MCP Server Beta
The heycreo MCP (Model Context Protocol) server allows AI assistants and LLMs to interact directly with the heycreo platform. Templates, assets, color palettes, the Brand Kit, and the live Studio editor are all accessible via natural language through any MCP-compatible client.
What is MCP?
The Model Context Protocol is an open standard that defines how AI assistants communicate with external tools and data sources. Instead of REST endpoints with HTTP verbs, MCP exposes tools that an AI model can discover and invoke.
heycreo implements an MCP server that exposes platform capabilities as tools. This means any external MCP-compatible client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, custom agents) can:
- Browse and search templates
- Manage assets and collections
- Generate images with AI and upload your own
- Query products, color palettes, and Brand Kit elements
- Read and edit designs in Studio: read a template or design, apply edits server-side, and capture screenshots; changes appear live for anyone viewing the design (see Studio tools)
The MCP server is for external clients. The built-in AI Copilot in the heycreo app uses a dedicated internal tool-calling architecture with real-time UI interaction.
Connecting
Clients that support OAuth-based remote connectors (e.g. Claude) can connect with just the endpoint URL. heycreo runs a built-in OAuth 2.1 authorization server, so authentication and organization selection happen through a normal browser login + consent screen. No API key or config file needed. See Getting Started.
API keys remain fully supported for scripts, CI, and clients without OAuth support.
How it differs from the REST API
| REST API | MCP Server | |
|---|---|---|
| Consumer | Your code (scripts, backends, frontends) | AI assistants and LLMs |
| Interface | HTTP endpoints with JSON request/response | Tools with typed parameters and structured output |
| Discovery | OpenAPI/Swagger spec | MCP tool listing (auto-discovered by clients) |
| Interaction | Programmatic | Conversational (natural language → tool calls) |
| Transport | HTTPS | SSE, Streamable HTTP, or STDIO |
Both share the same authentication (API keys / JWT) and the same organization-scoped data model.
Available tools
The MCP server currently exposes 29 tools across 9 domains:
| Domain | Tools |
|---|---|
| User | get-user-info |
| Organizations | list-organizations, switch-organization (org switching applies to OAuth connections only) |
| Templates | get-templates |
| Assets | get-assets, get-asset, get-tags, generate-asset, upload-asset |
| Collections | get-collections, create-collection, update-collection, move-collection, delete-collection, add-asset-to-collection, remove-asset-from-collection |
| Products | get-products |
| Color Palettes | get-color-palettes |
| Brand Kit | get-brand-kit-elements, studio_insert_brand_kit_element, studio_save_to_brand_kit |
| Studio (design editor) | studio_get_document, studio_get_capabilities, studio_get_fonts, studio_list_formats, studio_create_template, studio_get_screenshot, studio_call, studio_apply_commands |
The Studio tools operate on a design document (a template or a free design) addressed by id, so
an assistant can edit it without anyone having the editor open, and anyone who is viewing the
design sees the changes live. studio_call is itself a dispatcher for ~50 high-level editor
operations; see the Studio tools page.
See the Tools Reference for full parameter and response documentation.
Server info
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Server name | heycreo MCP |
| Version | 1.0.0 |
| Transports | SSE, Streamable HTTP, STDIO |
| Auth | OAuth 2.1 (recommended for interactive clients), JWT Bearer Token, or API Key |
Next steps
- Getting Started: Connect to the MCP server
- Transports: Choose the right transport for your use case
- Tools Reference: All tools with parameters and examples
- Client Examples: Copy-paste configs for popular clients