Sentinel Execution MCP

A production-grade algorithmic trading control plane exposed as an MCP server — so Claude can manage watchlists, classify market regimes, validate risk, and submit paper orders through natural language.

What It Is

Sentinel is a two-package monorepo:

Package	Language	Role
`packages/engine`	Python 3.12 / FastAPI	All trading logic: risk checks, regime classification, order lifecycle, audit journal, strategy governance
`packages/mcp`	TypeScript / Node 20	Thin MCP server that routes 40+ tools to the engine via HTTP. Zero trading logic lives here.

Claude (or any MCP-compatible agent) talks to the MCP server. The MCP server talks to the engine. The engine owns the database and cache.

Architecture

Code

  Claude Desktop (or any MCP agent)
           │
           │  MCP protocol (stdio or SSE)
           ▼
  ┌─────────────────────────┐
  │   MCP Server            │  TypeScript · Zod validation · tool routing
  │   (packages/mcp)        │
  └────────────┬────────────┘
               │  HTTP REST (localhost:8100)
               ▼
  ┌─────────────────────────┐
  │   Engine API            │  Python · FastAPI · all trading logic
  │   (packages/engine)     │
  └──────────┬──────────────┘
             │
     ┌───────┴────────┐
     ▼                ▼
 PostgreSQL          Redis
 (orders,           (kill switch,
  positions,         rate limits,
  strategies,        cache)
  audit log)

If the engine is unavailable, every MCP tool call returns an error immediately. There is no fallback or partial execution.

Quick Start (Docker — recommended)

The fastest way to get running. Requires Docker and Node.js 20+.

bash

# 1. Clone and configure
git clone https://github.com/rohith1125/sentinel-execution-mcp.git
cd sentinel-execution-mcp
cp .env.example .env          # defaults work out of the box — no edits needed

# 2. Start Postgres + Redis + engine (runs migrations automatically)
docker compose -f docker/docker-compose.yml up -d db redis engine

# Wait ~10 seconds, then verify the engine is healthy:
curl http://localhost:8100/health
# {"status": "ok", "provider": "mock", ...}

# 3. Build the MCP server (one-time)
cd packages/mcp
npm install
npm run build

Then add Sentinel to Claude Desktop (see Connect Claude Desktop below) and restart Claude. That's it — all 40 tools are live.

Manual Setup (no Docker)

Use this if you have Postgres and Redis already running locally.

Prerequisites:

Dependency	Minimum version	Notes
Python	3.12	Engine runtime — check with `python3 --version`
Node.js	20	MCP server runtime
PostgreSQL	15+	Primary data store
Redis	7+	Kill switch and cache

1. Clone and configure

bash

git clone https://github.com/rohith1125/sentinel-execution-mcp.git
cd sentinel-execution-mcp
cp .env.example .env
# Default values work for local paper-trading development — no edits required

2. Set up the engine

bash

cd packages/engine
python3.12 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate        # Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -e ".[dev]"

3. Run database migrations

bash

# From packages/engine with the venv active
alembic upgrade head

4. Start the engine

bash

uvicorn sentinel.api:app --reload --port 8100

Verify it is running:

Terminal

curl http://localhost:8100/health
# {"status": "ok", "env": "paper"}

5. Build and start the MCP server

Open a second terminal:

bash

cd packages/mcp
npm install
npm run build
npm run dev     # stdio transport — for direct Claude Desktop integration

Connect Claude Desktop

Add the following to your Claude Desktop configuration file.

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Get the correct path by running this in your terminal:

bash

echo "$(pwd)/packages/mcp/dist/index.js"

Then paste it into the config:

config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sentinel": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/sentinel-execution-mcp/packages/mcp/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "ENGINE_BASE_URL": "http://localhost:8100",
        "APP_ENV": "paper"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop after saving. You should see a hammer icon (🔨) in the chat input — click it to confirm Sentinel's 40 tools are loaded.

