PlayCanvas Editor MCP Server

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An MCP Server for automating the PlayCanvas Editor using an LLM.

The MCP client is built into the PlayCanvas Editor — no browser extension is needed. Install the server into your MCP client of choice (Claude Code, Codex, Claude Desktop, Cursor, …) and connect the Editor to it.

Available Tools

• Entity

  • list_entities

  • resolve_entities

  • create_entities

  • delete_entities

  • duplicate_entities

  • modify_entities

  • reparent_entity

  • add_components

  • remove_components

  • add_script_component_script

  • attach_script

• Asset

  • list_assets

  • create_assets

  • delete_assets

  • instantiate_template_assets

  • set_script_text

  • script_parse

  • set_material_diffuse

  • set_material_properties

• Scene

  • query_scene_settings

  • modify_scene_settings

• Store

  • store_search

  • store_get

  • store_download

• Viewport

  • capture_viewport

  • focus_viewport

• Runtime (live Launch instance)

  • launch_start

  • launch_stop

  • capture_runtime

  • read_runtime_logs

  • inject_input

Related MCP server: HostBridge MCP Server

Runtime Tools

The runtime tools drive a real Launch instance (the editor's Launch button) so you can verify that a scene actually runs, not just how it looks at edit time:

• launch_start opens https://launch.playcanvas.com/<sceneId>?debug=true in a new window. The editor hands the MCP port to the launch page, which connects back to the MCP server as the "runtime" peer. launch_start returns { url, sceneId, ready }.

• capture_runtime screenshots the running app (scripts/physics/animation active).

• read_runtime_logs returns the app's console output + uncaught exceptions/rejections (newest first, paginated; defaults to warnings + errors).

• inject_input dispatches keyboard / mouse / touch events to the running app (e.g. hold W for 500ms, click at a canvas coordinate, tap the screen), so you can drive end-to-end interactions and then verify with capture_runtime.

• launch_stop closes the launch window.

Notes:

• Allow pop-ups for the editor origin, otherwise launch_start cannot open the window.

• The launch page uses your existing PlayCanvas login session (same browser), so no extra auth step is needed.

Response Format

Every tool returns a single, consistent envelope so agents can pattern-match on a stable shape:

{
  "data": <result> | null,   // business payload; an empty set is [], never an error
  "meta": {
    "tool": "entities:list",
    "status": "ok" | "error",
    "message": "...",          // present only on error; actionable, with a recovery hint
    // list tools also include pagination metadata:
    "total": 120, "count": 50, "hasMore": true, "nextCursor": "50"
  }
}

Notes for tool authors / agents:

• Errors never use a top-level error field; they set meta.status = "error" and put an actionable message in meta.message (the protocol-level isError flag is also set).

• Empty results (list_*, resolve_entities) are a successful empty list, not an error.

• Pagination: list_entities / list_assets accept limit (default 50) + offset. Page using meta.nextCursor (pass it back as offset) and stop when meta.hasMore is false.

• State snapshots: mutating tools (create_entities, modify_entities, add_components, reparent_entity, duplicate_entities, instantiate_template_assets, …) return the resulting entity/asset summaries — including a human-readable hierarchy path — so you rarely need a follow-up list_entities call.

• Annotations: read-only tools declare readOnlyHint, destructive tools (delete_*) declare destructiveHint, and store tools declare openWorldHint (they reach the network).

• Image tools (capture_viewport) return a protocol image block plus a parallel text block carrying the same meta.

Installation

Requires Node.js 18+. The server is published to npm as @playcanvas/editor-mcp-server, so every client below runs it with npx — nothing to clone or build.

Claude Code

claude mcp add playcanvas -- npx -y @playcanvas/editor-mcp-server

To share the server with everyone working on a repo, commit a .mcp.json to the project root instead:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "playcanvas": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@playcanvas/editor-mcp-server"]
    }
  }
}

Codex

The Codex CLI and the Codex app share ~/.codex/config.toml, so one command covers both:

codex mcp add playcanvas -- npx -y @playcanvas/editor-mcp-server

Claude Desktop

Go to Claude > Settings > Developer > Edit Config and add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "playcanvas": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@playcanvas/editor-mcp-server"]
    }
  }
}

Cursor

Select File > Preferences > Cursor Settings > MCP > Add new global MCP server and add the same JSON as for Claude Desktop.

Custom Port

The server listens for the Editor on WebSocket port 52000 by default. To change it, append --port <number> to the npx args (e.g. npx -y @playcanvas/editor-mcp-server --port 52001) and set the same port in the Editor's MCP popover.

Connecting the Editor to the MCP Server

1. Open your project in the PlayCanvas Editor.

2. Click the MCP button at the bottom of the toolbar (below the Publish button).

3. Check that the port matches your MCP config (default 52000) and click CONNECT.

Launch windows opened via launch_start (or the Launch button) connect automatically as the runtime peer.

You should now be able to issue commands from your MCP client.

Development

To hack on the server itself:

git clone https://github.com/playcanvas/editor-mcp-server.git
cd editor-mcp-server
npm install
npm run watch   # or: npm start

Point your MCP client at the checkout instead of the npm package by replacing the npx args with ["tsx", "/path/to/editor-mcp-server/src/server.ts"]. npm run debug starts the server under the MCP Inspector.