Slipway ⛵

Build and ship real apps directly from Claude or ChatGPT — free, open source, and yours.

40-second demo of an app Claude built through Slipway — dashboard, signup, private per-user notes (mp4 version).

Claude and ChatGPT can already write you an app. Getting it live is another story — git, hosting, databases, email services, push providers: a stack that was never built for you.

Slipway fixes that with one MCP (Model Context Protocol) server. Connect it, and the model you already pay for can scaffold apps, edit code, run live previews, share them at a public URL, store data, send email, send push notifications, deploy to real hosting, and hand you the finished repo. No meter, no credits, no lock-in: Slipway just executes what your model decides, on your machine, into your accounts.

flowchart LR
    A["Claude / ChatGPT<br/>(the subscription you already have)"] -- MCP --> B["Slipway<br/>(your machine)"]
    B --> C["Apps in ~/.slipway/apps<br/>plain directories — yours"]
    B --> D["Live preview<br/>+ public share URL"]
    B --> E["SQLite · SMTP email · Web Push"]
    B --> F["Deploy: Vercel / Netlify / Cloudflare<br/>+ export to your GitHub"]

The 60-second demo

git clone https://github.com/Sandeepbhuiya29/Slipway.git && cd Slipway
npm install && npm run build
claude mcp add slipway -- node "$PWD/dist/index.js"

Then tell Claude:

"Build me a habit tracker with streaks. Keep the data in the database, give me a link to try it, and a public link I can open on my phone."

It scaffolds the app, writes the code, starts a preview, opens a share_preview tunnel, and hands you both URLs. Say "ship it" and it deploys; say "give me the repo" and export_app pushes the code to your own GitHub, secrets excluded.

Related MCP server: Universal Dev MCP

How it compares

The full tool surface (22 tools)

Plus a web dashboard: run node dist/index.js --http 8788 and open http://localhost:8788 — every app with preview/share/deploy buttons and live logs. The saas template ships working signup/login (scrypt-hashed passwords, cookie sessions, per-user data in SQLite) with zero dependencies.

New here? The full walkthrough with copy-paste prompts is in GETTING_STARTED.md.

Connecting

Claude Code

claude mcp add slipway -- node /absolute/path/to/Slipway/dist/index.js

Claude Desktop — add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "slipway": { "command": "node", "args": ["/absolute/path/to/Slipway/dist/index.js"] }
  }
}

ChatGPT, claude.ai on the web, or your phone — run the HTTP transport and tunnel it:

SLIPWAY_TOKEN=some-long-secret node dist/index.js --http 8788
cloudflared tunnel --url http://localhost:8788

Point the client's MCP connector at https://<your-tunnel>/mcp with header Authorization: Bearer some-long-secret. ChatGPT accepts remote MCP connectors in developer mode; claude.ai accepts custom connectors.

Where things live

Apps are plain directories in ~/.slipway/apps/<name> (override with SLIPWAY_HOME). Per app:

• data.sqlite — the database

• .env — secrets, injected on preview/deploy, never echoed back through the AI

• .slipway-push.json — Web Push VAPID keys; the private key never leaves your machine

Nothing is proprietary about the output: every app is ordinary code you can open in an editor, export_app to GitHub, or move anywhere.

Email and push, without the SaaS

• Email: set_env the five SMTP values (SMTP_HOST, SMTP_PORT, SMTP_USER, SMTP_PASS, MAIL_FROM) — a Gmail app password is enough to start — and send_email works.

• Push: push_generate_keys gives your frontend a VAPID applicationServerKey; push_send delivers to any browser subscription. No OneSignal, no accounts.

Security model

Slipway executes code on the machine it runs on — that is the point — so the design is containment:

• All file operations are jailed to the workspace; path traversal is rejected.

• Secrets are write-only through the AI (list_env returns names, never values).

• delete_app requires explicit confirmation; export_app defaults to private repos and gitignores secrets before staging.

• HTTP mode warns loudly unless SLIPWAY_TOKEN is set. Treat a tunneled Slipway like SSH access, because that's what it is.

Details and reporting: SECURITY.md.

Verified, not vibes

npm run smoke drives the built server over a real MCP stdio session: create → write → preview → fetch the page over HTTP → SQLite roundtrip → env → push keys → teardown. CI runs it on every push, on Linux and macOS, Node 22 and 24.

Roadmap

• Postgres behind the same query_database tool

• Magic-link login (email-based) in the saas template

• More templates: Next.js, Expo, Astro

• A hosted multi-tenant mode so one Slipway can serve a team

• Windows support

Contributions welcome — see CONTRIBUTING.md. Good first issues are listed there.

License

MIT. Slipway is an independent open-source project, not affiliated with Anthropic, OpenAI, or Cloudflare.