Serve compiled pipelines as MCP tools

rote serve is one MCP server exposing every registered pipeline as a callable tool. The flow:

rote compile → deploy the runtime → rote register → rote serve → call from Claude

rote serve triggers deployed workflows; it does not host them. MCP triggering supports the dbos (default), temporal, and cloudflare runtimes.

The CLI ships on PyPI as rote-cli with an executable named rote, so every invocation is uvx --from rote-cli rote <args> (never uvx rote-cli ...). For unreleased features, substitute the source: uvx --from git+https://github.com/trevhud/rote rote <args>.

1. Check preconditions

• A compile output directory exists (contains compiled/pipeline.yaml).
• The runtime side is running: for DBOS, the emitted app in worker mode

(python main.py --serve or dbos start) against the system database you'll register — enqueued runs sit in status enqueued until that process exists; for Temporal, a worker against the user's cluster; for Cloudflare, wrangler deploy done. If not, stop and help with that first.

2. Register the pipeline

sh
# DBOS (the default). System DB URL: --system-database-url, else
# $DBOS_SYSTEM_DATABASE_URL, else the emitted app's SQLite file
# (derived from <out-dir>/runtime/dbos/main.py).
uvx --from rote-cli rote register <out-dir>

# Temporal (defaults: localhost:7233, namespace "default",
# task queue = pipeline.name, workflow type = the emitted versioned name)
uvx --from rote-cli rote register <out-dir> --runtime temporal

# Cloudflare
uvx --from rote-cli rote register <out-dir> --runtime cloudflare \
  --url https://<worker>.workers.dev

This upserts ~/.rote/registry.json. Re-registering updates in place. After re-compiling a changed skill, register again — the DBOS and Temporal workflow names are derived from the pipeline content hash and must stay in sync with the emitted code.

3. Add the MCP server to Claude

rote serve needs the serve extra (FastMCP) plus dbos when any registered pipeline runs on DBOS, so the spec includes both:

sh
claude mcp add --scope user rote -- uvx --from 'rote-cli[serve,dbos]' rote serve

For unreleased features, use the GitHub source instead:

sh
claude mcp add --scope user rote -- \
  uvx --from 'rote-cli[serve,dbos] @ git+https://github.com/trevhud/rote' rote serve

Verify with claude mcp list. Each registry entry becomes two tools (three for DBOS): <name> (starts a run, returns {workflow_id, status: "started"} immediately — compiled pipelines run minutes to days), <name>_status (polls a run by workflow_id), and for DBOS <name>_signal (resumes a run parked at a HITL gate: workflow_id + gate signal name + resume payload — so Claude can deliver approvals itself). A DBOS run whose status stays enqueued means the emitted app process isn't running against the registered system database.

4. Explain the reconnect caveat

A running rote serve picks up registry changes live — no restart of the server, ever. But clients differ:

• Claude Code refreshes its tool list on the server's

list_changed notification: newly registered pipelines appear immediately.

• Claude Desktop and claude.ai snapshot tools at connect time. A

pipeline registered while they're connected appears only after a reconnect — restart Desktop or toggle the server off/on; on claude.ai, re-enable the connector.

Tell the user this proactively if they plan to use Desktop or claude.ai.