glif-mcp-server

MCP server for running AI workflows from glif.app.

This server provides tools for running glifs, managing bots, and accessing glif metadata through the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

This server also allows for customizing all the tools available via add-tool, remove-tool etc meta-tools, including lot full glif agents as a set of tools (and personality). This is highly experimental.

For more info check out https://glif.app or join our Discord server: https://discord.gg/glif

Features

• Run glifs with inputs

• Get detailed information about glifs, runs, and users

• Access glif metadata through URI-based resources

Related MCP server: Remote MCP Server (Authless)

Setup

Running via npx (recommended)

If you have nodejs installed, you can run our @glifxyz/glif-mcp-server package via npx:

1. Get your API token from https://glif.app/settings/api-tokens

2. Add the server in your Claude Desktop config file. On macOS this is: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

   { "mcpServers": { "glif": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "@glifxyz/glif-mcp-server@latest"], "env": { "GLIF_API_TOKEN": "your-token-here" } } } }

Running from a local checkout

First, checkout this code and install dependencies.

Then configure your MCP client (e.g. Claude Desktop) to load this server from disk.

You can also specify glifs IDs (comma-separated) which will be loaded automatically when the server starts. This is useful for testing or if you want to share a pre-made glif configuration with someone else.

Run remotely with Smithery

To install glif-mcp for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery, which hosts and runs the MCP server for you:

Usage Limits

• Subject to same limits as user accounts

• Purchase more credits at https://glif.app/pricing

Resources

• glif://{id} - Get glif metadata

• glifRun://{id} - Get run details

• glifUser://{id} - Get user profile

Configuration

Environment variables to control which tool groups are enabled:

• GLIF_API_TOKEN - Required. Your API token from https://glif.app/settings/api-tokens

• GLIF_IDS - Optional. Comma-separated glif IDs to load as tools automatically

• IGNORE_DISCOVERY_TOOLS - Set to true to disable discovery tools (enabled by default)

• IGNORE_METASKILL_TOOLS - Set to true to disable metaskill tools (enabled by default)

• IGNORE_SAVED_GLIFS - Set to true to disable saved glif tools (enabled by default)

• BOT_TOOLS - Set to true to enable bot tools (disabled by default)

Tools

Core Tools (always enabled)

• run_glif - Run a glif with the specified ID and inputs

• glif_info - Get detailed information about a glif including input fields

Discovery Tools (enabled by default, disable with IGNORE_DISCOVERY_TOOLS=true)

• list_featured_glifs - Get a curated list of featured glifs

• search_glifs - Search for glifs by name or description

• my_glifs - Get a list of your glifs

• my_glif_user_info - Get detailed information about your user account, recent glifs, and recent runs

Metaskill Tools (enabled by default, disable with IGNORE_METASKILL_TOOLS=true)

• save_glif_as_tool - Save a glif as a custom tool

• remove_glif_tool - Remove a saved glif tool

• remove_all_glif_tools - Remove all saved glif tools and return to a pristine state

• list_saved_glif_tools - List all saved glif tools

Bot Tools (disabled by default, enable with BOT_TOOLS=true)

• list_bots - Get a list of featured bots and sim templates

• load_bot - Get detailed information about a specific bot, including its skills

• save_bot_skills_as_tools - Save all skills from a bot as individual tools

• show_bot_info - Get detailed information about a specific bot

Saved Glif Tools (enabled by default, disable with IGNORE_SAVED_GLIFS=true)

Dynamic tools created from glifs you've saved using the metaskill tools. Each saved glif becomes its own tool with a custom name and description.

How to turn glifs into custom tools

We have a general run_glif tool, but it (a) isn't very descriptive, and (b) requires doing a glif_info call first in order to learn how to call said glif. Plus, you need to know that glif exists.

We're experimenting with several new meta-tools which turn specific glifs into new standalone tools:

An example prompt session:

• what are some cool new glifs?

• [toolcall: list_featured_glifs...]

• ok i like 1970s sci-fi book cover generator, make that into a tool called "scifi_book_image"

• [toolcall: save_glif_as_tool glifId=... toolName=scifi_book_image]

• [now user can just type "make sci fi book image of blah"]

You can list these special tools with list_saved_glif_tools and remove any you don't like with remove_glif_tool

Note that Claude Desktop requires a restart to load new tool definitions. Cline & Cursor seem to reload automatically on changes and requery for available tools

Info about authenticated user's glifs:

• my_glifs - current user's published glifs (no drats)

• my_liked_glifs - current user's liked glifs

• my_runs - current user's public runs

MCP registries

Development

Install dependencies:

Build the server:

For development with auto-rebuild:

To run the test suite:

And to continuously run tests on changes:

Debugging

Since MCP servers communicate over stdio, debugging can be challenging. We recommend using the MCP Inspector:

The Inspector will provide a URL to access debugging tools in your browser.

You can also look at the glif-mcp logs inside the Claude logs directy if you're using Claude Desktop.

Releasing a new version

1. Edit package.json and src/index.ts and bump the version number

2. Run npm install to update the versions stored in the lockfile

3. Commit and push your changes to GitHub and merge to main

4. If you have gh installed, switch to main and run npm run release which will create a git tag for the new version, push that tag to github, and use gh release create to publish a new version with an automatically-generated changelog. If you don't have gh, you can do the above manually in the GitHub web UI

5. A GitHub Action will use the NPM_TOKEN secret to publish it to NPM

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.