FixMyNet

A voice assistant that diagnoses network problems, remembers what it found, and runs live checks on your own connection.

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Inspiration

The last time my Wi-Fi broke, I spent a long time restarting things and guessing before I even knew what kind of problem I had. When the internet breaks, the advice is always the same: restart the router and hope. Most people can't tell a DNS problem from a dead cable, and a voice assistant that could simply ask "what's wrong?" and walk you through it felt like a good fit for Alexa+. I wanted something that doesn't just recite a script, but remembers what it found and can check your real connection.

What it does

FixMyNet is a voice troubleshooter for network problems, built as a simulated Alexa+ experience.

  • Describe a problem out loud ("I cannot open websites by domain name") and it ranks the likely cause with a confidence score and says the first fix.
  • It remembers the fault it found in the session, so "How do I fix it?" works without repeating yourself.
  • If it isn't confident (below 50%), it shows a manual-review warning instead of guessing.
  • Say "check my network" and it runs live tests on the laptop itself: network adapter, TCP connections to two public servers, system and public DNS lookups, and an HTTPS request. If it finds a problem, it diagnoses it automatically.
  • A live panel beside the chat shows every MCP tool call as it happens, with arguments, results and latency.

How I built it

  • MCP server: Node.js + Express, using the official @modelcontextprotocol/sdk over Streamable HTTP in stateless mode. A handshake test confirms it negotiates protocol version 2025-11-25.
  • Six tools with Zod input schemas: diagnose_issue, get_fix_steps, get_diagnostic_steps, list_fault_categories, run_checklist and run_network_check.
  • Rule engine: deterministic keyword and phrase scoring over 20 fault profiles I wrote from scratch, with no cloud keys needed.
  • Bridge: an Express layer that acts as a real MCP client, keeps per-session memory of the last diagnosed fault, and routes what you say to the right tool.
  • Live check: only Node built-ins (node:net, node:dns, node:os, fetch), fixed targets only, no user input reaches them, and IP addresses are never returned.
  • Front end: React + Vite, with the browser's Web Speech API for voice in and out. No Alexa device is needed.
  • Tests: an automated suite runs all six tools through the real MCP client, plus the session and routing rules.
  • Built with Antigravity as a coding agent, with all testing and a lot of the debugging done by hand.

Challenges I ran into

  • Stateless MCP: each request needs a fresh transport and server, and reusing one can cause request ID conflicts. It took a while to get that pattern right.
  • Windows PowerShell: quote escaping broke my one-line test commands, so I moved the logic into proper test scripts.
  • Speech recognition: Chrome kept hearing "ping" as "paint" and mangling numbers, so my demo phrases avoid both.
  • Honest results: one of my own DNS checks sometimes times out on my network. I kept it and show the reason on the card.
  • Keyword matching has limits: it can only match the 20 fault profiles. When nothing matches, it says so, and suggests the live check instead.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

  • A live check that feeds its findings into a second tool: when "check my network" finds a problem, the diagnosis card, fix steps and session memory all work automatically.
  • A server that does real MCP, not a mock: a genuine client-server handshake over Streamable HTTP, with every tool call visible in the live panel.
  • A working voice experience with no Alexa device and no cloud API keys.
  • 20 hand-written fault profiles and an automated test suite that runs all six tools through the real MCP client.
  • Results that stay honest: low confidence triggers a manual-review warning instead of a guess, and the live check never returns IP addresses.

What I learned

How MCP works end to end: servers, clients, transports, tool schemas and the handshake. I learned that stateless mode is simple but needs care, and that a live check feeding its result into a second tool is a small idea that changes how the project feels.

What's next for FixMyNet

  • More fault profiles and smarter matching
  • A check that works from a phone or router, not only the host laptop
  • Plugging the server into the real Alexa+ once there's a way to do that

This is a simulated Alexa+ experience: the app runs in a web browser, and no real Alexa device is involved.

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