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Outline knowledge base MCP Server

by nizovtsevnv
GitHub
Rust
MIT License
1
  • Linux
  • Apple
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Outline MCP Server

CI Release Build GitHub release (latest SemVer) License: MIT Rust

MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for Outline API interaction with focus on simplicity, performance, and reliability.

🚀 Quick Start

1. Get Your Outline API Key

2. Download & Install

Choose one of the installation methods:

🔄 Option 1: Download pre-built binary (Recommended)

Download from GitHub Releases

After extracting:

  • Linux/macOS: If needed, make executable: chmod +x outline-mcp

  • Windows: Since the release is not code-signed, 🛡️ Windows Defender may block execution. You'll need to:

    1. Allow the executable through Windows Defender/antivirus

    2. Add the folder to Windows Defender exclusions, or

    3. Right-click the file → Properties → "Unblock" if downloaded from internet

📦 Option 2: Install from crates.io

cargo install outline-mcp-rs

Requires Rust toolchain. The binary will be installed to

🔨 Option 3: Build from source

git clone https://github.com/nizovtsevnv/outline-mcp-rs.git cd outline-mcp-rs cargo build --release # Binary will be in target/release/outline-mcp

❄️ Option 4: Nix (with reproducible environment)

nix run github:nizovtsevnv/outline-mcp-rs

3. Configure your AI agent

JSON configuration for Cursor IDE, Gemini CLI:

{ "mcpServers": { "Outline knowledge base": { "command": "outline-mcp", "env": { "OUTLINE_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here", "OUTLINE_API_URL": "https://app.getoutline.com/api" } } } }

💡 Path Notes:

  • cargo install: Use "outline-mcp" (added to PATH automatically)

  • Downloaded binary: Use full path like "/path/to/outline-mcp"

  • Built from source: Use "/path/to/outline-mcp-rs/target/release/outline-mcp"

⚠️ Important Path Requirements:

  • Use absolute paths - relative paths may not work correctly

  • No spaces in the executable file path (use underscores or hyphens instead)

  • ASCII characters only - avoid non-Latin characters in paths

  • Windows users: Use double backslashes \\ in paths (e.g., "C:\\tools\\outline-mcp.exe")

✅ Good examples:

  • Linux/macOS: "/usr/local/bin/outline-mcp" or "/home/user/bin/outline-mcp"

  • Windows: "C:\\tools\\outline-mcp.exe" or "C:\\Users\\YourName\\bin\\outline-mcp.exe"

❌ Avoid:

  • "./outline-mcp" (relative path)

  • "/path with spaces/outline-mcp" (spaces in path)

  • "/путь/outline-mcp" (non-Latin characters)

  • "C:\tools\outline-mcp.exe" (single backslash on Windows)

🛠️ Supported Tools

Complete coverage of Outline API functionality:

📄 Document Operations

  • create_document - Create new document

  • get_document - Retrieve document by ID

  • update_document - Update existing document

  • delete_document - Delete document

  • list_documents - List documents with filtering

  • search_documents - Search documents by query

  • archive_document - Archive document

  • move_document - Move document between collections

📁 Collection Management

  • create_collection - Create new collection

  • get_collection - Retrieve collection details

  • update_collection - Update collection metadata

  • list_collections - List all collections

💬 Comments & Collaboration

  • create_comment - Add comment to document

  • update_comment - Modify existing comment

  • delete_comment - Remove comment

🔍 Advanced Features

  • create_template_from_document - Create reusable templates

  • list_users - User management

🎯 Project Principles

⚡ Performance

  • Static builds with musl/glibc - single file without dependencies

  • < 5MB binary with full functionality

  • < 10ms startup time to ready state

  • < 10MB memory usage

🛡️ Reliability

  • Zero dependencies at runtime (static linking)

  • Explicit error handling - no panics in production

  • Type safety - leveraging Rust's ownership system

  • Comprehensive testing - unit and integration tests

🔧 Simplicity

  • Minimal code - only essential functionality

  • Clear architecture - easy to understand and modify

  • Single binary - simple deployment

  • Environment configuration - no config files

📋 Development Requirements

  • Nix (recommended) - handles all dependencies automatically

  • OR manually: Rust 1.75+, OpenSSL development libraries

🏗️ Architecture

┌─────────────────┐ ┌──────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐ │ MCP Client │────│ Transport Layer │────│ Outline API │ │ (Claude/etc) │ │ (STDIO/HTTP) │ │ (REST/JSON) │ └─────────────────┘ └──────────────────┘ └─────────────────┘

Core Components

  • Transport Layer: STDIO and HTTP adapters

  • MCP Protocol: JSON-RPC 2.0 implementation

  • Outline Client: HTTP API wrapper

  • Tools Registry: Dynamic tool discovery and execution

Quick Build Commands:

