unraid-mcp/docs/PUBLISHING.md

Publishing Guide for unraid-mcp

This guide covers how to publish unraid-mcp to PyPI so it can be installed via uvx or pip from anywhere.

Prerequisites

1. PyPI Account: Create accounts on both:

   • Test PyPI (for testing)
   • PyPI (for production)

2. API Tokens: Generate API tokens for automated publishing:

   • Test PyPI: https://test.pypi.org/manage/account/token/
   • PyPI: https://pypi.org/manage/account/token/

3. Save Tokens Securely:

   # Add to ~/.pypirc (never commit this file!)
   cat > ~/.pypirc << 'EOF'
   [distutils]
   index-servers =
       pypi
       testpypi
   
   [pypi]
   username = __token__
   password = pypi-YOUR-API-TOKEN-HERE
   
   [testpypi]
   username = __token__
   password = pypi-YOUR-TEST-API-TOKEN-HERE
   repository = https://test.pypi.org/legacy/
   EOF
   
   chmod 600 ~/.pypirc  # Secure the file
   

Version Management

Before publishing, update the version in pyproject.toml:

[project]
version = "0.2.1"  # Follow semantic versioning: MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH

Semantic Versioning Guide:

• MAJOR (1.0.0): Breaking changes
• MINOR (0.2.0): New features (backward compatible)
• PATCH (0.2.1): Bug fixes (backward compatible)

Publishing Workflow

1. Clean Previous Builds

# Remove old build artifacts
rm -rf dist/ build/ *.egg-info/

2. Run Quality Checks

# Lint and format code
uv run ruff check unraid_mcp/
uv run ruff format unraid_mcp/

# Type check
uv run ty check unraid_mcp/

# Run tests
uv run pytest

# Check coverage
uv run pytest --cov=unraid_mcp --cov-report=html

3. Build the Package

# Build both wheel and source distribution
uv run python -m build

This creates:

• dist/unraid_mcp-VERSION-py3-none-any.whl (wheel)
• dist/unraid_mcp-VERSION.tar.gz (source distribution)

4. Validate the Package

# Check that the package meets PyPI requirements
uv run twine check dist/*

Expected output: PASSED for both files.

5. Test on Test PyPI (IMPORTANT!)

Always test on Test PyPI first:

# Upload to Test PyPI
uv run twine upload --repository testpypi dist/*

# Test installation from Test PyPI
uvx --index-url https://test.pypi.org/simple/ --extra-index-url https://pypi.org/simple/ unraid-mcp-server

# Or with pip in a test environment
pip install --index-url https://test.pypi.org/simple/ --extra-index-url https://pypi.org/simple/ unraid-mcp

Note: --extra-index-url https://pypi.org/simple/ is needed because dependencies come from production PyPI.

6. Publish to PyPI (Production)

Once testing passes:

# Upload to production PyPI
uv run twine upload dist/*

7. Verify Installation

# Install and run from PyPI using uvx (no installation required!)
uvx unraid-mcp-server --help

# Or install globally
uv tool install unraid-mcp

# Or install in a project
uv add unraid-mcp

Post-Publishing Checklist

• Create a GitHub Release with the same version tag
• Update CHANGELOG.md with release notes
• Test installation on a fresh machine
• Update documentation if API changed
• Announce release (if applicable)

Running from Any Machine with uvx

Once published to PyPI, users can run the server without installing:

# Run directly with uvx (recommended)
uvx unraid-mcp-server

# Or with custom environment variables
UNRAID_API_URL=https://your-server uvx unraid-mcp-server

Benefits of uvx:

• No installation required
• Automatic virtual environment management
• Always uses the latest version (or specify version: uvx unraid-mcp-server@0.2.0)
• Clean execution environment

Automation with GitHub Actions (Future)

Consider adding .github/workflows/publish.yml:

name: Publish to PyPI

on:
  release:
    types: [published]

jobs:
  publish:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v4
      - name: Build package
        run: uv run python -m build
      - name: Publish to PyPI
        env:
          TWINE_USERNAME: __token__
          TWINE_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.PYPI_API_TOKEN }}
        run: uv run twine upload dist/*

Tip: Consider using PyPI Trusted Publishing instead of API token secrets. Trusted Publishing uses OpenID Connect (OIDC) to authenticate directly from GitHub Actions without storing long-lived secrets.

Troubleshooting

"File already exists" Error

PyPI doesn't allow re-uploading the same version. Options:

1. Increment version number in pyproject.toml
2. Delete old dist files and rebuild

Missing Dependencies

If installation fails due to missing dependencies:

1. Check that all dependencies are in pyproject.toml dependencies section
2. Ensure dependency version constraints are correct
3. Test in a clean virtual environment

Import Errors After Installation

If the package installs but imports fail:

1. Verify package structure in wheel: unzip -l dist/*.whl
2. Check that __init__.py files exist in all package directories
3. Ensure packages = ["unraid_mcp"] in [tool.hatch.build.targets.wheel]

Resources

• PyPI Publishing Guide
• Semantic Versioning
• Python Packaging User Guide
• uv Documentation
• Twine Documentation