# 4. User Interaction and Design Goals

As the Fabric MCP Server is a backend application, this section focuses on the **Developer Experience (DX)** for engineers building MCP client applications that will interact with this server, and the **Operational Simplicity** for individuals deploying and running the server.

## A. Developer Experience (DX) Goals (for MCP Client Developers)

1. **Intuitive MCP Tool Design:**
    - The MCP tools exposed by the server (e.g., `fabric_list_patterns`, `fabric_run_pattern`) MUST be designed to be as self-explanatory and intuitive as possible.
    - Tool names, parameter names, and descriptions (discoverable via MCP's `list_tools()`) SHOULD clearly indicate their purpose and usage.
2. **High Information Value & Ease of Use:**
    - The information returned by the MCP tools (e.g., pattern details, model lists, pattern outputs) SHOULD be high-value, accurate, and presented in a format that is easy for MCP client applications to parse and utilize.
    - Interactions with the tools SHOULD be straightforward, adhering to MCP standards.
3. **Clear Feedback & Error Reporting:**
    - Success and error responses from MCP tools MUST be clear, structured, and informative, enabling MCP client developers to effectively handle various outcomes and debug integrations.
4. **Automated & Synchronized Development Environment:** (Updated)
    - The project leverages `pre-commit` hooks (for conventional commits, branch protection) and an enhanced `Makefile` (for streamlined setup, testing, formatting, safe merges, and MCP inspector integration) to ensure an automatically updating, consistent, and high-quality development environment. This aims for minimal tooling maintenance overhead and maximum team synchronization on development standards.
5. **Interactive Debugging & Testing:** (New)
    - A `make dev` target is provided, utilizing `pnpm` to install `@modelcontextprotocol/inspector`, allowing developers to easily run the Fabric MCP Server with the FastMCP Inspector for interactive testing and debugging of MCP functionalities directly in a browser.

## B. Operational Design Goals (for Server Administrators/Users)

1. **Simplicity of Setup & Initial Run:**
    - Setting up and running the Fabric MCP Server SHOULD be straightforward.
    - Installation via PyPI (`pip install fabric-mcp` or `uv pip install fabric-mcp`) SHOULD be simple and reliable.
    - Initiating the server (e.g., with flags for stdio transport, or with flags for HTTP/SSE transport) SHOULD be via simple commands.
2. **Clarity of Configuration:**
    - Configuration via environment variables (`FABRIC_BASE_URL`, `FABRIC_API_KEY`, `FABRIC_MCP_LOG_LEVEL`) MUST be clearly documented and easy to understand.
    - Configuration for HTTP-based transports (host, port, path) MUST also be clearly documented.
3. **Informative Log Output:**
    - The server's log output, controlled by `FABRIC_MCP_LOG_LEVEL`, SHOULD be clear, structured (where appropriate), and provide sufficient detail for monitoring and troubleshooting.
4. **Deployment Flexibility:**
    - Support for stdio, Streamable HTTP, and SSE transports provides flexibility for various deployment scenarios. Dockerization (as seen in the Fabric project's Dockerfile) could be a future consideration for `fabric-mcp` to further enhance ease of deployment.
