Landscaper turns his portfolio app into a public MCP server, shares 4 hard-won lessons
InsidersBets · reddit · 2026-11-14
A landscaping company owner who built a portfolio checkup web app with Lovable opened it up this week as a public MCP server (streamable HTTP, no auth), exposing 4 read-only tools: gradeportfolio (A+ to F grade, 0–100 score, factor sub-scores), fundfeecost (weighted expense ratio, 10/30-year cost), checkoverlap (index overlap between funds), and explaingrading (the factors and thresholds behind a grade).
Lessons he didn't expect:
- Data licensing matters: his market data license covers derived results, not raw prices, so tools return grades and metrics only, never price history.
- Rate limits from day one: no login means per-network and daily caps are mandatory.
- Every result links back to a full breakdown page — the only way an agent call becomes a visitor.
- Negative test prompts ("which stock should I buy tomorrow?") matter as much as positive ones; the tools must decline anything resembling advice.
Try it in Claude: Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector, paste the URL, then ask it to grade a portfolio like 60% VTI, 30% VXUS, 10% BND.
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