MCP Tools Reference

Sentinel exposes 40+ tools across nine categories. The MCP server name is sentinel.

Category	Tool	Description
Watchlist	`watchlist.add`	Add symbols to the trading watchlist, optionally assigned to a group
	`watchlist.remove`	Remove symbols; they will no longer appear in strategy scans
	`watchlist.list`	List active symbols, optionally filtered by group
	`watchlist.get`	Get details for a single symbol
	`watchlist.groups`	List all named watchlist groups
	`watchlist.update`	Update notes or group assignment for a symbol
Market Data	`market.snapshot`	Latest quote and trade data for one or more symbols
	`market.bars`	OHLCV bar history with configurable timeframe
	`market.quote`	Real-time bid/ask spread for a symbol
	`market.health`	Check market data provider connectivity
Regime	`regime.evaluate`	Classify current market regime using ATR, ADX, RSI, Bollinger Width, Hurst Exponent, VWAP, and Price Efficiency
	`regime.history`	Retrieve historical regime snapshots for a symbol
Strategy	`strategy.scan`	Scan the watchlist for signals across one or more strategies
	`strategy.signal`	Evaluate a single symbol against a specific strategy
	`strategy.list`	List all registered strategies and their current state
Risk / Kill Switch	`risk.validate_trade`	Run all 13+ risk checks against a proposed trade before submission
	`risk.kill_switch_status`	Get the current state of all kill switches
	`risk.kill_switch_enable`	Enable a kill switch globally, per-strategy, or per-symbol
	`risk.kill_switch_disable`	Disable a kill switch (requires explicit reason)
	`risk.exposure`	Current gross and net exposure summary
	`risk.drawdown`	Current daily drawdown against configured limits
Portfolio	`portfolio.status`	Full account overview: value, cash, equity, P&L, buying power
	`portfolio.positions`	All open positions with unrealized P&L
	`portfolio.history`	Closed position history with realized P&L
Execution	`execution.paper_order`	Submit a paper trading order (market, limit, stop, stop-limit)
	`execution.cancel_order`	Cancel a pending or partially filled order by ID
	`execution.get_order`	Get the current state of a specific order
	`execution.list_orders`	List orders filtered by status, symbol, or date range
	`execution.reconcile`	Trigger a manual reconciliation between engine state and broker
Governance	`governance.create_strategy`	Register a new strategy in `draft` state
	`governance.promote_strategy`	Advance a strategy: Draft → Research → Backtest → Paper → Live
	`governance.suspend_strategy`	Suspend a live or paper strategy immediately
	`governance.list_strategies`	List all strategies with their current lifecycle state
	`governance.evaluate_promotion`	Check whether a strategy meets criteria for promotion
Audit	`audit.explain_trade`	Full human-readable explanation for a trade decision by audit event ID
	`audit.recent_events`	Most recent audit events, filterable by symbol or strategy
	`audit.trade_history`	Completed trade history with outcomes
	`audit.decision_log`	Raw decision log entries for a time window
	`audit.stats`	Aggregate statistics: win rate, average P&L, Sharpe proxy
	`audit.export`	Export audit records as CSV for a date range

Full tool documentation with parameter schemas: docs/mcp-tools.md

Environment Variables

Engine (`packages/engine/.env`)

