MCP Server for AI Assistants

Docsmith exposes documentation tools over MCP. Grok, Claude Code, Codex, or Cursor can read your source, write pages, capture UI, and build the site. They use their own API key. Docsmith never calls an LLM.

When to use MCP vs the Builder

MCP Server	Builder CLI (`docsmith build`)
AI assistant drives the process interactively	Renders markdown to a static site
Assistant uses its own API key	No API key at all
Good for iterative, guided doc creation	Good for CI/CD publishing
Tools exposed: read, write, capture, build	One command: markdown → HTML

Starting the Server

stdio Mode (for local AI assistants)

docsmith mcp:serve \
    --transport=stdio \
    --source=./my-app \
    --docs-source=./docs-source

HTTP Mode (for remote agents)

docsmith mcp:serve \
    --transport=http \
    --port=8090 \
    --source=./my-app \
    --docs-source=./docs-source

Exposed Tools

Tool	Description	Needs Docsmith API key?
`read_source`	Read and analyze source code files	No
`write_markdown`	Create or update markdown documentation pages	No
`capture_media`	Inspect a running page, crop a widget screenshot, or record a short video (capturist + Playwright)	No
`build_site`	Build the static HTML documentation site	No

These tools only touch local files. Call capture_media only when the user asks for screenshots or videos.

capture_media requires one-time dev dependencies in the documented project:

npm install -D playwright capturist@^0.5.0
npx playwright install chromium

capture_media actions:

inspect: open the URL (optional before login) and return visible widgets with CSS selectors. Call this first.
screenshot: PNG cropped to selector, with 32px of space around it (padding). steps can open a dropdown on the same page, then crop. before is login, off-camera.
video: short WebM. Requires steps. Pass selector to frame the widget the same way after the steps. Pace 700-1000.

Files land in the docs source media/ directory. Stills: ![caption](media/shot.png). Videos: <video controls preload="none" src="media/flow.webm"></video>. Use write_markdown with after to place a capture below the heading for the step it documents.

PHP API

use Docsmith\Docsmith;

// Start stdio server
Docsmith::serveMcp(
    transport: 'stdio',
    sourcePath: __DIR__ . '/app',
    docsSourcePath: __DIR__ . '/docs-source',
);

// Start HTTP server on port 8090
Docsmith::serveMcp(
    transport: 'http',
    port: 8090,
    sourcePath: __DIR__ . '/app',
    docsSourcePath: __DIR__ . '/docs-source',
);

Using with AI Assistants

Claude Code

Add to your Claude Code MCP configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "docsmith": {
      "command": "docsmith",
      "args": ["mcp:serve", "--transport=stdio", "--source=.", "--docs-source=docs-source"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code can then call read_source to explore your codebase, write_markdown to create documentation pages, and build_site to generate the static site. Call capture_media only if the user asked for screenshots or a demo video.

Grok

docsmith install:ai writes .grok/config.toml and .grok/skills/ when Grok is detected (or pass --agents=grok). Native Grok MCP config:

[mcp_servers.docsmith]
command = "docsmith"
args = ["mcp:serve", "--transport=stdio", "--source=.", "--docs-source=docs-source"]

Restart Grok or press r in /mcps after installing. Then ask it to write docs. It loads the docsmith-docs skill and the MCP tools.

Codex / other agents

Point any MCP-capable agent at the same server. Use --transport=http --port=8090 when the agent connects over HTTP, or stdio when it launches the command itself.

Using with Laravel Boost

Docsmith has no dependency on Laravel Boost. The setup below is one way to register the same server. The Claude Code / Codex / Cursor sections above work without Boost.

Laravel Boost ships its own MCP server (php artisan boost:mcp) and wires it into your agents via .mcp.json. Docsmith sits next to it: add both servers to the same config, and your Boost-configured agent (Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, ...) gets docsmith's read_source / write_markdown / capture_media / build_site tools alongside Boost's tinker and schema tools.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "laravel-boost": {
      "command": "php",
      "args": ["artisan", "boost:mcp"]
    },
    "docsmith": {
      "command": "docsmith",
      "args": ["mcp:serve", "--transport=stdio", "--source=.", "--docs-source=docs-source"]
    }
  }
}

If docsmith is not on your PATH (Herd/Valet or per-project installs), point at the binary explicitly, the same way you would for php:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "docsmith": {
      "command": "/Users/you/.config/herd/bin/php",
      "args": ["vendor/mrpunyapal/docsmith/bin/docsmith", "mcp:serve", "--transport=stdio", "--source=.", "--docs-source=docs-source"]
    }
  }
}

Then prompt the agent from the project root, for example:

Write usage docs for this Laravel app. Quick start on the landing page. Capture the UI if you can boot it. If not, ask me for a URL.