Universal Documentation MCP Server

A high-performance MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that transforms any documentation website into an AI-accessible knowledge base. Originally built for GitBook but works with Vercel docs, Next.js sites, Docusaurus, and many other documentation platforms. Features instant startup, intelligent caching, and automatic domain detection.

✨ Key Features

⚡ Instant Startup - SQLite storage with sub-second server initialization
🔍 Advanced Search - FTS5 full-text search with fuzzy matching and ranking
🧠 Smart Auto-Detection - Automatically detects domain, keywords, and branding
📝 Markdown Perfect - Preserves formatting with syntax-highlighted code blocks
🔄 Background Updates - Non-blocking change detection and cache refresh
🌐 Universal Support - Works with GitBook, Vercel docs, Next.js sites, and many other documentation platforms
📡 Dual Interface - Both MCP tools and REST API endpoints
🚀 Production Ready - Rate limiting, error handling, and robust caching

🚀 Quick Start

💡 Recommended: Use the interactive creator for the best experience!

🎨 Web UI Management Dashboard

# Clone this repo (once)
git clone https://github.com/tcsenpai/mcpbook/
cd mcpbook

# Build the UI
npm run ui:build

# Start the web interface
npm run ui

The Web UI provides:

🚀 Visual Server Creation - Step-by-step wizard with live URL validation
📊 Server Management - Start/stop/delete servers with real-time status
📋 Claude Desktop Integration - One-click copy config or add via CLI
🖥️ Live Terminal - Real-time feedback and command execution
⚠️ Safety Features - Confirmation dialogs and cancel functionality

⭐ One-Command Setup

# Clone this repo (once)
git clone https://github.com/tcsenpai/mcpbook/
cd mcpbook

# Create MCP server for any documentation site instantly
npm exec create-gitbook-mcp

That's it! 🎉 The interactive wizard will:

✨ Guide you through setup with smart defaults
🔍 Auto-detect domain/keywords from your documentation site
📦 Install in organized directories (~/.config/mcpbooks/servers/[name])
🌍 Optionally install globally (accessible as your-server-name command)
🤖 Auto-configure Claude Desktop (optional)
🚀 Pre-cache everything for instant server startup

🛠️ Manual Setup (Advanced Users)

Install and Configure
npm install echo "GITBOOK_URL=https://docs.yoursite.com" > .env
Build with Auto-Detection
npm run build # Automatically detects and configures your domain
Start Server
npm start # Instant startup with SQLite cache
Test with MCP Inspector
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector node dist/index.js

📦 Installation Options

Option 1: Local Development

git clone <repository>
cd mcpbook
npm install
npm run build
npm start

Option 2: Global Installation

npm install -g .
# Then use the binary name from package.json
your-mcp-server-name

Option 3: Claude Desktop Integration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gitbook": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "GITBOOK_URL": "https://docs.yoursite.com"
      }
    }
  }
}

Config file locations:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\\Claude\\claude_desktop_config.json

Option 4: StreamableHTTP Transport

npm run start:http  # StreamableHTTP on port 3001
node dist/index.js --streamable-http --port=3002  # Custom port

Option 5: REST API Server

npm run start:api  # HTTP server on port 3000
PORT=8080 npm run start:api  # Custom port

🌐 Platform Compatibility

While originally designed for GitBook, this MCP server has proven compatibility with many documentation platforms:

✅ Guaranteed to Work

GitBook (original target platform)
Custom GitBook instances

🎯 Successfully Tested

Vercel-hosted docs (docs.vercel.com, aptos.dev)
Next.js documentation sites
Static site generators with consistent navigation
Most HTML-based documentation platforms

🔧 How It Works

The scraper intelligently:

Discovers navigation through link crawling
Extracts content from any HTML structure
Adapts to different layouts automatically
Handles various authentication and routing patterns

💡 Pro Tip: If a site has consistent navigation and accessible content, our scraper will likely work! The auto-detection feature adapts to different site structures automatically.

⚙️ Configuration

Auto-Detection (Recommended)

GITBOOK_URL=https://docs.yoursite.com
AUTO_DETECT_DOMAIN=true
AUTO_DETECT_KEYWORDS=true

The server will automatically:

Generate domain-specific tool names (stripe_docs_search, api_docs_get_page)
Extract relevant keywords from content
Create contextual descriptions for better AI integration

Manual Configuration

# Target GitBook (required)
GITBOOK_URL=https://docs.yoursite.com

# Custom branding (optional)
SERVER_NAME=my-api-docs
SERVER_DESCRIPTION=API documentation and guides
DOMAIN_KEYWORDS=api,rest,graphql,endpoints
TOOL_PREFIX=api_

# Performance tuning
CACHE_TTL_HOURS=1
MAX_CONCURRENT_REQUESTS=5
SCRAPING_DELAY_MS=100

Configuration Examples

API Documentation:

GITBOOK_URL=https://api-docs.yourservice.com
TOOL_PREFIX=api_
DOMAIN_KEYWORDS=api,rest,endpoints,authentication

→ Results in: api_search_content, api_get_page, etc.

