AniList MCP Server

An MCP server for AniList. It works with any MCP-compatible client or agent (Claude Desktop/Code, Cursor, VS Code, Cline, Continue, and others) — the server speaks the standard MCP stdio protocol.

What it does

Talks directly to AniList's public GraphQL API (https://graphql.anilist.co):

• Reads — no credentials needed. Search and browse anime/manga, characters, staff, studios; genres/tags; recommendations; forum threads; activity feeds; public/unlisted user profiles and lists.

• Your own AniList account — requires a one-time login. Manage your own anime/manga list (add/update/remove entries), favourites, follows, your notifications, and post/delete your own activity and threads.

Related MCP server: ani-mcp

What you need (and what it gets you)

Nothing is required to get started — you can skip straight to Install. Everything below is optional:

Without a login, the personal/mutation tools reply with a clear message telling you how to get one — everything else keeps working regardless.

Example queries

Once it's connected, just ask your agent in natural language.

No credentials needed:

"Search for the anime Frieren and show its score, genres and synopsis."
"What recommendations does AniList have for fans of Steins;Gate?"
"Show me today's birthday characters."
"What genres and tags does AniList use for anime?"
"Show the public profile and stats for user <username>."
"What's in <username>'s AniList anime list marked as watching?"

With your AniList account (after a one-time login_anilist; see Connect your AniList account):

"Add Frieren to my AniList plan-to-watch list."
"Set Cowboy Bebop to completed on my AniList with a score of 9."
"Follow user <username> for me."
"Post a text update to my AniList activity feed."
"What are my unread AniList notifications?"

Tools

token = needs an AniList login (run login_anilist once).

Prompts

Reusable multi-step plans your client can offer as one-click flows: recommend_similar, seasonal_overview, hidden_gems, catch_up_activity, check_notifications.

Install

As an .mcpb bundle (one-click, e.g. Claude Desktop)

Download anilist-mcp-server.mcpb (always the latest release) and open it with your MCP client. It prompts for an optional AniList Client ID and Client Secret — set them and run the login_anilist tool to enable the personal-list/social tools (see Connect your AniList account). Leave them blank to use just the credential-free read tools.

Via npx (no install)

Published on npm as anilist-mcp-server. Add it to your client's MCP config (Claude Desktop/Code, Cursor, VS Code, Cline, …):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "anilist": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "anilist-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "ANILIST_CLIENT_ID": "...",
        "ANILIST_CLIENT_SECRET": "..."
      }
    }
  }
}

Or with the Claude Code CLI:

claude mcp add anilist -e ANILIST_CLIENT_ID=... -e ANILIST_CLIENT_SECRET=... -- npx -y anilist-mcp-server

From source

git clone https://github.com/Grinv/anilist-mcp-server
cd anilist-mcp-server
npm ci
npm run build

This produces a self-contained dist/index.js. Point your client at it the same way as above, swapping "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "anilist-mcp-server"] for "command": "node", "args": ["/absolute/path/to/anilist-mcp-server/dist/index.js"] (and npx -y anilist-mcp-server for node /absolute/path/to/anilist-mcp-server/dist/index.js in the CLI form).

The env block (shown above for both install methods) is optional — omit it to use only the credential-free read tools; the personal/mutation tools will return a clear error until you log in. To enable them, set ANILIST_CLIENT_ID + ANILIST_CLIENT_SECRET and run the login_anilist tool once (a one-time browser authorization; the token is then stored and reused). The server does not read a .env file, so pass config via this env block (or your shell environment). See docs/auth.md for the full login walkthrough and docs/clients.md for more clients.

Connect your AniList account

The search/browse tools work with no setup. To use the personal/mutation tools, authorize your account once. It takes about two minutes.

Step 1 — Register an AniList app (one minute).

1. Go to https://anilist.co/settings/developer and click Create New Client.

2. Name: anything.

3. Redirect URL: enter exactly

   http://localhost:8082/callback

   (If port 8082 is already used on your machine, pick another port here and set ANILIST_OAUTH_PORT to the same number — see Configuration.)

4. Save. Copy the Client ID and Client Secret.

Step 2 — Give the credentials to the server.

"env": { "ANILIST_CLIENT_ID": "...", "ANILIST_CLIENT_SECRET": "..." }

Restart the server/client so it picks up the values.

Step 3 — Log in (one click).

In your assistant, run the login_anilist tool (or just say "log in to AniList"). It replies with a link. Open the link, sign in to AniList, and click Approve.

• Running locally (Claude Desktop, or Claude Code on your own machine): login finishes automatically the moment you click Approve. Confirm with "show my AniList profile" (get_authorized_user).

• Running on a remote/SSH/headless host: after clicking Approve your browser lands on a page that won't load — that's expected. Copy the full address from the browser's address bar (it contains ?code=…) and give it to the submit_anilist_redirect tool to finish.

That's it. The token is saved locally (~/.config/anilist-mcp-server/tokens.json, 0600). AniList access tokens don't expire for about a year and there's no refresh mechanism — you'll need to run login_anilist again once it does.

Prefer no interactive step? Pre-set a standalone ANILIST_ACCESS_TOKEN instead. See docs/auth.md.

Configuration

All configuration is via environment variables, all optional — without credentials the read tools still work.

Tuning (rarely needed)

Provide these in your MCP client config's env block (the server does not read a .env file). See docs/auth.md for how to obtain the credentials, and docs/clients.md for client configuration snippets.

NSFW content

NSFW (adult) results are not filtered by default — the server returns whatever AniList provides. search_media accepts an optional sfw parameter; set sfw: true to exclude adult entries.

Development

npm run build        # type-check + bundle to dist/
npm test             # node:test suite (mocked, offline)
npm run test:coverage
npm run lint
npm run format
npm run check:api    # live health-check of the AniList GraphQL endpoint
npm run inspector    # run under the MCP Inspector

Runtime requires Node ≥ 20. See AGENTS.md for contributor/agent guidance, including why this server exists and how it avoids the upstream bug that motivated building it.

Updating

To be notified of new versions, click Watch → Releases on GitHub.

• .mcpb bundle: download the new anilist-mcp-server.mcpb from the releases page and reinstall it in your client (it replaces the old version).

• npx: unpinned npx -y anilist-mcp-server fetches the latest on the next run.

• From source: git pull && npm ci && npm run build.

See the CHANGELOG for what changed in each release.

Attribution and terms

This is an unofficial project and is not affiliated with or endorsed by AniList. All data comes from the public AniList GraphQL API; personal-account operations use your own AniList account and token. Use is subject to AniList's Terms of Service.

License

MIT © Grinv