[BUG] Cannot install on 2017 Macbook Air

[jcbwndsr]

Describe the bug
Due to installation of klujax, this cannot be installed on a 2017 Macbook Air

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Get a 2017 Macbook air
2. Follow installation steps
3. See error logs of "No solution found when resolving tool dependencies... klujax===0.4.2 has no wheels with a matching platform tag maxosx_12_0_x86_64

Expected behavior
Should be able to install without the photonics MCP to get around this.

Additional context
I saw this during our workshop with ICFO

[claude]

Thank you for reporting this issue, @jcbwndsr!

This is a known compatibility challenge with klujax on older macOS versions. The klujax package (v0.4.2) requires macOS 12.0+ wheel distributions, which unfortunately aren't compatible with older MacBooks running earlier macOS versions.

Workarounds

Since you mentioned not needing the photonics MCP, here are a couple of options:

1. Skip the photonics MCP installation - You can install ax-mcp without the photonics dependencies by installing from source and modifying the requirements.

2. Use a virtual environment with compatible packages - Consider using a Docker container or cloud development environment with a newer OS version if you need the photonics functionality.

3. Build from source (advanced) - If you're comfortable with it, you could try building klujax from source for your specific platform, though this can be complex.

We should definitely improve the installation experience for users who don't need all MCP servers. Would you be interested in contributing a PR to make the photonics dependencies optional? The contribution guidelines are at https://github.com/Axiomatic-AI/ax-mcp#submitting-pull-requests.

For immediate troubleshooting, please check https://github.com/Axiomatic-AI/ax-mcp#troubleshooting for additional installation tips.

cc @Axiomatic-AI/ax-engineers - We may want to consider making the photonics-specific dependencies optional in the package setup to improve compatibility with older systems.

[jcbwndsr]

I think we should remove all of the pic dependencies from the main dependencies and only have them in the pic group. Then, we should only require pic group installation when using the group and also when installing via all. We should also tell the user to try installing the MCP servers without pic if they encounter issues like this in troubleshooting guide

[aleehop]

This is the person with the original problem :)

[tymekaxai]

@javieraspuru-ax do you need any help with that?

[javieraspuru-ax]

@tymekaxai, I have not gotten to work on this. We have other priorities, and we will look at it at the beginning of next week.

[a96lex]

We encountered the same issue on macos 26, with klujax as well

2025-10-06 21:18:55.541 [error]   × No solution found when resolving tool dependencies:
  ╰─:arrow_forward: Because klujax==0.4.3 has no wheels with a matching platform tag (e.g.,
      `macosx_26_0_x86_64`) and only klujax<=0.4.3 is available, we can
      conclude that klujax>=0.4.3 cannot be used.
      And because all versions of axiomatic-mcp depend on klujax>=0.4.3 and
      you require axiomatic-mcp, we can conclude that your requirements are
      unsatisfiable.
      hint: Wheels are available for `klujax` (v0.4.3) on the following
      platforms: `manylinux_2_17_aarch64`, `manylinux_2_17_x86_64`,
      `manylinux2014_aarch64`, `manylinux2014_x86_64`, `macosx_11_0_arm64`,
      `win_amd64`, `win_arm64`