Model Context Protocol

About MCP servers

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open protocol that creates standardized connections between AI applications and external services, like documentation. Mintlify generates an MCP server from your documentation, preparing your content for the broader AI ecosystem where any MCP client like Claude, Cursor, Goose, ChatGPT, and others can connect to your documentation. Your MCP server exposes a search tool for AI applications to query your documentation. Your users must connect your MCP server to their tools.

How MCP servers work

When an AI tool has your documentation MCP server connected, the AI tool can search your documentation directly instead of making a generic web search in response to a user’s prompt. Your MCP server provides access to all indexed content on your documentation site.

The LLM can proactively search your documentation while generating a response, not just when explicitly asked.
The LLM determines when to use the search tool based on the context of the conversation and the relevance of your documentation.
Each tool call happens during the generation process, so the LLM searches up-to-date information from your documentation to generate its response.

Some AI tools like Claude support both MCP and Skills. MCP gives the AI access to your documentation content, while Skills instruct the AI how to use that content effectively. They’re complementary. MCP provides the data and Skills provide the instructions.

MCP compared to web search

AI tools can search the web, but MCP provides distinct advantages for documentation.

Direct source access: Web search depends on what search engines have indexed, which may be stale or incomplete. MCP searches your current indexed documentation directly.
Integrated workflow: MCP allows the AI to search during response generation rather than performing a separate web search.
No search noise: SEO and ranking algorithms influence web search results. MCP goes straight to your documentation content.

Access your MCP server

MCP servers are only available for public documentation. Documentation behind end-user authentication cannot generate an MCP server.

Mintlify automatically generates an MCP server for your documentation and hosts it at your documentation URL with the /mcp path. For example, Mintlify’s MCP server is available at https://mintlify.com/docs/mcp. View and copy your MCP server URL on the MCP server page in your dashboard.

Hosted MCP servers use the /mcp path in their URLs. Other navigation elements cannot use the /mcp path.

Content filtering and indexing

Your MCP server searches content that Mintlify indexes from your documentation repository. File processing and search indexing control what content is available through your MCP server.

File processing with `.mintignore`

If files match .mintignore patterns, Mintlify does not process or index them. These files are not available through your MCP server.

Search indexing with `docs.json`

By default, Mintlify only indexes pages included in your docs.json navigation for search through your MCP server. Mintlify excludes hidden pages (pages not in your navigation) from the search index unless you choose to index all pages. To include hidden pages in your MCP server’s search results, add the seo.indexing property to your docs.json.

"seo": {
    "indexing": "all"
}

To exclude a specific page from search indexing, add noindex: true to its frontmatter.

---
title: "Hidden page"
description: "This page is not in the navigation and is not available through search."
noindex: true
---

Use your MCP server

Your users must connect your MCP server to their preferred AI tools.

Make your MCP server URL publicly available.
Users copy your MCP server URL and add it to their tools.
Users access your documentation through their tools.

These are some of the ways you can help your users connect to your MCP server:

Contextual menu
Claude
Claude Code
Cursor
VS Code

Add options in the contextual menu for your users to connect to your MCP server from any page of your documentation.

Option	Identifier	Description
Copy MCP server URL	`mcp`	Copies your MCP server URL to the user’s clipboard.
Connect to Cursor	`cursor`	Installs your MCP server in Cursor.
Connect to VS Code	`vscode`	Installs your MCP server in VS Code.

Get your MCP server URL.

Navigate to your dashboard and find your MCP server URL.

Publish your MCP server URL for your users.

Create a guide for your users that includes your MCP server URL and the command to connect it to Claude Code.

claude mcp add --transport http <name> <url>

See the Claude Code documentation for more details.

Get your MCP server URL.

Navigate to your dashboard and find your MCP server URL.

Publish your MCP server URL for your users.

Create a guide for your users that includes your MCP server URL and the steps to connect it to Cursor.

Use Command + Shift + P (Ctrl + Shift + P on Windows) to open the command palette.
Search for “Open MCP settings”.
Select Add custom MCP. This opens the mcp.json file.
In mcp.json, configure your server:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "<your-mcp-server-name>": {
      "url": "<your-mcp-server-url>"
    }
  }
}

See the Cursor documentation for more details.

