About mcp-etf-holdings
mcp-etf-holdings is an MCP server for researching ETF data, using live Yahoo Finance data without an API key. It helps investors inspect funds, stock exposure, fees, and holdings through an MCP client.
Key features
- 01Look up ETFs holding a stock
- 02Compare fees, size, yield, and returns
- 03Retrieve ETF metadata and top holdings
- 04Search funds by name, theme, or category
- 05Resolve company and fund symbols
- 06Use five ETF research prompt templates
Use cases
- 01Find funds with exposure to a company
- 02Compare costs and returns across ETFs
- 03Check overlap among portfolio holdings
- 04Explore ETFs by investment theme
MCP support
Exposes seven ETF research tools and five prompt templates to MCP clients. It supports stdio by default and optional streamable HTTP transport.
Configuration
Local server config is the same for every client. Copy it into your client’s MCP config file.
Tools
7Saved tool list · updated 2d ago
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| ticker | string | Yes | ETF ticker symbol, e.g. 'SPY' or 'QQQ' |
Details
From the project READMEmcp-etf-holdings
An MCP server for ETF data. Ask which funds hold a stock, compare fees, or pull top holdings. Data comes live from Yahoo Finance. No API key.
What you can ask
| Ask Claude | Tool it calls |
|---|---|
| "Which ETFs hold NVDA?" | find_etfs_holding_stock |
| "What's the cheapest ETF for Nvidia exposure?" | stock_exposure_summary |
| "Compare SPY, VOO, QQQ and SCHD" | compare_etfs |
| "What are SPY's top holdings?" | etf_holdings |
| "What is QQQ's expense ratio and AUM?" | etf_info |
| "Find me semiconductor ETFs" | search_etfs |
| "What's the ticker for Berkshire Hathaway?" | lookup_symbol |
Search by company name or ticker symbol. "Which ETFs hold Nvidia?" works the same as "Which ETFs hold NVDA?". Ask about several funds at once and you get one comparison table.
Requirements
- Python 3.11+
- An MCP client: Claude Code, Claude Desktop, VS Code, Cursor, or Antigravity
- uv, which runs the server without a manual install
Install uv:
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
Setup
You don't need to install the server first. Every config below launches it on demand with
uvx, in its own isolated environment.
To put it on your PATH instead, run pip install mcp-etf-holdings, then swap
uvx mcp-etf-holdings for a plain mcp-etf-holdings in any config below.
Claude Code
claude mcp add etf-holdings -- uvx mcp-etf-holdings
Claude Desktop
-
Open your config file:
- macOS:
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json - Windows:
%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
- macOS:
-
Add the server:
{ "mcpServers": { "etf-holdings": { "command": "uvx", "args": ["mcp-etf-holdings"] } } } -
Quit Claude Desktop and reopen it. Closing the window is not enough.
VS Code
-
Create
.vscode/mcp.jsonin your workspace. For a global config, run MCP: Open User Configuration instead. -
Add the server. VS Code uses the key
servers, notmcpServers:{ "servers": { "etf-holdings": { "type": "stdio", "command": "uvx", "args": ["mcp-etf-holdings"] } } } -
Restart VS Code.
Cursor
Use the same JSON as Claude Desktop. Put it in .cursor/mcp.json for one project, or
~/.cursor/mcp.json for all of them. Restart Cursor.
Antigravity
Antigravity reads mcpServers from mcp_config.json. Put it in
~/.gemini/config/mcp_config.json for all projects, or <workspace>/.agents/mcp_config.json
for one:
{
"mcpServers": {
"etf-holdings": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": ["mcp-etf-holdings"]
}
}
}
In the IDE you can open it from the agent panel: MCP Servers → Manage MCP Servers → View raw config.
Or install it as a plugin from a checkout of this repo (the plugin is just the same
config plus a manifest, in antigravity/etf-holdings):
agy plugin install /path/to/mcp-etf-holdings/antigravity/etf-holdings
For the IDE, copy that folder into .agents/plugins/ (one workspace) or
~/.gemini/config/plugins/ (all workspaces).
To use the opt-in HTTP transport instead, Antigravity names the URL field serverUrl:
{"mcpServers": {"etf-holdings": {"serverUrl": "http://127.0.0.1:8000/mcp"}}}.
