Model Context Protocol

Connect your documentation and API endpoints to AI tools with a hosted MCP server.

About MCP servers

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open protocol that creates standardized connections between AI applications and external services, like documentation. Mintlify generates an MCP server from your documentation, preparing your content for the broader AI ecosystem where any MCP client (like Claude, Cursor, Goose, and others) can connect to your documentation.

Your MCP server exposes a search tool for AI applications to query your documentation.

How MCP servers work

When an AI tool like Claude, Cursor, or ChatGPT has your documentation MCP server connected, the AI tool can search your documentation directly during response generation rather than doing a generic web search.

• The LLM can proactively search your documentation while generating a response, not just when explicitly asked.
• The LLM determines when to use the search tool based on the context of the conversation and the relevance of your documentation.
• Each tool call happens during the generation process, allowing the LLM to incorporate real-time information from your documentation into its response.

For example, if a user asks a coding question and the LLM determines that your documentation is relevant, it can search your documentation and include that information in the response without the user explicitly asking about your documentation.

Access your MCP server

MCP servers are only available for public documentation. Documentation behind end-user authentication cannot generate an MCP server.

Mintlify automatically generates an MCP server for your documentation and hosts it at your documentation URL with the /mcp path. For example, Mintlify’s MCP server is available at https://mintlify.com/docs/mcp.

View and copy your MCP server URL on the MCP server page in your dashboard.

Hosted MCP servers use the /mcp path in their URLs. Other navigation elements cannot use the /mcp path.

Content filtering and indexing

Your MCP server searches content that Mintlify indexes from your documentation repository. File processing and search indexing control what content is available through your MCP server.

File processing with .mintignore

If files match .mintignore patterns, Mintlify does not process or index them. These files are not available through your MCP server.

Search indexing with docs.json

After Mintlify processes files, it determines which pages to index for search. By default, only pages included in your docs.json navigation are indexed and searchable through your MCP server.

Mintlify excludes hidden pages (pages not in your navigation) from the search index unless you choose to index all pages. To include hidden pages in your MCP server’s search results, add the seo.indexing property to your docs.json.

"seo": {
    "indexing": "all"
}

To exclude a specific page from search indexing, add noindex: true to its frontmatter.

---
title: "Hidden page"
description: "This page is not in the navigation, but is available through search."
noindex: true
---

Use your MCP server

Your users must connect your MCP server to their preferred AI tools.

1. Make your MCP server URL publicly available.
2. Users copy your MCP server URL and add it to their tools.
3. Users access your documentation through their tools.

These are some of the ways you can help your users connect to your MCP server:

Contextual menu

Add options in the contextual menu for your users to connect to your MCP server from any page of your documentation.

Option	Identifier	Description
Copy MCP server URL	mcp	Copies your MCP server URL to the user’s clipboard.
Connect to Cursor	cursor	Installs your MCP server in Cursor.
Connect to VS Code	vscode	Installs your MCP server in VS Code.

Claude

1. Get your MCP server URL.

   Navigate to your dashboard and find your MCP server URL.

2. Publish your MCP server URL for your users.

   Create a guide for your users that includes your MCP server URL and the steps to connect it to Claude.

   1. Navigate to the Connectors page in the Claude settings.
   2. Select Add custom connector.
   3. Add your MCP server name and URL.
   4. Select Add.
   5. When using Claude, select the attachments button (the plus icon).
   6. Select your MCP server.

See the Model Context Protocol documentation for more details.

Claude Code

1. Get your MCP server URL.

   Navigate to your dashboard and find your MCP server URL.

2. Publish your MCP server URL for your users.

   Create a guide for your users that includes your MCP server URL and the command to connect it to Claude Code.

   claude mcp add --transport http <name> <url>
   

See the Claude Code documentation for more details.

Cursor

1. Get your MCP server URL.

   Navigate to your dashboard and find your MCP server URL.

2. Publish your MCP server URL for your users.

   Create a guide for your users that includes your MCP server URL and the steps to connect it to Cursor.

   1. Use Command + Shift + P (Ctrl + Shift + P on Windows) to open the command palette.
   2. Search for “Open MCP settings”.
   3. Select Add custom MCP. This opens the mcp.json file.
   4. In mcp.json, configure your server:

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "<your-mcp-server-name>": {
         "url": "<your-mcp-server-url>"
       }
     }
   }
   

See the Cursor documentation for more details.

VS Code

1. Get your MCP server URL.

   Navigate to your dashboard and find your MCP server URL.

2. Publish your MCP server URL for your users.

   Create a guide for your users that includes your MCP server URL and the steps to connect it to VS Code.

   1. Create a .vscode/mcp.json file.
   2. In mcp.json, configure your server:

   {
     "servers": {
       "<your-mcp-server-name>": {
         "type": "http",
         "url": "<your-mcp-server-url>"
       }
     }
   }
   

See the VS Code documentation for more details.

Example: Connect to the Mintlify MCP server

Connect to the Mintlify MCP server to search this documentation site within your preferred AI tool. This gives you more accurate answers about how to use Mintlify in your local environment and demonstrates how you can help your users connect to your MCP server.

Contextual menu

At the top of this page, select the contextual menu and choose Connect to Cursor or Connect to VS Code to connect the Mintlify MCP server to the IDE of your choice.

Claude

To use the Mintlify MCP server with Claude:

1. Add the Mintlify MCP server to Claude

   1. Navigate to the Connectors page in the Claude settings.
   2. Select Add custom connector.
   3. Add the Mintlify MCP server:

   • Name: Mintlify
   • URL: https://mintlify.com/docs/mcp

   4. Select Add.
2. Access the MCP server in your chat

   1. When using Claude, select the attachments button (the plus icon).
   2. Select the Mintlify MCP server.
   3. Ask Claude a question about Mintlify.

See the Model Context Protocol documentation for more details.

Claude Code

To use the Mintlify MCP server with Claude Code, run the following command:

claude mcp add --transport http Mintlify https://mintlify.com/docs/mcp

Test the connection by running:

claude mcp list

See the Claude Code documentation for more details.

CursorInstall in Cursor

To connect the Mintlify MCP server to Cursor, click the Install in Cursor button. Or to manually connect the MCP server, follow these steps:

1. Open MCP settings

   1. Use Command + Shift + P (Ctrl + Shift + P on Windows) to open the command palette.
   2. Search for “Open MCP settings”.
   3. Select Add custom MCP. This opens the mcp.json file.
2. Configure the Mintlify MCP server

   In mcp.json, add:

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "Mintlify": {
         "url": "https://mintlify.com/docs/mcp"
       }
     }
   }
   
3. Test the connection

   In Cursor’s chat, ask “What tools do you have available?” Cursor should show the Mintlify MCP server as an available tool.

See Installing MCP servers in the Cursor documentation for more details.

VS CodeInstall in VS Code

To connect the Mintlify MCP server to VS Code, click the Install in VS Code button. Or to manually connect the MCP server, create a .vscode/mcp.json file and add:

{
  "servers": {
    "Mintlify": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mintlify.com/docs/mcp"
    }
  }
}

See the VS Code documentation for more details.