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I developed a MCP Server for Cryptographic Hashing in Your LLM

Check out the MCP Server I developed, that can be integrated with AI assistants like Copilot or Claude to reliably calculate cryptographic hashes like MD5 or SHA-256 on the fly.

In this blog post I will provide more details about the server, where to find it and how to use it.

What is the Model Context Protocol?

While Large Language Models (LLMs) excel at understanding and generating text, performing precise computations or security-sensitive operations like cryptographic hashing is not always their strong suit or most efficient use.

This is where the Model Context Protocol (MCP) shines. MCP allows LLMs to delegate specific tasks to external tools, enhancing their capabilities far beyond text generation.

Today, I'm excited to introduce a simple yet powerful MCP server I built specifically for this purpose: the Hashing MCP Server.

If you are new to the concept of MCP, I recommend checking out my previous blog posts on that explain these topics in very simple terms:

  1. Agentic AI - Understand with a Demo
  2. Model Context Protocol - Understand with Pictures.

What is the Hashing MCP Server I developed?

This server acts as a bridge, providing your LLM with two essential cryptographic hashing tools:

  • calculate_md5: Computes the MD5 hash of any given text.
  • calculate_sha256: Computes the SHA-256 hash of any given text.

When configured with an MCP-compatible client (like VS Code Copilot Chat, Claude for Desktop, or others supporting the protocol), your LLM can seamlessly use these tools. Just ask it to calculate a hash, and it will securely and efficiently delegate the task to the Hashing MCP Server, returning the accurate result right in your chat!

Why Use It?

  • Reliable Hashing: Get accurate MD5 and SHA-256 hashes using standard, proven cryptographic libraries, not LLM approximations.
  • Efficiency: Offload the computational work from the LLM to a dedicated, lightweight server process.
  • Seamless Integration: Works directly within your favorite MCP-enabled chat interface (VS Code, Claude, etc.).
  • Explore MCP: It serves as a great, practical example to understand the power and simplicity of the Model Context Protocol.

See it in Action!

Here's a glimpse of the server working its magic with Claude Desktop

MCP Hashing Server

Learn More, Contribute, and Explore MCP

This server is just one example of what's possible with MCP. If you're interested in learning more or contributing:

Conclusion

The Hashing MCP Server is a straightforward way to add reliable cryptographic hashing capabilities to your favorite LLM chat interface. It demonstrates the power of the Model Context Protocol to extend LLM functionality with specialized tools.

Give it a try, install it today, and let me know what you think! Happy hashing!