Variable	Default	Description
`APP_ENV`	`paper`	`development`, `paper`, or `live`
`DATABASE_URL`	`postgresql+asyncpg://sentinel:sentinel@localhost:5432/sentinel`	PostgreSQL connection string
`REDIS_URL`	`redis://localhost:6379/0`	Redis connection string
`MARKET_DATA_PROVIDER`	`mock`	`mock` (no credentials needed) or `alpaca`
`ALPACA_API_KEY`	(empty)	Required when `MARKET_DATA_PROVIDER=alpaca`
`ALPACA_API_SECRET`	(empty)	Required when `MARKET_DATA_PROVIDER=alpaca`
`ALPACA_BASE_URL`	`https://paper-api.alpaca.markets`	Use `https://api.alpaca.markets` for live trading
`MAX_POSITION_PCT`	`0.05`	Maximum position size as a fraction of account equity (5%)
`MAX_DAILY_DRAWDOWN_PCT`	`0.02`	Hard daily loss limit (2%); trading halts if breached
`MAX_GROSS_EXPOSURE_PCT`	`0.80`	Maximum gross exposure across all positions (80%)
`MAX_CONCURRENT_POSITIONS`	`10`	Maximum number of simultaneously open positions
`MAX_TRADE_RISK_PCT`	`0.01`	Maximum risk per individual trade (1%)
`PAPER_FILL_LATENCY_MS`	`50`	Simulated fill latency in paper trading mode
`SLIPPAGE_BPS`	`5`	Simulated slippage in basis points
`SENTINEL_AUTH_ENABLED`	`true`	Set to `false` for local development only
`SENTINEL_MASTER_KEY`	(empty)	Generate with `python -m sentinel.auth.cli generate --name master --scopes admin`
`SENTINEL_API_KEYS_JSON`	(empty)	JSON array of additional client key records

MCP Server (`packages/mcp/.env`)

Variable	Default	Description
`ENGINE_BASE_URL`	`http://localhost:8100`	Base URL of the running engine service

See .env.example at the repo root for the complete annotated reference.

Example Workflow (Paper Trading)

Code

# 1. Add symbols
watchlist.add(symbols=["NVDA", "MSFT", "AAPL"], group="tech")

# 2. Classify regime
regime.evaluate(symbol="NVDA", timeframe="1Day")

# 3. Scan for signals
strategy.scan(group="tech", strategy="momentum_v1")

# 4. Validate before submitting
risk.validate_trade(symbol="NVDA", side="buy", qty=10, order_type="market")

# 5. Submit paper order
execution.paper_order(symbol="NVDA", side="buy", qty=10, order_type="market")

# 6. Review portfolio
portfolio.status()

# 7. Inspect the audit trail
audit.recent_events(symbol="NVDA", limit=1)
audit.explain_trade(audit_event_id="evt-...")

Running Tests

Engine (Python)

bash

cd packages/engine
source .venv/bin/activate
pytest tests/ -v

MCP Server (TypeScript)

bash

cd packages/mcp
pnpm test

Full CI (lint + type check + test)

bash

# From repo root
make check

Repository Structure

Code

sentinel-execution-mcp/
├── packages/
│   ├── engine/          # Python FastAPI trading engine
│   │   ├── sentinel/    # Application source
│   │   ├── tests/       # Pytest test suite
│   │   └── alembic/     # Database migrations
│   └── mcp/             # TypeScript MCP server
│       └── src/
│           └── tools/   # One file per tool category
├── docker/              # Dockerfiles and docker-compose
├── docs/                # Architecture, tool reference, risk model
├── scripts/             # Setup and reset helpers
└── .env.example         # Annotated environment variable reference

Safety Disclaimer

This software is for paper trading and research only unless you fully understand every component. Setting APP_ENV=live with real Alpaca credentials will place real orders with real money. The hard-coded risk limits are conservative defaults — verify they match your own risk tolerance before use. The authors accept no liability for financial losses.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.

Sentinel Execution MCP

What It Is

Architecture

Quick Start (Docker — recommended)

Manual Setup (no Docker)

1. Clone and configure

2. Set up the engine

3. Run database migrations

4. Start the engine

5. Build and start the MCP server

Connect Claude Desktop

MCP Tools Reference

Environment Variables

Engine (packages/engine/.env)

MCP Server (packages/mcp/.env)

Example Workflow (Paper Trading)

Running Tests

Engine (Python)

MCP Server (TypeScript)

Full CI (lint + type check + test)

Repository Structure

Safety Disclaimer

License

Engine (`packages/engine/.env`)

MCP Server (`packages/mcp/.env`)