feat: Added an optional Alpha Vantage MCP.

chore: Made Ollama MCP optional.
chore: Minor improvements and updated README.

Author: anirbanbasu

README.md

@@ -38,8 +38,14 @@ There are Dapr related configuration files too.
  - Dapr telemetry configuration at `.dapr/config.yaml`.
  - Dapr hot-swappable component configuration files at `.dapr/components/`.
 
-The following environment variables are also relevant but not essential, except for `OLLAMA_API_KEY`.
- - `OLLAMA_API_KEY`: The Ollama API key is required for MCP-based web-search and cloud hosted models on Ollama.
+
+
+The following API keys are optional but maybe provided for additional functionality. If not provided, the corresponding functionality will not be available.
+
+ - `OLLAMA_API_KEY`: The Ollama API key is required for MCP-based web search, web fetch and cloud hosted models on Ollama. MCP features include 2 tools. Create one from [your Ollama account](https://ollama.com/settings/keys).
+ - `ALPHAVANTAGE_API_KEY`: The API key to MCP-based Alpha Vantage finance related functions. MCP features include 118 tools. Obtain your [free API key from Alpha Vantage](https://www.alphavantage.co/support/#api-key). Note that basic finance tools are available through the [yfinance MCP](https://github.com/narumiruna/yfinance-mcp) even if Alpha Vantage MCP is not loaded.
+
+The following environment variables are all optional.
  - `APP_LOG_LEVEL`: The general log level of the DQA app. Defaults to `INFO`.
  - `DQA_MCP_SERVER_TRANSPORT`, `FASTMCP_HOST` and `FASTMCP_PORT`: These specify the transport type, the host and port for the built-in MCP server of DQA. The default values are `stdio`, `localhost` and `8000` respectively.
  - `LLM_CONFIG_FILE` and `MCP_CONFIG_FILE`: These specify where the LLM and MCP configurations These default to `conf/llm.json` and `conf/mcp.json` respectively.
@@ -48,6 +54,7 @@ The following environment variables are also relevant but not essential, except
  - `BROWSER_STATE_CHAT_HISTORIES`: This is the key in browser state used by Gradio to store the chat histories (local values). The default value is `a2a_dapr_chat_histories`.
  - `APP_DAPR_SVC_HOST` and `APP_DAPR_SVC_PORT`: The host and port at which Dapr actor service will listen on. These default to `127.0.0.1` and `32768`. Should you change these, you must change the corresponding information in `dapr.yaml`.
  - `APP_DAPR_PUBSUB_STALE_MSG_SECS`: This specifies how old a message should be on the Dapr publish-subscribe topic queue before it will be considered too old, and dropped. The default value is 60 seconds.
+ - `APP_DAPR_ACTOR_RETRY_ATTEMPTS`: This specifies the number of times an agent executor will try to invoke a method on an actor, if it fails to succeed. The default value is 3.
  - `DAPR_PUBSUB_NAME`: The configured name of the publish-subscribe component at `.dapr/components/pubsub.yaml`. Change this environment variable only if you change the corresponding pub-sub component configuration.
  - `APP_A2A_SRV_HOST` and `APP_MHQA_A2A_SRV_PORT`: The host and port at which A2A endpoint will be available. These default to `127.0.0.1` and `32770`. Should you change these, you must change the corresponding information in `dapr.yaml`.
  - `APP_MHQA_A2A_REMOTE_URL`: This environment variable can be used to specify the full remote URL including the protocol, i.e., `http` or `https` where the MHQA A2A endpoint is available. This is useful in a scenario where the web app is deployed on a machine that is different from where the MHQA A2A endpoint and Dapr service are. Default value is `None`.

src/dqa/__init__.py

@@ -33,6 +33,9 @@ class ParsedEnvVars:
     APP_DAPR_PUBSUB_STALE_MSG_SECS: int = env.int(
         "APP_DAPR_PUBSUB_STALE_MSG_SECS", default=60
     )
+    APP_DAPR_ACTOR_RETRY_ATTEMPTS: int = env.int(
+        "APP_DAPR_ACTOR_RETRY_ATTEMPTS", default=3
+    )
     APP_A2A_SRV_HOST: str = env.str("APP_A2A_SRV_HOST", default="127.0.0.1")
     APP_MHQA_A2A_SRV_PORT: int = env.int("APP_MHQA_A2A_SRV_PORT", default=32770)
     APP_MHQA_A2A_REMOTE_URL: str = env.str("APP_MHQA_A2A_REMOTE_URL", default=None)
@@ -47,6 +50,9 @@ class ParsedEnvVars:
         "BROWSER_STATE_CHAT_HISTORIES", default="a2a_dapr_chat_histories"
     )
 
+    API_KEY_ALPHAVANTAGE: str = env.str("ALPHAVANTAGE_API_KEY", default=None)
+    API_KEY_OLLAMA: str = env.str("OLLAMA_API_KEY", default=None)
+
     _instance: ClassVar = None
 
     def __new__(cls: type["ParsedEnvVars"]) -> "ParsedEnvVars":

src/dqa/actor/mhqa.py

@@ -158,10 +158,13 @@ async def _on_activate(self) -> None:
                 logger.error(f"Error parsing MCP config. {e}")
                 logger.exception(e)
 
