain
Glossary	trek://glossary	Key Star Trek terminology: warp drive, phaser, transporter, tricorder, etc.
Technobabble	trek://technobabble	Particles, fields, phenomena, engineering actions, and systems for generating authentic technobabble
Starship Classes	trek://starship-classes	Ship classes by faction (Federation, Klingon, Romulan, Cardassian, Borg, Dominion) with era, role, and notable vessels
Factions	trek://factions	Major Trek factions — government type, home region, notable treaties, diplomatic stance
Prime Directive Cases	trek://prime-directive-cases	Canonical episodes where the Prime Directive was tested, with dilemmas and outcomes
Technology Index	trek://technology-index	Key Trek technologies — how they work, notable failures, and series of origin

These are static reference resources with original descriptions (not Memory Alpha content), available for context without making API calls.

Examples

"Search Memory Alpha for Borg"
"Tell me about the episode 'The Best of Both Worlds'"
"List all episodes of TNG Season 3"
"What are the specs of the USS Defiant?"
"Look up Jean-Luc Picard's character profile"
"Give me a random Star Trek trivia question"
"Check if giving warp technology to a pre-warp civilization violates the Prime Directive"
"What's my red shirt survival odds for exploring an unknown cave alone?"
"Look up Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #34"
"Compare the USS Enterprise-D with the USS Voyager"
"Simulate a battle between the Enterprise-D and a Borg cube"
"Build me an away team for a diplomatic mission on a hostile planet"
"Recommend episodes similar to 'The Inner Light'"
"Generate a holodeck program for a 1940s detective noir mystery"
"What's the current stardate?"
"Convert stardate 41153.7 to a real-world date"
"What happened in Star Trek on February 14?"
"Look up Klingon phrases"
"Explain microservices like Spock would"
"Give me Scotty's estimate for migrating a database"
"Assess this situation as Worf would: the build pipeline is failing"
"Review my code as Q"

Development

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/memory-alpha-mcp.git
cd memory-alpha-mcp
npm install
npm run build   # Compile TypeScript
npm run dev     # Run with tsx (hot reload)
npm test        # Run test suite (146 tests)

Testing

The project includes 146 unit tests across 17 test files using vitest:

Test File	Coverage
tests/text.test.ts	Text utilities: truncation, HTML stripping, wikitext cleaning, template stripping, key formatting, table cell escaping
tests/cache.test.ts	TTL cache: get/set, expiry, LRU eviction
tests/infobox.test.ts	Sidebar/infobox extraction: typed templates, nested templates, multi-word types
tests/sections.test.ts	Section extraction, intro extraction, heading listing
tests/shuffle.test.ts	Fisher-Yates shuffle: correctness, element preservation, distribution
tests/client.test.ts	Rate limiter: request serialization, interval enforcement
tests/episodes.test.ts	Season table parsing: episode extraction, title cleanup, deduplication, padding, and non-episode link filtering
tests/rules-parsing.test.ts	Rules of Acquisition regex patterns: all format variants, deduplication, sorting
tests/stardate.test.ts	Stardate converter: date-to-stardate, stardate-to-date, TOS/TNG era formulas
tests/battle-simulator.test.ts	Battle simulator: combat scoring, narrative generation, ship data parsing
tests/away-team.test.ts	Away team builder: role analysis, team selection, mission risk assessment
tests/holodeck.test.ts	Holodeck program: designation generation, classification, malfunction probability, safety assessment
tests/wikitext-parser.test.ts	Wikitext parser: disambiguation detection, false-positive protection, and normalized link extraction
tests/red-shirt-capped.test.ts	Red shirt survival: capped risk analysis, boundary testing
tests/prime-directive-capped.test.ts	Prime Directive: capped violation score, boundary testing
tests/trivia-answer.test.ts	Trivia answer checking: exact match, letter match, fuzzy match
tests/quote-filter.test.ts	Quote extraction: matched pair validation, artifact rejection

MCP Inspector

Test tools interactively:

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector node dist/index.js

Attribution & Licensing

This project (MIT)

The server code itself is licensed under the MIT License.

Memory Alpha content (CC-BY-SA)

All Star Trek content is dynamically fetched at runtime from Memory Alpha's public MediaWiki API. Memory Alpha content is licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

How attribution works:

• Every tool response that includes Memory Alpha content automatically appends an attribution footer via withAttribution() in src/utils/attribution.ts
• The footer reads: "Source: Memory Alpha (CC-BY-SA) | Unofficial fan project - not affiliated with CBS/Paramount"
• Error responses that contain no Memory Alpha content do not include the footer
• The seven static resources (trek://series, trek://glossary, trek://technobabble, trek://starship-classes, trek://factions, trek://prime-directive-cases, and trek://technology-index) contain original reference descriptions, not Memory Alpha content
• No copyrighted material is embedded in the source code or package -- all wiki content is fetched live from the API and attributed at the point of display

This approach satisfies CC-BY-SA requirements by providing attribution with every piece of content served, linking to the source, and identifying the license. The project acts as an API client, not a content host.