# Linux/Unix systems nix build # Linux native nix build .#musl # Linux static (portable) nix build .#windows # Windows cross-compile # macOS systems (requires Nix on macOS) nix build # Auto-detects Intel/ARM nix build .#macos-x86_64 # Intel target nix build .#macos-arm64 # ARM target

macOS Development Setup:

# Install Nix on macOS curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf -L https://install.determinate.systems/nix | sh -s -- install # Enable flakes echo "experimental-features = nix-command flakes" >> ~/.config/nix/nix.conf # Clone and build git clone https://github.com/nizovtsevnv/outline-mcp-rs cd outline-mcp-rs nix build

📖 For detailed macOS development instructions, see
🔐 For Windows code signing setup, see

🧪 Testing

# Run all tests nix develop -c cargo test # Run with coverage nix develop -c cargo test --coverage # Integration tests with live API (set OUTLINE_API_KEY) nix develop -c cargo test --test integration

🔧 Configuration

STDIO Mode (Default)

export OUTLINE_API_KEY="your-key-here" ./outline-mcp

HTTP Mode

export OUTLINE_API_KEY="your-key-here" export HTTP_HOST="0.0.0.0" export HTTP_PORT="8080" ./outline-mcp --http

🔧 Optimized Nix Configuration

Our flake.nix has been carefully optimized to eliminate duplication and improve maintainability:

🏗️ Architecture Improvements

  • 📦 Metadata Sync: Package information references Cargo.toml values with comments

  • 🔄 Reusable Shell Builder: mkDevShell function eliminates code duplication

  • 🎯 Consistent Shell Hooks: Unified mkShellHook function for all environments

  • ⚡ Base Build Inputs: Shared dependencies across all development shells

  • 🧪 Automated Checks: Built-in formatting, linting, and testing workflows

📋 Available Commands

# Development environments nix develop # Native development with tools nix develop .#musl # musl static build environment nix develop .#windows # Windows cross-compilation nix develop .#macos # macOS development (Darwin only) # Package building nix build # Native build (Linux/macOS auto-detect) nix build .#musl # Static musl build (portable Linux) nix build .#glibc-optimized # Optimized glibc build (static OpenSSL, dynamic glibc) nix build .#windows # Windows cross-compilation nix build .#macos-x86_64 # macOS Intel (requires macOS or CI) nix build .#macos-arm64 # macOS Apple Silicon (requires macOS or CI) # Alternative: Use dev environment for building nix develop -c cargo build --release # Native nix develop .#musl -c cargo build --target x86_64-unknown-linux-musl --release # musl nix develop .#windows -c cargo build --target x86_64-pc-windows-gnu --release # Windows # macOS targets (macOS only) nix develop -c cargo build --target x86_64-apple-darwin --release # Intel Mac nix develop -c cargo build --target aarch64-apple-darwin --release # Apple Silicon

🤝 Contributing

  1. Fork the repository

  2. Create feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)

  3. Make changes with tests

  4. Ensure all checks pass: cargo test && cargo clippy

  5. Submit pull request

Development Workflow

# Setup development environment nix develop # Code formatting cargo fmt # Linting cargo clippy # Testing cargo test # Cross-platform testing nix develop .#musl --command cargo test --target x86_64-unknown-linux-musl nix develop .#windows --command cargo check --target x86_64-pc-windows-gnu

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

  • Outline team for excellent API documentation

  • Anthropic for MCP protocol specification

  • Rust community for outstanding tooling and libraries

This server cannot be installed

-
security - not tested
A
license - permissive license
-
quality - not tested

How are these scores calculated?

remote-capable server

The server can be hosted and run remotely because it primarily relies on remote services or has no dependency on the local environment.

MCP server for Outline knowledge base implemented on Rust as one statically linked executable file for Linux/MacOS/Windows.

  1. 🚀 Quick Start
    1. 1. Get Your Outline API Key
    2. 2. Download & Install
    3. 3. Configure your AI agent
  2. 🛠️ Supported Tools
    1. 📄 Document Operations
    2. 📁 Collection Management
    3. 💬 Comments & Collaboration
    4. 🔍 Advanced Features
  3. 🎯 Project Principles
    1. ⚡ Performance
    2. 🛡️ Reliability
    3. 🔧 Simplicity
  4. 📋 Development Requirements
    1. 🏗️ Architecture
      1. Core Components
    2. 🧪 Testing
      1. 🔧 Configuration
        1. STDIO Mode (Default)
        2. HTTP Mode
      2. 🔧 Optimized Nix Configuration
        1. 🏗️ Architecture Improvements
        2. 📋 Available Commands
      3. 🤝 Contributing
        1. Development Workflow
      4. 📄 License
        1. 🙏 Acknowledgments

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