alpaca-mcp-server

How to avoid V1-style usage in V2

MCP clients discover tools dynamically from the server. There is no config file where you "whitelist" tool names — the client gets whatever tools the server exposes. To avoid your client or AI assistant using V2 incorrectly:

1. Do not reuse V1 config — Treat V2 as a new server. Update your MCP client config with the new command/args; remove any .env or init-based setup.
2. Clear tool caches — Restart your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, etc.) after switching so it fetches the new tool list instead of using a stale one.
3. Start a fresh chat/session — Existing conversations may have cached references to old tool names. Start a new chat so the LLM sees the current V2 tools and their schemas.
4. Update custom instructions and rules — If you have Cursor rules, Claude instructions, or other prompts that mention specific V1 tool names (e.g. "use get_account_info"), update them to match V2 tool names or remove those references and let the LLM discover tools from context.
5. Restrict tools with ALPACA_TOOLSETS — If you previously limited which capabilities your assistant could use, V2 supports server-side filtering via the ALPACA_TOOLSETS env var. See Configuration > Toolset Filtering for the list of toolsets.

Summary

Assume no backward compatibility with V1. Reconfigure your MCP client for V2, restart it, and use a fresh session. Check the Available Tools section for the current tool list.

If you had custom V1 workflows

If you documented allowed tools, wrote scripts that call tools by name, or built prompts around specific V1 tool/parameter shapes — treat them as obsolete. Recreate them using the Available Tools listed below and the current parameter schemas exposed by the server.

Staying on V1

If you need to stay on V1, pin to the last V1 release (e.g. uvx alpaca-mcp-server==1.x.x serve) in your MCP client config. V1 remains available on PyPI for existing setups.

Prerequisites

• Python 3.10+ (installation guide)
• uv (installation guide)
• Alpaca Trading API keys (free paper trading account)
• MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, etc.)

Getting Your API Keys

1. Visit the Alpaca Dashboard
2. Create a free paper trading account
3. Generate API keys from the dashboard

Setup

Add the server to your MCP client config, then restart the client. No init command, no .env files — credentials are set in one place only.

Claude Desktop

Edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (Mac) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "alpaca": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["alpaca-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "ALPACA_API_KEY": "your_alpaca_api_key",
        "ALPACA_SECRET_KEY": "your_alpaca_secret_key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Cursor

Install from the Cursor Directory in a few clicks, or add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "alpaca": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["alpaca-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "ALPACA_API_KEY": "your_alpaca_api_key",
        "ALPACA_SECRET_KEY": "your_alpaca_secret_key"
      }
    }
  }
}

VS Code

Create .vscode/mcp.json in your project root. See the official docs.

{
  "mcp": {
    "servers": {
      "alpaca": {
        "type": "stdio",
        "command": "uvx",
        "args": ["alpaca-mcp-server"],
        "env": {
          "ALPACA_API_KEY": "your_alpaca_api_key",
          "ALPACA_SECRET_KEY": "your_alpaca_secret_key"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

PyCharm

See the official guide.

1. Go to File → Settings → Tools → Model Context Protocol (MCP)
2. Add a new server:

• Type: stdio
• Command: uvx
• Arguments: alpaca-mcp-server

3. Set environment variables:

 ALPACA_API_KEY=your_alpaca_api_key
 ALPACA_SECRET_KEY=your_alpaca_secret_key

Claude Code

claude mcp add alpaca --scope user --transport stdio uvx alpaca-mcp-server \
  --env ALPACA_API_KEY=your_alpaca_api_key \
  --env ALPACA_SECRET_KEY=your_alpaca_secret_key

Verify with /mcp in the Claude Code CLI.

Gemini CLI

See the Gemini CLI MCP docs.

Add to your settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "alpaca": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["alpaca-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "ALPACA_API_KEY": "your_alpaca_api_key",
        "ALPACA_SECRET_KEY": "your_alpaca_secret_key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Docker

git clone https://github.com/alpacahq/alpaca-mcp-server.git
cd alpaca-mcp-server
docker build -t mcp/alpaca:latest .

Add to your MCP client config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "alpaca": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run", "--rm", "-i",
        "-e", "ALPACA_API_KEY=your_key",
        "-e", "ALPACA_SECRET_KEY=your_secret",
        "-e", "ALPACA_PAPER_TRADE=true",
        "mcp/alpaca:latest"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Configuration

All configuration is through environment variables set in your MCP client config. No files are written to disk.

| Variable | Required | Default | Description | | -------------------- | -------- | ------- | ------------------------------------------ | | ALPACA_API_KEY | Yes | — | Your Alpaca API key | | ALPACA_SECRET_KEY | Yes | — | Your Alpaca secret key | | ALPACA_PAPER_TRADE | No | true | Set to false for live trading | | ALPACA_TOOLSETS | No | all | Comma-separated list of toolsets to enable |

Switching to Live Trading

Update the env block in your MCP client config and restart:

{
  "env": {
    "ALPACA_API_KEY": "your_live_api_key",