CareCircle

An Alexa+ MCP server that gives families one shared memory of a loved one's care: no double doses, no missed check-ins, no lost handoffs.

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Inspiration

Caring for an ageing parent is a team sport played over a group chat. Siblings accidentally double-dose medication, nobody knows who checked in last, and handoffs happen in half-remembered phone calls. Voice is the lowest-friction interface for tired, busy family members, so we built a shared memory of care that anyone can reach by just asking Alexa+.

What it does

CareCircle is a self-hosted MCP server for Alexa+. Anyone in the family can say:

  • "Alexa, how is Mom doing today?" and get a briefing: medications taken, overdue and upcoming, last check-in, open concerns.
  • "I'm Sara, Mom took her Metformin." The dose is logged for everyone.
  • "I'm James, Mom took her Metformin." CareCircle blocks the duplicate dose and says who gave it and when.
  • A low mood check-in auto-escalates into a flagged concern for the family.
  • A fall or confusion is high severity: it tells the caller to contact a doctor or emergency services. It never diagnoses or changes doses.
  • "I'm Sara, handing over to James." It generates and stores a handoff note: what's done, what's still due, mood trend, concerns.

State persists across sessions and across family members.

How we built it

Python and the official MCP SDK, served over Streamable HTTP at /mcp. Eight tools (daily_briefing, todays_schedule, log_dose, check_in, flag_concern, caregiver_handoff, add_medication, resolve_concern), one MCP resource (care history) and one MCP prompt (an agent-skill style morning routine). SQLite stores state. A simulated Alexa+ web front end, clearly labelled as a simulation, lets anyone try it with no API keys, while a standard MCP client script (mcp_client_demo.py) exercises the real protocol.

Challenges we ran into

  • Writing tool descriptions precise enough that an assistant chooses daily_briefing for open questions but log_dose for statements.
  • Making safety behaviour fail safe: duplicate-dose blocking, automatic escalation, and never giving medical advice.
  • The MCP Python SDK 2.x renamed core classes, so many tutorials no longer matched.

What we learned

How MCP tool design shapes voice experiences, and why shared state is the real value of an assistant in a household.

What's next

Real Alexa+ deployment behind OAuth, per-family accounts, multiple loved ones, proactive Echo reminders for overdue medication, and Echo Show / Fire TV cards.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Tens of millions of people in North America provide unpaid care for an adult. Shared, voice-first state prevents real medication errors and lifts the coordination burden from families.

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