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.

Tools

`evaluate_fca_handbook_applicability`

Evaluate which FCA Handbook entries apply to an entity, via the Metis FCA Handbook AI Harness. One-shot: no session, no conversation state. Supports quick mode (60-120 seconds, default) and full mode (longer, more detailed). Returns a compliance report with verbatim citations, gaps, and refinement suggestions.

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 the MCP Server

pip install fca-handbook-harness-mcp

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": "fca-handbook-harness-mcp",
      "env": {
        "METIS_API_KEY": "sk_live_..."
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace sk_live_... with your actual API key from your Metis account.

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)
Confirm fca-handbook-harness-mcp resolves on the command line (which fca-handbook-harness-mcp / where fca-handbook-harness-mcp). Claude Desktop launches with a minimal environment and may not see the same PATH as your shell — if the command does not resolve, replace "command": "fca-handbook-harness-mcp" with the absolute path from that lookup
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

Support

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

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

the-metis-fca-handbook-ai-harness-mcp-files

Install to Claude Code

README