Get your MCP server URL.

Navigate to your dashboard and find your MCP server URL.

Publish your MCP server URL for your users.

Create a guide for your users that includes your MCP server URL and the steps to connect it to VS Code.

Create a .vscode/mcp.json file.
In mcp.json, configure your server:

{
  "servers": {
    "<your-mcp-server-name>": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "<your-mcp-server-url>"
    }
  }
}

See the VS Code documentation for more details.

Example: Connect to the Mintlify MCP server

Connect to the Mintlify MCP server to search this documentation site within your preferred AI tool. This gives you more accurate answers about how to use Mintlify in your local environment and demonstrates how you can help your users connect to your MCP server.

Contextual menu
Claude
Claude Code
Cursor
VS Code

To use the Mintlify MCP server with Claude:

Add the Mintlify MCP server to Claude

Navigate to the Connectors page in the Claude settings.
Select Add custom connector.
Add the Mintlify MCP server:

Name: Mintlify
URL: https://mintlify.com/docs/mcp

Select Add.

Access the MCP server in your chat

When using Claude, select the attachments button (the plus icon).
Select the Mintlify MCP server.
Ask Claude a question about Mintlify.

See the Model Context Protocol documentation for more details.

To use the Mintlify MCP server with Claude Code, run the following command:

claude mcp add --transport http Mintlify https://mintlify.com/docs/mcp

Test the connection by running:

claude mcp list

See the Claude Code documentation for more details.

Install in CursorTo connect the Mintlify MCP server to Cursor, click the Install in Cursor button. Or to manually connect the MCP server, follow these steps:

Open MCP settings

Use Command + Shift + P (Ctrl + Shift + P on Windows) to open the command palette.
Search for “Open MCP settings”.
Select Add custom MCP. This opens the mcp.json file.

Configure the Mintlify MCP server

In mcp.json, add:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "Mintlify": {
      "url": "https://mintlify.com/docs/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Test the connection

In Cursor’s chat, ask “What tools do you have available?” Cursor should show the Mintlify MCP server as an available tool.

See Installing MCP servers in the Cursor documentation for more details.

Install in VS CodeTo connect the Mintlify MCP server to VS Code, click the Install in VS Code button. Or to manually connect the MCP server, create a .vscode/mcp.json file and add:

{
  "servers": {
    "Mintlify": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mintlify.com/docs/mcp"
    }
  }
}

See the VS Code documentation for more details.

Using multiple MCP servers

Users can connect multiple MCP servers to their AI tools. Connected MCP servers do not consume context until the AI calls a search tool. The AI decides when to search based on query relevance, so it doesn’t search every connected server for every question. When the AI searches, each query returns multiple results that add to the conversation’s context. If the AI searches several servers for a single question, this can use up significant context. Best practices for using multiple MCP servers:

Connect only the MCP servers relevant to your current work.
Be specific in your prompts so the AI searches the most relevant server.
Disconnect servers you’re not actively using to reduce potential context usage.

Get started

Organize

Customize

Create content

Document APIs

Deploy

Optimize

Model Context Protocol

About MCP servers

How MCP servers work

MCP compared to web search

Access your MCP server

Content filtering and indexing

File processing with `.mintignore`

Search indexing with `docs.json`

Use your MCP server

Example: Connect to the Mintlify MCP server

Using multiple MCP servers

Get started

Organize

Customize

Create content

Document APIs

Deploy

Optimize

​About MCP servers

​How MCP servers work

​MCP compared to web search

​Access your MCP server

​Content filtering and indexing

​File processing with .mintignore

​Search indexing with docs.json

​Use your MCP server

​Example: Connect to the Mintlify MCP server

​Using multiple MCP servers

About MCP servers

How MCP servers work

MCP compared to web search

Access your MCP server

Content filtering and indexing

File processing with `.mintignore`

Search indexing with `docs.json`

Use your MCP server

Example: Connect to the Mintlify MCP server

Using multiple MCP servers