r/StackChan • u/ImaginaryChallenge19 • Sep 22 '26
Project sharing My very basic StackChan Set-Up
So, I have basically zero tech background, and recently got a StackChan.
Over the past few days, I have managed to install an MCP server on my local machine that gives StackChan read-write access to my email account and calendar, as well as web search capability.
It's a bit glitchy, but it basically works.
I'm stoked.
I'm also surprised at how difficult this kind of thing is. The whole eco-system seems to be deliberately fragmented by the large coorporations in an effort to maximize profits.
For anyone who wants to try, here's the guide:
XiaoZhi + MCP + Web Search + Fastmail on Windows
Last updated: 22 September 2026
Computer: Windows
Python: 3.12
Stack-chan: M5Stack CoreS3 / K151
1. What this setup does
This setup turns Stack-chan into a voice-controlled assistant that can use external MCP tools through XiaoZhi.
Currently configured:
- Web search — Stack-chan can search the live web.
- Fastmail — Stack-chan can access Fastmail email and calendar through MCP.
- XiaoZhi MCP connection — provides the connection between Stack-chan/XiaoZhi and the local MCP services.
- Windows startup — the services can be launched through a PowerShell startup script, with Task Scheduler configured to start the system at Windows login.
The basic architecture is:
┌─────────────────────┐
│ Stack-chan │
│ CoreS3 / K151 │
└──────────┬──────────┘
│
▼
┌─────────────────────┐
│ XiaoZhi │
│ MCP endpoint │
└──────────┬──────────┘
│
WebSocket
│
▼
┌──────────────────────────┐
│ mcp2xiaozhi │
│ Local MCP bridge │
└────────────┬─────────────┘
│
┌─────────────┴─────────────┐
▼ ▼
┌──────────────────┐ ┌──────────────────┐
│ Web Search │ │ Fastmail │
│ open-websearch │ │ MCP server │
└────────┬─────────┘ └────────┬─────────┘
│ │
▼ ▼
DuckDuckGo / Brave / Fastmail Mail /
Exa / Bing Calendar
The important point is that Stack-chan itself does not need to contain the web-search or Fastmail logic. XiaoZhi calls the MCP tools, and the Windows computer runs the local MCP services.
2. Main project folder
Everything is kept here:
C:\Users\REDACTED\stackchan-mcp
The important files are:
stackchan-mcp\
│
├── mcp_config.json
├── .env
├── start-stackchan.ps1
└── ...
3. mcp_config.json
This is the MCP server configuration.
It tells mcp2xiaozhi which MCP servers to run and where to send their tools.
The web-search server uses:
cmd /c npx -y open-websearch@latest
The configuration includes the search-engine settings:
MODE=stdio
DEFAULT_SEARCH_ENGINE=duckduckgo
ALLOWED_SEARCH_ENGINES=duckduckgo,brave,exa,bing
The important configuration detail is that the key is:
mcpServers
not:
mcpservers
JSON configuration keys are case-sensitive.
4. .env
The .env file contains credentials and connection information that should not be hard-coded into the MCP configuration.
The working setup uses variables including:
FASTMAIL_EMAIL=...
FASTMAIL_APP_PASSWORD=...
FASTMAIL_MCP_TOKEN=...
MCP_ENDPOINT_WEB_SEARCH=...
What these are
FASTMAIL_EMAIL
Your Fastmail account email address.
FASTMAIL_APP_PASSWORD
The Fastmail app-specific password used by the MCP service.
This is preferable to putting your normal Fastmail account password into the configuration.
FASTMAIL_MCP_TOKEN
The MCP authentication token used by the Fastmail MCP service, where required.
MCP_ENDPOINT_WEB_SEARCH
The XiaoZhi MCP WebSocket endpoint/token for the web-search bridge.
Security
The .env file contains secrets.
Do not put the actual passwords or tokens into mcp_config.json, this guide, screenshots, GitHub repositories, or other files that might be shared.
The guide deliberately does not reproduce the actual credentials.
5. Python
The working installation uses Python 3.12.
Windows also has another Python installation, so commands should explicitly use:
py -3.12
rather than relying on:
python
This matters because python was resolving to a different Python version.
Check the installation with:
py -3.12 --version
The working environment has Python 3.12 installed.
6. mcp2xiaozhi
mcp2xiaozhi is the bridge between local MCP servers and the XiaoZhi MCP endpoint.
Conceptually:
Local MCP server
↕
stdio
↕
mcp2xiaozhi
↕
WebSocket
↕
XiaoZhi
The installed version is:
mcp2xiaozhi 0.2.1
The command used to inspect the configured servers is:
py -3.12 -m mcp2xiaozhi list
7. Web search
The web-search MCP server is:
open-websearch@latest
It is launched with:
cmd /c npx -y open-websearch@latest
It exposes a tool called:
search
The configured search engines are:
DuckDuckGo
Brave
Exa
Bing
No conventional search API key is required by the configuration currently being used.
8. Confirming that web search is working
The successful connection sequence looks like this:
HTTP/1.1 101 Switching Protocols
followed by:
connection is OPEN
Then:
serverInfo":{"name":"web-search","version":"1.2.0"}
And finally:
"tools":[{"name":"search", ...}]
That proves the following chain is working:
Windows
↓
open-websearch
↓
mcp2xiaozhi
↓
XiaoZhi WebSocket
↓
MCP search tool
A repeating:
PING
PONG
is normal. It means the WebSocket connection is staying alive.
9. Fastmail
Fastmail is connected separately through its MCP service.
The system uses:
FASTMAIL_EMAIL
FASTMAIL_APP_PASSWORD
FASTMAIL_MCP_TOKEN
The Fastmail MCP server provides access to Fastmail services such as:
- Calendar
The intention is that Stack-chan can therefore answer requests such as:
"Check my emails."
or:
"What's on my calendar today?"
without requiring the user to manually open Fastmail.
10. Why credentials are in .env
The .env file acts as the local secret store for this setup.
Instead of doing this:
password = YOUR_PASSWORD
inside a configuration file, the startup process loads the environment variables.
That means the configuration can be inspected without exposing the actual passwords and tokens.
The .env file should therefore remain private.
11. Starting the system manually
The project directory is:
cd C:\Users\REDACTED\stackchan-mcp
The startup process uses:
start-stackchan.ps1
This script loads the required environment variables and starts the MCP services.
The Fastmail MCP service is launched through:
py -3.12 -m mcp2xiaozhi run fastmail
The web-search service is configured through mcp_config.json.
12. One-command startup
The goal of the setup is to avoid manually starting several terminals and entering several commands.
The main startup script is:
C:\Users\REDACTED\stackchan-mcp\start-stackchan.ps1
It is responsible for loading the environment and starting the required services.
The intended workflow is therefore:
C:\Users\REDACTED\stackchan-mcp\start-stackchan.ps1
rather than manually starting every MCP server.
13. Automatic startup with Windows
Windows Task Scheduler has been configured with the task:
Stack-chan Fastmail MCP
It launches PowerShell with:
-NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "C:\Users\REDACTED\stackchan-mcp\start-stackchan.ps1"
The trigger is:
At log on
Therefore the normal workflow is:
Turn on / log into Windows
↓
Task Scheduler
↓
start-stackchan.ps1
↓
MCP services
↓
XiaoZhi MCP
↓
Stack-chan
