Mcpbook

🚀 Universal Documentation MCP Server

A high - performance MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that transforms any documentation website into an AI - accessible knowledge base. It was initially built for GitBook but is compatible with Vercel docs, Next.js sites, Docusaurus, and many other documentation platforms. It features instant startup, intelligent caching, and automatic domain detection.

🚀 Quick Start

💡 Usage Tip: It is recommended to use the interactive creator for the best experience!

🎨 Web UI Management Dashboard

# Clone this repo (once)
git clone https://github.com/tcsenpai/mcpbook/
cd mcpbook

# Build the UI
npm run ui:build

# Start the web interface
npm run ui

The Web UI provides the following features:

• 🚀 Visual Server Creation: A step - by - step wizard with live URL validation.
• 📊 Server Management: Start, stop, or delete servers with real - time status.
• 📋 Claude Desktop Integration: One - click copy config or add via CLI.
• 🖥️ Live Terminal: Real - time feedback and command execution.
• ⚠️ Safety Features: Confirmation dialogs and cancel functionality.

⭐ One - Command Setup

# Clone this repo (once)
git clone https://github.com/tcsenpai/mcpbook/
cd mcpbook

# Create MCP server for any documentation site instantly
npm exec create-gitbook-mcp

That's it! 🎉 The interactive wizard will:

• ✨ Guide you through setup with smart defaults.
• 🔍 Auto - detect domain/keywords from your documentation site.
• 📦 Install in organized directories (~/.config/mcpbooks/servers/[name]).
• 🌍 Optionally install globally (accessible as your - server - name command).
• 🤖 Auto - configure Claude Desktop (optional).
• 🚀 Pre - cache everything for instant server startup.

🛠️ Manual Setup (Advanced Users)

1. Install and Configure

   npm install
   echo "GITBOOK_URL=https://docs.yoursite.com" > .env
   

2. Build with Auto - Detection

   npm run build  # Automatically detects and configures your domain
   

3. Start Server

   npm start  # Instant startup with SQLite cache
   

4. Test with MCP Inspector

   npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector node dist/index.js
   

✨ Features

• ⚡ Instant Startup: SQLite storage with sub - second server initialization.
• 🔍 Advanced Search: FTS5 full - text search with fuzzy matching and ranking.
• 🧠 Smart Auto - Detection: Automatically detects domain, keywords, and branding.
• 📝 Markdown Perfect: Preserves formatting with syntax - highlighted code blocks.
• 🔄 Background Updates: Non - blocking change detection and cache refresh.
• 🌐 Universal Support: Works with GitBook, Vercel docs, Next.js sites, and many other documentation platforms.
• 📡 Dual Interface: Both MCP tools and REST API endpoints.
• 🚀 Production Ready: Rate limiting, error handling, and robust caching.

📦 Installation

Option 1: Local Development

git clone <repository>
cd mcpbook
npm install
npm run build
npm start

Option 2: Global Installation

npm install -g .
# Then use the binary name from package.json
your-mcp-server-name

Option 3: Claude Desktop Integration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gitbook": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "GITBOOK_URL": "https://docs.yoursite.com"
      }
    }
  }
}

Config file locations:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\\Claude\\claude_desktop_config.json

Option 4: StreamableHTTP Transport

npm run start:http  # StreamableHTTP on port 3001
node dist/index.js --streamable-http --port=3002  # Custom port

Option 5: REST API Server

npm run start:api  # HTTP server on port 3000
PORT=8080 npm run start:api  # Custom port

🌐 Platform Compatibility

While originally designed for GitBook, this MCP server has proven compatibility with many documentation platforms:

✅ Guaranteed to Work

• GitBook (original target platform)
• Custom GitBook instances

🎯 Successfully Tested

• Vercel - hosted docs (docs.vercel.com, aptos.dev)
• Next.js documentation sites
• Static site generators with consistent navigation
• Most HTML - based documentation platforms

🔧 How It Works

The scraper intelligently:

• Discovers navigation through link crawling.
• Extracts content from any HTML structure.
• Adapts to different layouts automatically.
• Handles various authentication and routing patterns.

