Ex6 (Extra Credit) - Add a complete_task Tool to Your MCP Server:

Objective: Add a new tool, complete_task, that finds a task by name, removes it from the to-do Python list, and returns what’s left using index() and pop(), the same way you used insert() and append() to build add_task.

Description: Start by building upon the example MCP server you created, provided in the course notebook. Add a new tool, complete_task, that finds a task by name, removes it from the Python list, and returns what’s left using index() and pop(), the same way you used insert() and append() to build add_task.

  1. Open the main.py file you created in the Building an MCP Server for Claude Desktop course notebook page.
  2. Below add_task, define a new function named complete_task that takes one parameter, task (a string), and decorate it with @mcp.tool(), just like your other tools:
python
1@mcp.tool()
2def complete_task(task: str) -> list:
3    """Find a task by name, remove it from the to-do list, and return what's left."""
  1. Inside the function, use index() to find where task sits in the tasks list, and store the result in a variable named position:
python
4position = tasks.index(task)
  1. Use pop() with position to remove the task sitting at that exact spot in the list:
  2. Return the updated tasks list, so Claude can see what’s left.
python
5tasks.pop(position)
6return tasks
  1. Save main.py, then completely quit and reopen Claude Desktop so it picks up the new tool.
  2. Start a new conversation and ask Claude, in plain English, to mark one of your tasks as done.
  3. For the deliverable, please upload to Canvas the main.py file you created with the new complete_task tool added.

Solution Example:

python
1@mcp.tool()
2def complete_task(task: str) -> list:
3    """Find a task by name, remove it from the to-do list, and return what's left."""
4    position = tasks.index(task)
5    tasks.pop(position)
6    return tasks
1User: I finished "Email professor" — mark it as done.
2
3Claude: [calls complete_task with task="Email professor"]
4Nice work! Your remaining tasks are: Finish CIS240 homework, Study for math quiz.