MCP Server

Laconic ships as a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that any MCP-compatible agent can call directly. The agent decides when compression is worth it; Laconic provides the tools.

Setup

Build the MCP server binary:

cargo build --release --bin laconic-mcp
cp target/release/laconic-mcp /usr/local/bin/

Agent Configuration

Add this to your MCP client config (Windsurf, Cursor, Claude Desktop, or any MCP-compatible agent):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "laconic": {
      "command": "laconic-mcp",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

The server communicates over stdio — no ports, no HTTP, no configuration.

Available Tools

`compress_markdown`

Compresses a markdown string and returns the result with token statistics.

Input:

{
  "markdown": "# Title\n\n[![Badge](https://img.shields.io/...)]\n\n| Col | Col |\n|---|---|\n| A | B |"
}

Output:

{
  "text": "# Title\n\nCol,Col\nA,B",
  "original_tokens": 45,
  "compressed_tokens": 12,
  "tokens_saved": 33,
  "savings_pct": 73.3
}

`estimate_savings`

Returns token statistics and a recommendation without the compressed text. Useful for agents that want to decide whether compression is worthwhile before committing.

Input:

{
  "markdown": "Some markdown content..."
}

Output:

{
  "original_tokens": 500,
  "compressed_tokens": 420,
  "tokens_saved": 80,
  "savings_pct": 16.0,
  "recommendation": "Compress — 16% savings available."
}

Typical Agent Workflow

Agent retrieves a document for context injection
Agent calls estimate_savings to check if compression is worthwhile
If savings exceed a threshold (e.g., 5%), agent calls compress_markdown
Agent uses the compressed text in its prompt

This keeps the agent in control of the cost/benefit tradeoff.

Testing the Server

You can test the MCP server manually by piping JSON-RPC messages:

echo '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/list","params":{}}' | laconic-mcp

This returns the list of available tools and their schemas.

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