Client Setup

Instructions for connecting mcp-outline to your MCP client.

The examples below use uvx to run mcp-outline without installing it globally. If you prefer pip, see Using pip instead of uvx.

Claude Desktop

Edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json on Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-outline": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["mcp-outline"],
      "env": {
        "OUTLINE_API_KEY": "<YOUR_API_KEY>",
        "OUTLINE_API_URL": "<YOUR_OUTLINE_URL>" // Optional
      }
    }
  }
}

Cursor

One-click install:

Or go to Settings → MCP and click Add Server:

{
  "mcp-outline": {
    "command": "uvx",
    "args": ["mcp-outline"],
    "env": {
      "OUTLINE_API_KEY": "${input:outline_api_key}",
      "OUTLINE_API_URL": "${input:outline_api_url}"
    },
    "inputs": [
      {
        "id": "outline_api_key",
        "type": "promptString",
        "description": "Enter OUTLINE_API_KEY",
        "password": true
      },
      {
        "id": "outline_api_url",
        "type": "promptString",
        "description": "Outline API URL (optional, for self-hosted)",
        "password": false
      }
    ]
  }
}

VS Code

One-click install:

Or create a .vscode/mcp.json file in your workspace (recommended — uses secure password prompts):

{
  "inputs": [
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "outline_api_key",
      "description": "Enter OUTLINE_API_KEY",
      "password": true
    },
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "outline_api_url",
      "description": "Outline API URL (optional, for self-hosted)",
      "password": false
    }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "mcp-outline": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["mcp-outline"],
      "env": {
        "OUTLINE_API_KEY": "${input:outline_api_key}",
        "OUTLINE_API_URL": "${input:outline_api_url}"
      }
    }
  }
}

You can also install via the CLI:

code --add-mcp '{"name":"mcp-outline","command":"uvx","args":["mcp-outline"],"env":{"OUTLINE_API_KEY":"${input:outline_api_key}","OUTLINE_API_URL":"${input:outline_api_url}"},"inputs":[{"id":"outline_api_key","type":"promptString","description":"Enter OUTLINE_API_KEY","password":true},{"id":"outline_api_url","type":"promptString","description":"Outline API URL (optional, for self-hosted)","password":false}]}'

See the official VS Code MCP documentation for more details.

Cline (VS Code)

In Cline extension settings, add to MCP servers:

{
  "mcp-outline": {
    "command": "uvx",
    "args": ["mcp-outline"],
    "env": {
      "OUTLINE_API_KEY": "<YOUR_API_KEY>",
      "OUTLINE_API_URL": "<YOUR_OUTLINE_URL>" // Optional
    }
  }
}

Claude Code (Plugin)

Install directly as a Claude Code plugin from GitHub:

/plugin marketplace add Vortiago/mcp-outline
/plugin install mcp-outline@mcp-outline

Or test locally during development:

claude --plugin-dir ./path-to-mcp-outline

Set your Outline API key in your shell profile (~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc):

export OUTLINE_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"
# For self-hosted Outline:
export OUTLINE_API_URL="https://your-instance.example.com/api"

Restart Claude Code after setting environment variables. If OUTLINE_API_KEY is not configured, each tool call will return an error with setup instructions.

Using pip Instead of uvx

If you prefer to use pip instead:

pip install mcp-outline

Then in your client config, replace "command": "uvx" with "command": "mcp-outline" and remove the "args" line:

{
  "mcp-outline": {
    "command": "mcp-outline",
    "env": {
      "OUTLINE_API_KEY": "<YOUR_API_KEY>",
      "OUTLINE_API_URL": "<YOUR_OUTLINE_URL>" // Optional
    }
  }
}

Docker Deployment (HTTP)

For remote access or Docker containers, use HTTP transport. This runs the MCP server on port 3000:

docker run -p 3000:3000 \
  -e OUTLINE_API_KEY=<YOUR_API_KEY> \
  -e MCP_TRANSPORT=streamable-http \
  ghcr.io/vortiago/mcp-outline:latest

Then connect from your client:

{
  "mcp-outline": {
    "url": "http://localhost:3000/mcp"
  }
}

Note: OUTLINE_API_URL should point to where your Outline instance is running, not localhost:3000.

Per-user Outline API key: In HTTP modes, each user can pass their own Outline API key via the x-outline-api-key header instead of setting it as an env var:

{
  "mcp-outline": {
    "type": "http",
    "url": "http://localhost:3000/mcp",
    "headers": {
      "x-outline-api-key": "<YOUR_API_KEY>"
    }
  }
}

See Configuration for more details.