ed-mcp 0.5.0 → 0.6.0

package/README.md

@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@ With ed-mcp, Claude can:
 - find the best station for a module, ship or service, ranked by travel time and price,
 - plan trade runs and loops, and find where to sell or buy a commodity,
 - put the stops for your accepted missions in the best order,
-- read your game journal for your location, ship, cargo, materials, missions and engineer progress.
+- read your game journal for your location, ship, cargo, materials, missions and engineer progress,
+- track exobiology samples, exploration scans and massacre mission kills from your journal.
 
 ### Why use it
 
@@ -32,16 +33,36 @@ ed-mcp is not affiliated with Frontier Developments, Inara, EDSM or Spansh.
 - "What does this station sell, and is anything cheap?"
 - "Which modules can I buy at this outfitting?"
 - "Plan the best order for my passenger missions."
+- "Which bio signals in this system have I not sampled yet?"
+- "How many kills do I have left on my massacre missions?"
 - "Plan the route for my Corsair build plan."
+- "Make a route: Bios on HIP 87621 2 b a, then 3 a, then hand in at the nearest station."
+- "I'm done with this planet. What's next?"
 - "From now on, ignore stations more than 2,000 ls from the star."
 
 ## Install
 
+Pick the install for the app that you use:
+
+| App | Install | Node.js |
+| --- | --- | --- |
+| Claude Desktop (chat) | The `.mcpb` extension, below | Not needed: Claude Desktop has its own |
+| Claude Code, or Cowork on your computer | The Claude Code plugin | 22 or later, with npm |
+| Claude Code, without the plugin | `claude mcp add` | 22 or later |
+
+The plugin marketplace (`pilotso11/ed-mcp`) works only in Claude Code and Cowork. If you add it in Claude Desktop, nothing changes in Claude Desktop chat.
+
 ### Claude Desktop
 
 1. Download `ed-mcp-<version>.mcpb` from the [Releases](https://github.com/pilotso11/ed-mcp/releases) page.
-2. Open the file. Claude Desktop shows the ed-mcp settings form.
-3. Fill in the fields for the services that you use (see [Connect your accounts](#connect-your-accounts)). All fields are optional.
+2. Install it from Claude Desktop's settings. Opening the file, or dragging it onto the Claude Desktop window, can also work, but not always:
+   - Open **Settings**, then **Desktop app**. Click **Manage** next to **Extensions**. In older versions, open **Settings**, then **Extensions**.
+   - Click **Advanced settings**. Under **Extension Developer**, click **Install Extension…** and select the `.mcpb` file.
+3. Claude Desktop shows the ed-mcp settings form. Fill in the fields for the services that you use (see [Connect your accounts](#connect-your-accounts)). All fields are optional.
+   - To share plans, preferences and keys between computers, set **Sync folder** and **Sync password** here (see [Use ed-mcp on more than one computer](#use-ed-mcp-on-more-than-one-computer)). The password must be at least 12 characters, and the same on every computer.
+4. To change a setting later, open the Extensions list again and select ed-mcp. Then turn the extension off and on, or restart Claude Desktop.
+
+To update, install the new `.mcpb` file in the same way. Your settings stay.
 
 To make sure that the file came from this project, run the GitHub CLI command below. It shows that the ed-mcp release workflow built the file from this repository. This command works for version 0.1.1 and later.
 
@@ -49,6 +70,39 @@ To make sure that the file came from this project, run the GitHub CLI command be
 gh attestation verify ed-mcp-<version>.mcpb --repo pilotso11/ed-mcp
 ```
 
+#### Claude Desktop without the extension
+
+If the extension does not install, you can add the server by hand. You need Node.js 22 or later.
+
+1. In Claude Desktop, open **Settings**, then **Developer**, and click **Edit Config**. This opens `claude_desktop_config.json`.
+2. Add `ed-mcp` under `mcpServers`. Put your own values in place of `<...>`, and leave out the lines that you do not need:
+
+   ```json
+   {
+     "mcpServers": {
+       "ed-mcp": {
+         "type": "stdio",
+         "command": "npx",
+         "args": ["-y", "ed-mcp@latest"],
+         "env": {
+           "ED_JOURNAL_DIR": "<journal folder>",
+           "ED_MCP_SYNC_DIR": "<sync folder>",
+           "ED_MCP_SYNC_PASSWORD": "<sync password>"
+         }
+       }
+     }
+   }
+   ```
+
+   - On Windows, write each `\` in a folder as `\\`, for example `"C:\\Users\\you\\Google Drive\\ed-mcp"`.
+   - If the file already has other servers, add `"ed-mcp": {...}` next to them, inside the same `mcpServers`.
+   - After you leave lines out, check the commas. Each line inside `env` ends with a comma, except the last one. If you leave out all of `env`, the `args` line must not end with a comma. A file with a stray or missing comma is not valid JSON, and then Claude Desktop starts none of its servers.
+   - On Windows, start `npx` through `cmd`: use `"command": "cmd"` and `"args": ["/c", "npx", "-y", "ed-mcp@latest"]`. On Windows `npx` is a script, and Claude Desktop often cannot start it directly.
+   - `ED_JOURNAL_DIR` is the game journal folder. On the gaming PC, leave it out. On a Mac, set it to the synced copy of the journal (see [Your game journal](#your-game-journal)).
+3. Save the file and restart Claude Desktop. `ed-mcp@latest` makes `npx` check for a new release each time Claude Desktop starts the server. Without `@latest`, `npx` can keep running an older copy.
+
+This file keeps the password as plain text. The extension masks it and stores it securely, so use the extension when you can.
+
 ### Claude Code plugin
 
 In Claude Code 2.1.275 or later, run:
@@ -74,7 +128,7 @@ Run this command. Put your own values in place of `<...>`:
 claude mcp add ed-mcp -s user \
   -e INARA_API_KEY=<key> -e INARA_CMDR=<commander name> \
   -e EDSM_API_KEY=<key> -e EDSM_CMDR=<commander name> \
-  -- npx -y ed-mcp
+  -- npx -y ed-mcp@latest
 ```
 