+        # logger.info(
+        #     f"MCP tools available to {self.__class__.__name__} ({self.id}): {
+        #         ','.join([f.metadata.name for f in self.mcp_features])
+        #     }"
+        # )
         logger.info(
-            f"MCP tools available to {self.__class__.__name__} ({self.id}): {
-                ','.join([f.metadata.name for f in self.mcp_features])
-            }"
+            f"MCP tools available to {self.__class__.__name__} ({self.id}): {len(self.mcp_features)}"
         )
 
         if not hasattr(self, "workflow"):

src/dqa/executor/mhqa.py

@@ -34,7 +34,11 @@
 class MHQAAgentExecutor(AgentExecutor):
     def __init__(self):
         self._actor_mhqa = MHQAActor.__name__
-        self._factory = ActorProxyFactory(retry_policy=RetryPolicy(max_attempts=1))
+        self._factory = ActorProxyFactory(
+            retry_policy=RetryPolicy(
+                max_attempts=ParsedEnvVars().APP_DAPR_ACTOR_RETRY_ATTEMPTS
+            )
+        )
 
     async def do_mhqa_respond(self, data: MHQAInput):
         # TODO: Potential memory leak without closing the streams?

src/dqa/mcp/primary.py

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 import signal
 import sys
 
-from fastmcp import FastMCP
+from fastmcp import FastMCP, Client
 from dqa import ParsedEnvVars
 
 from dqa.mcp.ollama import app as ollama_mcp
@@ -25,16 +25,36 @@ def server():
 
     # See: https://gofastmcp.com/servers/composition
     # Live linking
-    logger.info("Mounting Ollama web search and fetch MCP...")
-    server.mount(ollama_mcp(), prefix="ollama")
-    logger.info("Mounting Frankfurter currency conversion MCP...")
     server.mount(frankfurter_mcp(), prefix="currency")
-    logger.info("Mounting DateTime MCP...")
+    logger.info("Mounted Frankfurter currency conversion MCP.")
     server.mount(datetime_mcp(), prefix="datetime")
-    logger.info("Mounting Basic Arithmetic MCP...")
+    logger.info("Mounted DateTime MCP.")
     server.mount(basic_arithmetic_mcp(), prefix="arithmetic")
-    logger.info("Mounting YFMCP...")
+    logger.info("Mounted Basic Arithmetic MCP.")
     server.mount(yfmcp_mcp, prefix="yfmcp", as_proxy=True)
+    logger.info("Mounted YFMCP.")
+
+    if ParsedEnvVars().API_KEY_ALPHAVANTAGE:
+        # See: https://github.com/alphavantage/alpha_vantage_mcp
+        alphavantage_remote_url = f"https://mcp.alphavantage.co/mcp?apikey={ParsedEnvVars().API_KEY_ALPHAVANTAGE}"
+        alphavantage_remote_proxy = FastMCP.as_proxy(Client(alphavantage_remote_url))
+        server.mount(alphavantage_remote_proxy, prefix="alphavantage")
+        logger.info("Mounted AlphaVantage remote MCP.")
+        logger.warning(
+            "AlphaVantage MCP is a rate-limited remote service, expect higher latency."
+        )
+    else:
+        logger.warning(
+            "No AlphaVantage API key found in environment variable 'API_KEY_ALPHAVANTAGE'. Skipping mounting AlphaVantage remote MCP."
+        )
+
+    if ParsedEnvVars().API_KEY_OLLAMA:
+        server.mount(ollama_mcp(), prefix="ollama")
+        logger.info("Mounted Ollama MCP.")
+    else:
+        logger.warning(
+            "No Ollama API key found in environment variable 'API_KEY_OLLAMA'. Skipping mounting Ollama MCP."
+        )
 
     return server
 

src/dqa/web/gradio.py

@@ -391,6 +391,7 @@ async def btn_echo_clicked(
                             MHQAResponse(
                                 thread_id=selected_chat_id,
                                 user_input=user_query,
+                                agent_output="Attempting to find an answer, 🤔 please wait...",
                             )
                         )
 

tests/test_primary_mcp.py

@@ -34,5 +34,17 @@ def test_composition(self, mcp_client):
         """
         Test that the primary MCP server has composed the necessary MCPs correctly.
         """
+        n_base_tools = 22  # Base tools from local MCPs
+        n_ollama_tools = 2
+        n_alphavantage_tools = 118
         tools = asyncio.run(self.list_tools(mcp_client))
-        assert len(tools) == 22
+        assert len(tools) in [
+            # Base
+            n_base_tools,
+            # With Ollama only
+            n_base_tools + n_ollama_tools,
+            # With AlphaVantage only
+            n_base_tools + n_alphavantage_tools,
+            # With both Ollama and AlphaVantage
+            n_base_tools + n_ollama_tools + n_alphavantage_tools,
+        ]