MCP Server

Drive Avocado Studio from Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or any Model Context Protocol host.

The Avocado Studio MCP Server exposes pages, blocks, and block discovery as Model Context Protocol tools. Plug it into Claude Desktop (or any MCP host) and Claude can read and edit your site with the same operations the web editor uses.

Current status: Phases 1, 2, 3a shipped — 40 tools, both stdio and streamable HTTP transports. One site per install. Claude connector directory listing + OAuth land in Phase 3b.

What you get

The MCP server is a thin wrapper: every mutation goes through POST /ops on the orchestrator, so Zod validation, undo history, version log, and demo-mode gating all still apply.

Tool catalog

Discovery

Tool	What it does
avocado-list-block-types	Lists every block type the site can render (Hero, CTA, FAQAccordion, …).
avocado-get-block-schema	Returns the JSON schema + field metadata for a block type — call before writing props.

Pages

Tool	What it does
avocado-get-page	Fetches a page’s full draft document.
avocado-list-pages	Lists every page slug in the draft.
avocado-create-page	Creates a new page with an initial blocks array.
avocado-rename-page	Changes slug and/or title. Internal links rewrite automatically.
avocado-duplicate-page	Clones a page, optionally under a new slug.
avocado-remove-page	Deletes a page. Undo-able.
avocado-update-page-meta	Patches SEO fields (title, description, ogImage).

Blocks

Tool	What it does
avocado-add-block	Inserts a new block into a page.
avocado-update-block-props	Patches one or more props on an existing block.
avocado-remove-block	Deletes a block.
avocado-move-block	Reorders a block within a page.
avocado-duplicate-block	Clones a block, optionally to another page.
avocado-add-list-item	Appends/inserts an item into a block’s list field (features, cards, faqs…).
avocado-update-list-item	Patches fields on a single list item by index.
avocado-remove-list-item	Removes a list item by index.
avocado-move-list-item	Reorders a list item.

Sites

Tool	What it does
avocado-register-site	Register/update the site entry (preview URL, name, port, purpose, secret).
avocado-list-sites	List every site registered under the current session.
avocado-get-site-config	Fetch the site’s config (name, logo, tone, purpose, nav labels/groups).
avocado-update-site-config	Patch the site config (name, logo, navLabels, navGroups). Undo-able.

Media

Tool	What it does
avocado-upload-image	Upload an image (base64) to the orchestrator; returns a URL usable as a block prop.
avocado-generate-image	Generate an image from a prompt via OpenAI or Gemini.
avocado-search-unsplash	Search Unsplash for stock photos.
avocado-transcribe-audio	Transcribe a base64 audio clip via OpenAI Whisper.
avocado-interpret-image	Vision analysis: image → one-sentence summary (useful for alt text or screenshot-to-intent).

Publishing

Tool	What it does
avocado-compute-publish-diff	Diff between the current draft and the last published snapshot.
avocado-publish-content	Publish the draft to the live site. Requires AVOCADO_PUBLISH_TOKEN.
avocado-get-publish-status	Publish tracker: target type, state, last deployment, URLs.
avocado-list-snapshots	List published snapshots (commits) available for restore.
avocado-restore-snapshot	Rewind the draft to a published snapshot by commit sha.

History

Tool	What it does
avocado-undo-edit	Undo the last change on a page.
avocado-redo-edit	Redo the last undone change.
avocado-restore-version	Jump to a specific version from the history log (doesn’t consume undo/redo).

Planner

Tool	What it does
avocado-chat-plan	Send a natural-language instruction to the planner; orchestrator figures out which ops to apply and runs them. May return a pendingPlanId if the plan needs approval.
avocado-preview-plan	Run the planner in plan-only mode — returns the would-apply ops without mutating state. Ideal for review-before-approve flows.
avocado-approve-pending-plan	Apply the pending plan waiting for approval. Pass pendingPlanId from the prior chat response to protect against race conditions.
avocado-discard-pending-plan	Reject/discard the pending plan.

Preview

Tool	What it does
avocado-screenshot-page	Captures a full-page screenshot of the draft (via Playwright) and returns it as an inline JPEG. Required for visual feedback in chat-only hosts like Claude Desktop that can’t render the live preview iframe. Site must have a previewUrl registered.

Install

Claude Desktop

Open ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json and add:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "avocado-studio": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["tsx", "/absolute/path/to/apps/mcp-server/src/index.ts"],
      "env": {
        "ORCHESTRATOR_URL": "http://localhost:4200",
        "AVOCADO_SESSION": "dev",
        "AVOCADO_SITE_ID": "avocado-stories"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. Open Settings → Connectors → avocado-studio to set per-tool permissions (Always allow / Ask / Never allow). The discovery and get tools are safe to auto-allow; keep mutations on Ask.

Claude Code

claude mcp add avocado \
  --env ORCHESTRATOR_URL=http://localhost:4200 \
  --env AVOCADO_SESSION=dev \
  --env AVOCADO_SITE_ID=avocado-stories \
  -- npx tsx /absolute/path/to/apps/mcp-server/src/index.ts

HTTP transport (remote / custom connector)

Start the HTTP server:

AVOCADO_SITE_ID=avocado-stories \
AVOCADO_MCP_BEARER_TOKEN=$(openssl rand -hex 32) \
pnpm --filter @ai-site-editor/mcp-server start:http

Output: avocado-studio MCP server listening on http://localhost:4300/mcp

In Claude Desktop → Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector:

• URL: http://localhost:4300/mcp
• Auth: Bearer token — the value you passed as AVOCADO_MCP_BEARER_TOKEN

Stateless mode — each POST is a self-contained JSON-RPC call. Health probe at GET /healthz (no auth) for load balancers.

Environment variables

Var	Required	Default	Notes
AVOCADO_SITE_ID	yes	—	Which site this install edits.
ORCHESTRATOR_URL	no	http://localhost:4200	Points at the orchestrator.
AVOCADO_SESSION	no	dev	Session key that scopes draft state.
AVOCADO_PUBLISH_TOKEN	no	—	Only needed to enable avocado-publish-content. Must match the orchestrator’s DRAFT_MODE_SECRET.
AVOCADO_MCP_BEARER_TOKEN	yes (HTTP mode)	—	Bearer token clients must present. Only read by src/http.ts.
AVOCADO_MCP_PORT	no	4300	Port for HTTP mode.

How agents should use it

1. Discover first. Call avocado-list-block-types once, then avocado-get-block-schema for any type you’re about to add or edit. The schema tells you which props are required and which enum values are valid.
2. Read before mutate. Call avocado-get-page to get block ids before avocado-update-block-props — block ids are stable and opaque.
3. Prefer structural ops over full rewrites. avocado-update-list-item with an index + patch is cheaper and safer than replacing the whole list via avocado-update-block-props.

Roadmap

• Phase 1 + 2 + 3a — shipped. 39 tools across 8 groups. Stdio transport (local install) and streamable HTTP transport (custom connectors, remote deploy) both work with the same tool registry. Approve/reject plan loop supported.
• Phase 3b — Hosted deployment (Render) + OAuth in front of /mcp (replaces shared-secret bearer with proper login flow, same UX as “AEM Content MCP Service”). Submit to Claude’s connector directory. Add per-tool read-only annotations and audit logging.
• Phase 4 — MCP resources (pin a page as context), MCP prompts (slash-command templates), typed client generated from the orchestrator OpenAPI.