Verify it works
Ask your client each of these:
- "Which ETFs hold NVDA?" — calls
find_etfs_holding_stock - "Compare SPY, QQQ and VTI" — calls
compare_etfs, returns one table - "Which ETFs hold Nvidia?" — resolves the name to
NVDAand says so
If you get real numbers back, you're done.
Example prompts
Copy any of these into a client that has the server connected.
Compare funds
Compare SPY, VOO, IVV and SPLG — they all track the S&P 500, so which is cheapest?
Compare QQQ, VGT, XLK and SMH on expense ratio and 5-year return.
Search by name or ticker
Which ETFs hold Nvidia?
What's the ticker for Berkshire Hathaway?
Find me the Vanguard total stock market fund and show its top holdings.
Find the cheapest exposure to a stock
What's the cheapest ETF to get exposure to Nvidia?
I want AMD exposure without buying the stock directly. What are my options, and what do they cost?
Check a portfolio for overlap
I own VOO, QQQ and VGT. Am I doubling up?
Show me every holding that appears in more than one of SPY, SCHD and DGRO.
Discover funds by theme
Find semiconductor ETFs and compare the three biggest.
What dividend ETFs exist, and which has the highest yield?
Research one fund
Give me a deep dive on SCHD.
How concentrated is QQQ? What share of it is the top 5 positions?
Prompt templates
The server registers five prompt templates. Claude Desktop and Claude Code show them as slash-commands, so you don't have to write the prompt yourself.
| Template | Argument | What it does |
|---|---|---|
etf_deep_dive | ticker | Costs, size, returns, and a concentration read on one fund |
compare_funds | tickers | Side-by-side table plus a cost and return comparison |
stock_exposure | stock | Ranks the ETFs holding a stock by weight and cost |
portfolio_checkup | tickers | Finds positions duplicated across the funds you hold |
theme_explorer | theme | Finds funds for a theme and compares the leaders |
Tool reference
Tools that return more than one row format the result as a markdown table.
etf_info(ticker)
Metadata for one ETF. For two or more funds, use compare_etfs.
ticker(string) — ETF symbol, e.g."SPY"
Returns name, category, AUM, expense ratio, dividend yield, NAV/price, and YTD / 3-yr / 5-yr returns.
compare_etfs(tickers)
Compares several ETFs in one table.
tickers(array of strings) — e.g.["SPY", "QQQ", "VTI", "SCHD"]. Case-insensitive and de-duplicated. Capped at 10 funds per call.
Returns Ticker, Name, Category, AUM, Expense, Yield, YTD, 3-Yr, 5-Yr. A ticker with no data still gets a row, plus a note naming it, so one typo doesn't discard the rest.
etf_holdings(ticker)
Top holdings of an ETF with portfolio weights.
ticker(string) — ETF symbol, e.g."QQQ"
Returns a ranked table of symbol, name, and weight %.
find_etfs_holding_stock(stock_ticker, limit, custom_etf_universe)
Reverse lookup. Finds which ETFs hold a given stock in their disclosed top positions.
stock_ticker(string) — a ticker like"NVDA"or a company name like"Nvidia". Names are resolved to a ticker, and the output says which one it used.limit(int, default 20) — capped at 50custom_etf_universe(JSON string, optional) — search a specific list instead of the default universe, e.g.'["SPY","QQQ","XLK"]'
Returns matching ETFs sorted by the stock's weight, highest first.
Only top holdings are checked, roughly 10–15 positions per ETF. A stock held outside those positions will not appear.
stock_exposure_summary(stock, limit)
The same reverse lookup, joined with each fund's cost and size. Use it for "what's the cheapest or largest way to hold this stock?".
stock(string) — ticker or company name, e.g."NVDA"or"Nvidia"limit(int, default 10) — capped at 25
Returns ETF, Name, Weight, Rank, Expense, AUM, sorted by weight in the stock.
lookup_symbol(query, limit, asset_type)
Resolves a company or fund name to its ticker symbol.
query(string) — e.g."Nvidia"or"Vanguard total stock market"limit(int, default 10) — capped at 25asset_type(string, default"any") —"any","stock", or"etf"
Returns Symbol, Name, Type, Exchange.
search_etfs(query, limit)
Finds ETFs by name, theme, or category.
query(string) — e.g."semiconductor"or"dividend"limit(int, default 10) — capped at 25
Returns matching ETF tickers with names and exchanges. To resolve a stock name instead
of finding funds, use lookup_symbol.