Product Documentation:

GITBOOK_URL=https://help.yourproduct.com  
TOOL_PREFIX=help_
DOMAIN_KEYWORDS=tutorial,guide,troubleshooting

→ Results in: help_search_content, help_get_page, etc.

🛠️ Available Tools

The server exposes 7 MCP tools with automatic prefixing:

Core Tools

Tool	Description	Parameters
`{prefix}_search_content`	Advanced search with ranking	`query`: Search terms
`{prefix}_get_page`	Get specific page content	`path`: Page path (e.g., "/api/auth")
`{prefix}_list_sections`	Get table of contents	None
`{prefix}_get_section_pages`	Get all pages in section	`section`: Section name
`{prefix}_refresh_content`	Force cache refresh	None
`{prefix}_get_code_blocks`	Extract code with syntax highlighting	`path`: Page path
`{prefix}_get_markdown`	Get formatted markdown	`path`: Page path

MCP Prompts

explain_section - Generate comprehensive tutorials
summarize_page - Create concise summaries
compare_sections - Compare documentation sections
api_reference - Format as API documentation
quick_start_guide - Generate quick start guides

🌐 HTTP Interfaces

The server supports both MCP StreamableHTTP and traditional REST API:

StreamableHTTP MCP Protocol:

# Health check
curl http://localhost:3001/health

# MCP requests (requires MCP client)
curl -X POST http://localhost:3001/mcp \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 1, "method": "tools/list"}'

REST API (separate server):

# Search content
curl "http://localhost:3000/api/search?q=authentication"

# Get specific page
curl "http://localhost:3000/api/page/api/authentication"

# Get page as markdown
curl "http://localhost:3000/api/page/api/authentication/markdown"

# Get code blocks
curl "http://localhost:3000/api/page/api/authentication/code"

# List sections
curl "http://localhost:3000/api/sections"

# Get section pages
curl "http://localhost:3000/api/sections/API/pages"

# Server status
curl "http://localhost:3000/api/status"

# Refresh cache
curl -X POST "http://localhost:3000/api/refresh"

🎯 Usage Examples

Auto-Detection Results

docs.stripe.com → stripe_search_content, stripe_get_page
docs.react.dev → react_search_content, react_get_page
api.yourcompany.com → api_search_content, api_get_page
Generic sites → docs_search_content, docs_get_page

MCP Tool Usage

# Search for authentication docs
{"tool": "api_search_content", "arguments": {"query": "oauth authentication"}}

# Get specific page
{"tool": "api_get_page", "arguments": {"path": "/auth/oauth"}}

# Get code examples
{"tool": "api_get_code_blocks", "arguments": {"path": "/sdk/quickstart"}}

# Refresh content
{"tool": "api_refresh_content", "arguments": {}}

🏗️ Architecture

SQLite Storage - Fast startup with FTS5 full-text search
Background Updates - Non-blocking change detection
Auto-Detection - Domain and keyword extraction
Parallel Scraping - Configurable concurrency
Smart Caching - Only updates changed content

Key Components

GitBookScraper - Web scraping and content extraction
SQLiteStore - High-performance storage with FTS5 search
DomainDetector - Automatic domain and keyword detection
GitBookMCPServer - MCP server with tool handlers
GitBookRestAPI - HTTP endpoints for web integration

🔧 Development

# Development mode with auto-reload
npm run dev

# Build with auto-detection
npm run build

# Run manual auto-detection
npm run auto-detect

# Clean build (no auto-detection)
npm run build:clean

# Test with MCP Inspector
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector node dist/index.js

🌍 Universal GitBook Support

Works with any public GitBook, including:

API Documentation - Stripe, Twilio, etc.
Framework Docs - React, Vue, Angular
Product Guides - Help centers and tutorials
Developer Resources - SDKs and references
Company Wikis - Internal documentation

⚡ Performance

Instant Startup: Sub-second initialization with SQLite cache
Background Updates: Non-blocking change detection
Smart Indexing: FTS5 full-text search with ranking
Efficient Storage: SQLite replaces slow JSON parsing
Memory Optimized: On-demand loading instead of full memory cache

🚧 Limitations

Public GitBooks Only - Requires publicly accessible sites
Static Content - Scrapes published HTML, not API-based
Manual Refresh - No real-time updates (use refresh tool)
Text-Focused - Extracts text content, not interactive elements

📄 License

MIT

Need help? Check the MCP documentation or open an issue.

This server cannot be installed

security - not tested

license - permissive license

quality - not tested

How are these scores calculated?

hybrid server

The server is able to function both locally and remotely, depending on the configuration or use case.

Transforms any documentation website (GitBook, Vercel docs, Next.js sites, etc.) into an AI-accessible knowledge base with intelligent caching and automatic domain detection.

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