Metis FCA Handbook AI Harness — MCP Server

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that integrates the Metis FCA Handbook AI Harness into Claude Desktop and other MCP-compatible agents.

Tool name: evaluate_fca_handbook_applicability

Use this tool to analyze FCA Handbook applicability for a product, service, or firm. Returns structured compliance reasoning with verbatim handbook citations.

Why choose The Metis FCA Handbook AI Harness?

• Efficiency Multiplies effectiveness of compliance advice. Saves £80+ in token fees per Harness run.

• Deals with "Hard Problem", in which LLMs' token incentives prioritise training data so results are unreliable.

• Verbatim citations Quotes verbatim entries from the FCA Handbook. Other AI systems struggle to do this.

• Matches real-world need You do not have to start off knowing which sections you are looking for. Carries out structured searches across all 10,000+ FCA Handbook entries.

• Secure Design Harness compartmentalisation, one-shot structure, and statelessness fits natively with emerging AI agent security standards such as OWASP Top 10 for Agentic Applications 2026.

• AI Accessible Integrates easily with AI workflows and agents. Your LLM can use it as a tool.

Try the Harness Live

Experience the Harness interactively before integrating:

https://fcahandbookharnessimplementation.onrender.com

Email the-metis-fca-handbook-ai-harness@jbmd.co.uk and request a free temporary Access Code.

Ask compliance questions in natural language and watch each reasoning step unfold in real-time.

Design Principles

The Harness is built on proven principles:

• Stateless — Each request is independent; no session coupling
• One-shot — Complete analysis in a single call; no multi-turn state
• Clear contract — Explicit input/output schemas for easy integration
• Hosted — Single canonical source; no version drift or stale data

Use Cases

Compliance AI Platforms

Embed FCA reasoning as a service within your compliance platform. Users ask natural-language questions; your platform calls the Harness and presents structured reasoning.

AI Agent Workflows

Agents building compliance workflows can include FCA Handbook reasoning as a composed tool—no external API calls, just MCP configuration.

Compliance Review Automation

Integrate into document review or due-diligence pipelines. Automatically screen new rules against FCA applicability.

For Regulatory Screening

FS firms screening MCP servers will find:

• Simple model: Stateless, no hidden state, no background jobs
• Clear contract: Explicit input schema, output schema, error modes
• Transparent updates: Version pinning; no automatic upgrades
• Single point of failure: If the Harness is down, it is obvious; no cascading config issues
• Audit-friendly: All calls logged centrally, not distributed

Quick Start

1. Get an API Key

Visit the Metis account dashboard:

https://fcahandbookharnessimplementation.onrender.com

• Click "Create Account" (modal on the homepage)
• Complete Stripe payment flow (accounts are paid)
• Navigate to API Keys and generate a new key
• Save it securely

2. Install Dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

3. Configure Claude Desktop

Edit your Claude Desktop config file:

File location:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Add this server entry (create the file if it doesn't exist):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "fca-handbook-harness": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["-m", "mcp_server"],
      "env": {
        "METIS_API_KEY": "sk_live_..."
      }
    }
  }
}

Ensure the mcp_server.py file is in your Python path or the working directory where Claude Desktop runs.

4. Restart Claude Desktop

Quit and restart Claude Desktop. The evaluate_fca_handbook_applicability tool will now be available in agent workflows.

Using the Tool

The tool accepts two parameters:

• user_input (required, max 5000 characters): Everything together as one piece of text — firm type, products/services, target market, regulatory question, etc.
• analysis_mode (optional): "quick" (default, ~60-120 seconds) or "full" (longer, detailed conditional reasoning)

The tool returns:

• summary: 2-3 sentence overview of applicability
• entry_analysis: Retrieved FCA Handbook entries with reasoning
• obligations: High-confidence, conditional, and low-confidence obligations
• gaps: What the analysis couldn't determine from your input
• refinement_suggestions: Follow-up information that would improve accuracy
• citations: Verbatim quotes from FCA Handbook with binding levels (R=Rule, G=Guidance)
• tokens: Token count for cost/complexity tracking

Troubleshooting

Tool not appearing in Claude Desktop:

• Verify the config file path (platform-specific, see above)
• Check that mcp_server.py path is absolute and correct
• Restart Claude Desktop (not just reload)

401 Unauthorized:

• Verify METIS_API_KEY is set in the config env
• Check the key is correct (copy from dashboard again)
• Ensure no extra spaces or newlines in the key

Connection timeout:

• The analysis can take 60-120 seconds (quick mode) or longer (full mode)
• Ensure you have internet access to fcahandbookharnessimplementation.onrender.com

Files

• mcp_server.py — MCP server implementation (main entry point)
• tool.json — Tool schema definition for LLMs and registries
• server.json — MCP registry manifest (registry.modelcontextprotocol.io format)
• requirements.txt — Python dependencies (mcp, requests)
• init.py — Python package marker
• README.md — This file
• LICENSE — MIT License
• .gitignore — Git ignore rules

Full API Documentation

For the complete HTTP API contract (request/response schemas, error codes, detailed examples), see the HTTP API documentation in the private implementation repository.

Support

For questions or issues, contact: the-metis-fca-handbook-ai-harness@jbmd.co.uk

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Product: Metis FCA Handbook AI Harness
Version: 3.0.0
License: MIT