From source
For development, or to run without waiting on a release:
git clone https://github.com/vlearner/mcp-etf-holdings.git
cd mcp-etf-holdings
uv sync
Without uv:
python3 -m venv .venv && .venv/bin/pip install -e ".[dev]"
The repo ships a .vscode/mcp.json pointed at your working tree, so VS Code picks up
local changes with no extra setup. Point other clients at:
{
"command": "uv",
"args": ["run", "--directory", "/absolute/path/to/mcp-etf-holdings", "mcp-etf-holdings"]
}
Check that the server starts:
uv run mcp-etf-holdings
It will sit silent, waiting for JSON-RPC on stdin. That is correct for a stdio MCP server.
To poke at the protocol by hand:
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector uv run mcp-etf-holdings
HTTP transport (optional)
stdio is the default and what every editor config above uses. To serve over streamable HTTP instead:
uv run mcp-etf-holdings --transport http # http://127.0.0.1:8000/mcp
uv run mcp-etf-holdings --transport http --port 9000
Point a client at it with { "type": "http", "url": "http://127.0.0.1:8000/mcp" }
(VS Code, under servers). MCP_TRANSPORT, MCP_HOST and MCP_PORT set the same options.
It binds to loopback by default and has no authentication. Binding elsewhere is refused unless
you pass --allow-insecure (or set MCP_ALLOW_INSECURE=1); put an authenticating proxy in
front before exposing it beyond your machine.
Try it in Docker
A sample Dockerfile builds the server from this checkout:
docker build -t mcp-etf-holdings .
docker run --rm -e MCP_ALLOW_INSECURE=1 -p 127.0.0.1:8000:8000 mcp-etf-holdings
MCP_ALLOW_INSECURE=1 is required because the container binds all interfaces. Keep the
127.0.0.1: in the port mapping: it is what stops the container from being
reachable by other machines on your network. The server logs a no-authentication warning
inside the container; that is expected. This is for trying the feature, not a hosting recipe.
Tests
uv run pytest -q
The suite is fully offline. Both yf.Ticker and yf.Search are mocked, the latter by an
autouse fixture, so no test can reach Yahoo by accident.
For coverage:
uv run pytest -q --cov=mcp_etf_holdings --cov-report=term-missing
Layout
src/mcp_etf_holdings/
server.py ← FastMCP entry point, 7 tools
prompts.py ← prompt templates, exposed as client slash-commands
fetcher.py ← async wrappers around yfinance + 24h TTL cache
formatting.py ← markdown tables and shared number formatting
top_etfs.py ← ~365 ETF tickers scanned for reverse lookups
__main__.py ← enables `python -m mcp_etf_holdings`
tests/ ← pytest suite, fully offline
.vscode/mcp.json ← VS Code config pointing at the working tree
pyproject.toml
Dependencies: mcp (protocol SDK), yfinance (data), pandas (holdings frames),
httpx (transport).
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Fix |
|---|---|
command not found: uvx | Install uv, then restart your editor so it picks up the new PATH. |
| Server missing from the client | Editors read MCP config only at startup. Fully quit and reopen. Check the client's MCP logs for the launch error. |
| Works in a terminal, not in the editor | GUI apps often don't inherit your shell PATH. Use an absolute path to uvx — run which uvx to get it. |
| Tool calls return "No data found" | Check the symbol is real. Yahoo rate-limits sometimes, so wait and retry. |
| Python version error on install | Needs 3.11+. Check with python3 --version. |
Limits
Worth knowing before you trust a number:
- Only the top ~10–15 positions per ETF are published. Anything derived from holdings — reverse lookups, exposure summaries, overlap checks — is a floor, not the full picture.
- The default universe is ~365 funds. A stock held only in small or niche ETFs may not turn up.
- Responses are cached in memory for 24h. Override with
ETF_CACHE_TTL_SECONDS. - Data is fetched live from Yahoo Finance. No API key, but Yahoo's terms and rate limits apply. See NOTICE for attribution.
Contributing
PRs welcome. The most useful contribution is expanding the ETF universe in top_etfs.py.
Wider coverage means better reverse-lookup results in niche sectors and international
markets.
Open an issue first for larger changes.
Disclaimer
Not affiliated with Yahoo Finance, yfinance, or any financial institution. Data is retrieved from Yahoo Finance at runtime and is subject to availability and their terms of service. This is not financial advice.
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