MCP server introduction
The MCP server is in beta.
The Nutritionist Pro Model Context Protocol (MCP) server lets AI applications and coding agents read your Nutritionist Pro data through the Model Context Protocol (MCP). Once connected, an assistant such as Claude or Codex can answer questions about your foods, recipes, labels, and nutrients using your own account data, without you copying and pasting anything.
Read-only by design
The MCP server is read-only. It exposes lookup and search operations only. It cannot create, edit, or delete foods, recipes, or labels, and it cannot change any account settings. Connecting an assistant to the server is safe: the worst an assistant can do is read data you already have access to.
If you need to make changes to your data, continue to use the Nutritionist Pro online application directly.
What you can do with it
With the server connected, you can ask an assistant to:
- Search your ingredient and food database and pull up a food's nutrient profile.
- Look up a recipe and review its ingredients and calculated nutrition.
- Find a label and inspect its values.
- Browse the list of nutrients tracked in your account.
- Confirm which account the connection is using.
Available tools
The assistant sees the server's capabilities as a set of tools. The table below lists what is currently exposed.
| Tool | What it returns |
|---|---|
whoami | The account the connection is authenticated as. Useful for confirming setup. |
list_foods | A paged list of foods and ingredients in your account. |
search_foods | Foods and ingredients matching a search term. |
get_food | The full detail and nutrient profile for a single food. |
list_recipes | A paged list of your recipes. |
get_recipe | The full detail for a single recipe, including ingredients and nutrition. |
list_labels | A paged list of your labels. |
get_label | The full detail for a single label. |
list_nutrients | The nutrients tracked in your account. |
Who it is for
The MCP server is for anyone who works with their Nutritionist Pro data alongside an AI assistant: formulators checking nutrient values, teams drafting label copy, or developers building on top of their data with an agent. It works with desktop AI applications (such as Claude Desktop and Codex) and with command-line agents (such as Claude Code and the Codex CLI).
Get your MCP key
Every connection authenticates with a personal MCP key. Generate one before you configure any app:
- Sign in to Nutritionist Pro online and open the Settings page from the user profile menu in the top-right corner.
- Go to the MCP section and create a new MCP key.
- Copy the key. It begins with
npmcp_. This is the value you paste into your AI app's configuration in place of<MCP_API_KEY>.
An MCP key is tied to the user who created it and grants read access to that account's data. Treat it like a password: do not share it, and do not commit it to a shared repository. If a key is exposed, generate a new one from the Settings page.
When you generate a key, it will only be shown once. Record it in a password manager.
Next steps
Pick the guide that matches how you work:
- Set up in AI applications — Claude Desktop and the Codex desktop app.
- Set up in CLI tools — Claude Code and the Codex CLI.
The setup guides use the production server URL https://mcp.nutritionistpro.com. Replace <MCP_API_KEY> with the personal MCP key you generated above before connecting.