💡 Usage Tip: If a site has consistent navigation and accessible content, our scraper will likely work! The auto - detection feature adapts to different site structures automatically.

⚙️ Configuration

Auto - Detection (Recommended)

GITBOOK_URL=https://docs.yoursite.com
AUTO_DETECT_DOMAIN=true
AUTO_DETECT_KEYWORDS=true

The server will automatically:

• Generate domain - specific tool names (stripe_docs_search, api_docs_get_page).
• Extract relevant keywords from content.
• Create contextual descriptions for better AI integration.

Manual Configuration

# Target GitBook (required)
GITBOOK_URL=https://docs.yoursite.com

# Custom branding (optional)
SERVER_NAME=my-api-docs
SERVER_DESCRIPTION=API documentation and guides
DOMAIN_KEYWORDS=api,rest,graphql,endpoints
TOOL_PREFIX=api_

# Performance tuning
CACHE_TTL_HOURS=1
MAX_CONCURRENT_REQUESTS=5
SCRAPING_DELAY_MS=100

Configuration Examples

API Documentation:

GITBOOK_URL=https://api-docs.yourservice.com
TOOL_PREFIX=api_
DOMAIN_KEYWORDS=api,rest,endpoints,authentication

→ Results in: api_search_content, api_get_page, etc.

Product Documentation:

GITBOOK_URL=https://help.yourproduct.com  
TOOL_PREFIX=help_
DOMAIN_KEYWORDS=tutorial,guide,troubleshooting

→ Results in: help_search_content, help_get_page, etc.

💻 Usage Examples

Basic Usage

The following are some examples of auto - detection results:

• docs.stripe.com → stripe_search_content, stripe_get_page
• docs.react.dev → react_search_content, react_get_page
• api.yourcompany.com → api_search_content, api_get_page
• Generic sites → docs_search_content, docs_get_page

Advanced Usage

# Search for authentication docs
{"tool": "api_search_content", "arguments": {"query": "oauth authentication"}}

# Get specific page
{"tool": "api_get_page", "arguments": {"path": "/auth/oauth"}}

# Get code examples
{"tool": "api_get_code_blocks", "arguments": {"path": "/sdk/quickstart"}}

# Refresh content
{"tool": "api_refresh_content", "arguments": {}}

🔧 Technical Details

Architecture

• SQLite Storage: Fast startup with FTS5 full - text search.
• Background Updates: Non - blocking change detection.
• Auto - Detection: Domain and keyword extraction.
• Parallel Scraping: Configurable concurrency.
• Smart Caching: Only updates changed content.

Key Components

• GitBookScraper: Web scraping and content extraction.
• SQLiteStore: High - performance storage with FTS5 search.
• DomainDetector: Automatic domain and keyword detection.
• GitBookMCPServer: MCP server with tool handlers.
• GitBookRestAPI: HTTP endpoints for web integration.

Development

# Development mode with auto - reload
npm run dev

# Build with auto - detection
npm run build

# Run manual auto - detection
npm run auto - detect

# Clean build (no auto - detection)
npm run build:clean

# Test with MCP Inspector
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector node dist/index.js

🌍 Universal GitBook Support

This server works with any public GitBook, including:

• API Documentation: Stripe, Twilio, etc.
• Framework Docs: React, Vue, Angular.
• Product Guides: Help centers and tutorials.
• Developer Resources: SDKs and references.
• Company Wikis: Internal documentation.

⚡ Performance

• Instant Startup: Sub - second initialization with SQLite cache.
• Background Updates: Non - blocking change detection.
• Smart Indexing: FTS5 full - text search with ranking.
• Efficient Storage: SQLite replaces slow JSON parsing.
• Memory Optimized: On - demand loading instead of full memory cache.

🚧 Limitations

• Public GitBooks Only: Requires publicly accessible sites.
• Static Content: Scrapes published HTML, not API - based.
• Manual Refresh: No real - time updates (use refresh tool).
• Text - Focused: Extracts text content, not interactive elements.

📄 License

MIT

⚠️ Important Note

Need help? Check the MCP documentation or open an issue.