paper-remote-mcp

Run Paper's MCP server without the desktop app.

paper-remote-mcp loads the Paper editor in a headless browser, signed in as you, and exposes the same tools Paper Desktop does (write_html, get_screenshot, get_jsx, create_file, …) over stdio. It works with Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, or any MCP client.

npx paper-remote-mcp login    # one-time OAuth sign-in
npx paper-remote-mcp doctor   # check browser, sign-in, tools
claude mcp add paper -- npx -y paper-remote-mcp mcp

Community project. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Paper.

Requirements

• Node 20+

• Google Chrome, or Playwright's Chromium (npx playwright install chromium)

Related MCP server: MultiZen

Setup

1. Sign in. npx paper-remote-mcp login opens a browser window at app.paper.design. Sign in as usual; the session is saved to ~/.paper-mcp/profiles/production/ and reused headlessly.

2. Verify.

$ npx paper-remote-mcp doctor
browser        ✓ launched
sign-in        ✓ authenticated (Paper API /auth/me → 200)
handlers       ✓ 36 tools available

3. Add it to your agent.

claude mcp add paper -- npx -y paper-remote-mcp mcp

{ "mcpServers": { "paper": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "paper-remote-mcp", "mcp"] } } }

[mcp_servers.paper]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "paper-remote-mcp", "mcp"]

{ "servers": { "paper": { "type": "stdio", "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "paper-remote-mcp", "mcp"] } } }

To open a specific file on start, append --file <fileId-or-url> to the args.

Commands

Env vars: PAPER_MCP_ENV, PAPER_MCP_PROFILE, PAPER_MCP_LOG (silent|error|warn|info|debug).

How it works

Paper Desktop's MCP server is a thin proxy: every tool call runs against window.mcpHandlers inside the editor page. Paper only builds those handlers in the desktop shell or in a browser that supports WebMCP.

paper-remote-mcp injects a no-op navigator.modelContext before the page loads. Paper then builds its real handlers and keeps using normal cookie auth. The stdio server maps tools/list to getMCPServerConfig() and tools/call to handleToolCall(), and navigates to another file when a tool call names a different fileId. The tool list and instructions come from Paper itself, so they stay in sync with Paper's updates.

Limitations

• One file is open at a time; switching files costs a page reload.

• The headless browser takes a few seconds to start and uses a few hundred MB of RAM.

• It depends on Paper's web internals. If Paper changes them, doctor will report it.

• It uses its own Chrome profile, not your everyday one: Chrome locks a profile to one process and blocks automation of the default profile.

Troubleshooting

• "Profile is in use by another browser": your agent is already running the server. Quit it, or pass a different --profile.

• Not signed in after login: run login again and wait for ✓ Signed in. If Google sign-in is refused, use Continue with email.

• Switch accounts: logout, then login.

Programmatic API

import { createEditorHost } from 'paper-remote-mcp';

const host = await createEditorHost({ fileId: '…' });
await host.start();
const result = await host.handleToolCall('agent-1', 'get_basic_info', {}, { name: 'my-app' });
await host.close();

Development

git clone https://github.com/vcashwin/paper-remote-mcp && cd paper-remote-mcp
npm install
node src/cli.js login     # one-time sign-in (skip if already signed in)
node src/cli.js doctor    # browser ✓, sign-in ✓, 36 tools ✓
npm run typecheck

Point your agent at the local checkout so code changes apply on the next server start:

# Claude Code (user scope = every project)
claude mcp add -s user paper-remote -- node "$PWD/src/cli.js" mcp
claude mcp get paper-remote          # should show ✔ Connected

# Codex
codex mcp add paper-remote -- node "$PWD/src/cli.js" mcp

Or for Codex, add this to ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.paper-remote]
command = "node"
args = ["/absolute/path/to/paper-remote-mcp/src/cli.js", "mcp"]

Only one server can use a profile at a time. To run Claude and Codex together, give one its own with --profile ~/.paper-mcp/codex (and run login with that profile once).

MIT © vcashwin