 - Keep `ed-mcp` directly after `add`. The `-e` options take every word after them until the `--`.
@@ -134,7 +188,7 @@ Elite Dangerous writes a journal while you play. ed-mcp reads it and never chang
 2. On the PC, add the folder `%USERPROFILE%\Saved Games\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous`. Set the folder type to **Send Only**.
 3. Pair the two devices. Share the folder with the Mac.
 4. On the Mac, accept the folder into a local folder, for example `~/EliteDangerous`. Set the folder type to **Receive Only**.
-5. Set `ED_JOURNAL_DIR` to that folder. In Claude Desktop, use the Journal folder field.
+5. Set `ED_JOURNAL_DIR` to that folder. In the Claude Desktop extension, use the Journal folder field. In a hand-written `claude_desktop_config.json`, add it to `env`.
 6. Ask Claude "What is my journal status?". While you play, the newest journal is a few minutes old.
 
 Do not share `%LOCALAPPDATA%\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous`. That folder has the same name, but it holds only the game's settings. If you share it by mistake, the journal status tells you.
@@ -145,7 +199,9 @@ The journal tools warn you when the newest entry is more than 30 minutes old. Th
 
 ## Plans
 
-Claude can save plans for you, for example a ship build with its modules, engineering and materials. Ask Claude to add items, mark them done, or export the plan as a Markdown file. To keep a plan in a project folder, export it as JSON and import it again later with `plan_import`. The plans stay in `plans.json`, in the sync folder if you set one and in the settings folder if not (see [Your data](#your-data)).
+Claude can save plans for you. A plan is a ship build, a route, or both. A build plan holds modules, engineering and materials. A route plan holds the stops to visit, for example a system, then a planet for bios, then another planet, then a station to hand in. Each stop can name a body (planet or moon), and each has a status: to do, done or skipped. Ask Claude to add items or stops, mark them done, or export the plan as a Markdown file. Claude sees the next stop to visit in each plan. To keep a plan in a project folder, export it as JSON and import it again later with `plan_import`. The plans stay in `plans.json`, in the sync folder if you set one and in the settings folder if not (see [Your data](#your-data)).
+
+Claude also keeps a short note of what you are doing, for example "exobiology on HIP 87621 2 b a, 2 of 5 done". A new conversation reads the note and your location from the journal, so it can carry on where you stopped. The note is in `activity.json`, next to the plans.
 
 ## Use ed-mcp on more than one computer
 
@@ -153,7 +209,7 @@ Set a sync folder, and your plans and preferences follow you. Pick a folder that
 
 What syncs:
 
-- Plans and preferences always sync, in the sync folder.
+- Plans, preferences and the activity note always sync, in the sync folder.
 - Your API keys and Frontier login sync only when you also set a sync password. ed-mcp encrypts them with it. Without a password, they stay on each computer.
 - The cache and the journal do not sync. Each computer keeps its own.
 
@@ -161,7 +217,7 @@ The password must be at least 12 characters. Use the same password on every comp
 
 If two computers change the same file before the sync service catches up, the service keeps both. It saves one as a "conflict copy". ed-mcp tells Claude when it sees one. Ask Claude "What is my ed-mcp settings status?", then keep the copy that you want and delete the other.
 
-If the sync folder is not available (for example, your sync app is stopped), the plan and preference tools fail with a clear message. They do not fall back to a local copy. Searches that use your stored preferences also need the folder. Pass `use_preferences: false` to search without them.
+If the sync folder is not available (for example, your sync app is stopped), the plan, preference and activity tools fail with a clear message. They do not fall back to a local copy. Searches that use your stored preferences also need the folder. Pass `use_preferences: false` to search without them.
 
 ed-mcp also writes each plan as a Markdown file in the `plans` folder inside the sync folder. Claude on your phone cannot run ed-mcp, but it can read these files through the Google Drive connector.
 
@@ -170,7 +226,7 @@ ed-mcp also writes each plan as a Markdown file in the `plans` folder inside the
 ```bash
 claude mcp add ed-mcp -s user \
   -e ED_MCP_SYNC_DIR=<folder> -e ED_MCP_SYNC_PASSWORD=<password> \
-  -- npx -y ed-mcp
+  -- npx -y ed-mcp@latest
 ```
 
 Keys that you save on the settings page are then shared by both apps, with no restart. If the apps do not agree, the settings status tells Claude.
@@ -216,10 +272,11 @@ ed-mcp keeps these files on your computer:
 | ---------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
 | Plans                        | `plans.json`, and a Markdown copy of each plan in `plans`                   |
 | Preferences                  | `preferences.json`                                                          |
+| What you are doing now       | `activity.json`                                                             |
 | API keys and Frontier login  | `secrets.enc` with a sync password, `secrets.json` without. Readable only by you |
 | Game data and cached results | The cache folder                                                            |
 
-Plans, preferences and `secrets.enc` are in the sync folder when you set one. Otherwise they are in the settings folder. `secrets.json` is always in the settings folder. The cache folder is always on the computer.
+Plans, preferences, `activity.json` and `secrets.enc` are in the sync folder when you set one. Otherwise they are in the settings folder. `secrets.json` is always in the settings folder. The cache folder is always on the computer.
 
 The files are in these folders: