amnotyoung/qualai-mcp

🔬 QualAI - AI-Powered Qualitative Research MCP Server

Community-driven, RAG-enhanced qualitative research analysis powered by Claude

Transform qualitative research with AI assistance. QualAI is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that brings advanced AI capabilities to qualitative data analysis while maintaining methodological rigor.

💡 Share Your Innovative Research Methods!

QualAI grows stronger with every researcher who contributes.

Have you developed a unique qualitative methodology? A novel coding technique? An innovative analysis approach?

🌟 Share it with the global research community!

When you contribute your methodology to QualAI:

• ✅ Help thousands of researchers worldwide discover and use your approach
• ✅ Get cited every time someone uses your methodology
• ✅ Receive feedback and improvements from peer researchers
• ✅ Build your reputation as a methodological innovator
• ✅ Make qualitative research better for everyone

Your innovation can transform how the world does qualitative research.

👉 Contribute Your Methodology | Browse Community Methods

✨ Revolutionary Features

🤖 AI-Native Analysis

• Automatic coding with semantic understanding
• Theme extraction with theoretical depth
• Saturation detection
• Negative case discovery
• Inter-coder reliability automation

🌍 Community-Driven Methodologies

• RAG-powered methodology library: Access community-contributed research methods
• GitHub integration: Share and discover methodologies from researchers worldwide
• Validated approaches: Peer-reviewed methodologies with quality ratings
• Flexible: Use established methods or create your own

🎯 Core Tools (v1.0)

Methodology Management (3)

• selectMethodology - AI finds the best methodology for your research
• loadMethodology - Load community methodologies
• listMethodologies - Browse available methods

Coding Tools (5)

• autoCoding - AI-powered automatic coding
• refineCodebook - Optimize your codebook
• mergeCodesSmart - Intelligent code merging
• suggestSubcodes - Hierarchical code suggestions
• validateCoding - Consistency checking

Thematic Analysis (4)

• extractThemes - Inductive/deductive theme extraction
• analyzePatterns - Pattern and relationship analysis
• detectSaturation - Theoretical saturation detection
• compareThemesAcrossCases - Cross-case comparison

Theory Building (3)

• buildGroundedTheory - Guided grounded theory development
• generateConceptMap - Automatic concept mapping
• analyzeNarrative - Narrative structure analysis

Validation (4)

• findNegativeCases - Negative case analysis
• triangulate - Multi-source triangulation
• calculateReliability - Inter-coder reliability
• assessQuality - Research quality assessment

Reporting (1)

• generateReport - Comprehensive analysis reports

nNote: v1.0 includes methodology management and knowledge graph. Advanced analysis tools (auto-coding, theme extraction, etc.) are in active development for v1.1.

🚀 Quick Start

Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/seanshin0214/qualai-mcp.git
cd qualai-mcp

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build
npm run build

Configure Claude Desktop

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "qualai": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["C:\\Users\\YOUR-USERNAME\\Documents\\qualai-mcp\\dist\\index.js"],
      "env": {
        "OPENAI_API_KEY": "your-openai-key-optional",
        "QUALAI_GITHUB_REPO": "qualai-community/methodologies"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop

That's it! QualAI is now available in Claude.

💬 First time? Try this:

"I have 15 interview transcripts about remote work experiences.
Help me choose the right methodology and start coding."

🌍 Community Methodologies

Current Methodologies (2)

Built-in:

1. Constructivist Grounded Theory (Charmaz, 2014)
2. Reflexive Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006)

Community Contributed:

• Be the first to contribute!

Contributing Your Methodology

Your methodology could help thousands of researchers worldwide.

Step 1: Create Your Methodology

Use our template (see CONTRIBUTING.md)

Step 2: Test Locally

# Place in methodologies/ directory
cp your-methodology.json qualai-mcp/methodologies/

# Restart QualAI and test

Step 3: Share with Community

1. Fork qualai-community/methodologies
2. Add your methodology with documentation
3. Create Pull Request
4. Community peer review (2+ reviewers)
5. Merged and available to all! 🎉

Recognition

• Your name appears in methodology metadata
• Automatic citation generation
• Contributor leaderboard
• Usage statistics (opt-in)

Ready to contribute? See

🏗️ Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│        Claude Desktop               │
│  (User Interface & Conversations)   │
└──────────────┬──────────────────────┘
               │ MCP Protocol
┌──────────────▼──────────────────────┐
│         QualAI MCP Server           │
│                                     │
│  ┌────────────────────────────┐   │
│  │  Methodology Orchestrator  │   │
│  └────────────────────────────┘   │
│                                     │
│  ┌─────────┬─────────┬──────────┐ │
│  │ Coding  │ Thematic│ Theory   │ │
│  │ Engine  │ Engine  │ Engine   │ │
│  └─────────┴─────────┴──────────┘ │
│                                     │
│  ┌─────────────────────────────┐  │
│  │   RAG System (Qdrant)       │  │
│  │   - Community methodologies │  │
│  └─────────────────────────────┘  │
│                                     │
│  ┌─────────────────────────────┐  │
│  │   Knowledge Graph (SQLite)  │  │
│  └─────────────────────────────┘  │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘
               │
               ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│   GitHub: qualai-community          │
│   Community Methodologies Registry  │
│   - YOUR methodology! 🌟            │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘

🤝 Contributing

We welcome all forms of contribution!

Ways to Contribute

1. 📖 Share Methodologies: Most valuable contribution!
2. 🐛 Report Bugs: Help us improve
3. 💡 Suggest Features: Shape QualAI's future
4. 📝 Improve Docs: Help others learn
5. 💻 Submit Code: Enhance functionality

📊 Roadmap

v1.1 (Q1 2025)

• Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA)
• Discourse Analysis tools
• 10+ community methodologies

v1.2 (Q2 2025)

• Real-time collaboration
• Multi-language support
• 25+ community methodologies

v2.0 (Q3 2025)

• Web interface
• 50+ community methodologies

📄 License

MIT License - see

📞 Support & Community

• 💬 Discussions: GitHub Discussions
• 🐛 Issues: GitHub Issues
• 📧 Email: sshin@geri.kr

🌟 Final Call to Action

To Researchers Using QualAI: Your research benefits from methodologies shared by others. Consider giving back!

To Methodology Innovators: Your unique approach could revolutionize how thousands conduct research. Share it!

To the Qualitative Research Community: Together, we're building the world's most comprehensive, open, and accessible methodology library.

Let's transform qualitative research together.

→ Start Contributing Today

Made with ❤️ by researchers, for researchers

Version: 1.0.0 Last Updated: 2025-11-02