content-engine-mcp

Turn Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, ChatGPT, Windsurf, or any MCP-capable agent into a personal content engine — without running a multi-agent system.

You paste a 2–5 line idea. The server stores voice, sources, drafts, and calendar state in a local folder. Your agent researches and writes. The server fact-checks citations, splits X threads with twitter-text, and renders newsletter HTML plus social copy packs.

MIT. v0.1.0. The server never calls an LLM.

60-second quickstart

git clone https://github.com/DevMandalia/content-engine-mcp.git
cd content-engine-mcp
npm install
npm run build
node dist/index.js --root ./content-engine

Leave that process to your MCP client (stdio). Project files land in ./content-engine/ (or $CONTENT_ENGINE_ROOT).

Claude Desktop

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

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "content-engine": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/content-engine-mcp/dist/index.js", "--root", "/absolute/path/to/content-engine"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

claude mcp add content-engine -- node /absolute/path/to/content-engine-mcp/dist/index.js --root ./content-engine

Or a project .mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "content-engine": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["./dist/index.js", "--root", "./content-engine"]
    }
  }
}

Cursor

.cursor/mcp.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "content-engine": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["${workspaceFolder}/dist/index.js", "--root", "${workspaceFolder}/content-engine"]
    }
  }
}

Codex

~/.codex/config.toml (tools only — this server does not rely on prompts or elicitation):

[mcp_servers.content-engine]
command = "node"
args = ["/absolute/path/to/content-engine-mcp/dist/index.js", "--root", "./content-engine"]

After npm publish (later): npx -y content-engine-mcp.

Related MCP server: Stylotrace MCP Server

Walkthrough

Example theme: Taverna Daily (taverna-daily). Idea:

Weeknight hummus: simmer canned chickpeas with baking soda, peel the skins, blend with ice water and tahini. People overcomplicate it.

1. apply_theme name=taverna-daily

2. setup_vision_and_audience, setup_brand, setup_voice (paste 1–3 of your own paragraphs), setup_sourcing

3. capture_seed with the idea above

4. build_research_brief — then you (the agent) search the web

5. attach_source with each http(s) URL (ids become S1, S2, …). Private/loopback URLs are refused.

6. get_draft_kit for newsletter, x, instagram, linkedin — then you write

7. save_draft each channel. Cite numbers as [S1].

8. fact_check_draft — unsourced numbers/%/$/dates get [UNSOURCED]

9. mark_draft_ready → approve_draft → render_outputs

10. Newsletter HTML is blocked until fact-check passes. Pass draft: true (or start the server with --draft) to render with warnings only.

11. send_newsletter only with confirm: true (Resend or SMTP). Never put API keys in the project folder.

Handoff: X intent links, Instagram caption + carousel markdown, LinkedIn text, out/<seed>/issue.json. No auto-publish to social networks.

Themes

YAML in themes/: sections, word limits, voice do/don't, banned words, dark/light palettes, fallback fonts.

Send (optional)

# Resend
RESEND_API_KEY=re_...
RESEND_FROM="Taverna Daily <you@example.com>"

# SMTP (Gmail app password)
SMTP_HOST=smtp.gmail.com
SMTP_PORT=465
SMTP_SECURE=true
SMTP_USER=you@gmail.com
SMTP_PASS=app-password

send_newsletter with test_to_self: true mails owner.email. Still requires confirm: true.

Kit, beehiiv, and Buttondown are Phase 2. beehiiv’s free plan cannot send via API.

Tests

npm test          # Node unit + in-process MCP client hitting every tool
npm run smoke     # Rewrites docs/DEMO.md

CI: GitHub Actions on Node 20 and 22.

Docs

• SPEC.md — Phase 1 spec, assumptions, Phase 2

• RESEARCH.md — 24-row prior-art table, wedge, design check (no Postiz/AGPL copies; content-repurposer-mcp is a dead listing)

• SCHEDULING.md — Claude / Codex / cron / Actions

• DEMO.md — recorded smoke transcript

• CHANGELOG.md

Safety

• No send/publish without explicit confirm: true

• No secrets in project files

• No financial / medical / legal advice templates

• SSRF: source fetch blocks loopback, private, link-local, CGNAT, and metadata hosts; redirects are re-checked

• Writes stay inside the project folder (path jail). Exports include a SHA-256 manifest.json

• Newsletter HTML lints out <script> / <iframe> / <form> / on* handlers

• MCPB bundle: npm run pack:mcpb writes dist/content-engine-mcp.mcpb