MCP Setup

Connect Cuppa Studio to your AI assistant — generate and refine presentations directly from Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, and more.

What is MCP?

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard that lets AI assistants use external tools. Cuppa Studio's MCP server gives any compatible AI client the ability to generate presentations, refine existing ones, list themes and templates, and more — all without leaving your AI workflow.

Prerequisites

Node.js 18+ installed on your machine
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY environment variable set (for generate_presentation and refine_presentation tools)

# Set your API key (add to your shell profile for persistence)
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-..."

Setup by Client

Claude Desktop

Open Settings → Developer → Edit Config (or edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS, %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json on Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cuppa-studio": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@cuppa-studio/mcp"],
      "env": {
        "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "sk-ant-..."
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. You'll see Cuppa Studio tools in the tools menu (hammer icon).

Claude Code (CLI)

Add Cuppa Studio as an MCP server in your project or global settings:

# Add to current project
claude mcp add mycuppa -- npx @cuppa-studio/mcp

# Or add globally (available in all projects)
claude mcp add --scope user mycuppa -- npx @cuppa-studio/mcp

Alternatively, add it to your .mcp.json file in your project root:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cuppa-studio": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@cuppa-studio/mcp"],
      "env": {
        "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "sk-ant-..."
      }
    }
  }
}

Cursor

Open Settings → MCP and click "Add new MCP server". Enter:

Field	Value
Name	`cuppa-studio`
Type	`command`
Command	`npx @cuppa-studio/mcp`

Or add to .cursor/mcp.json in your project root:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cuppa-studio": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@cuppa-studio/mcp"],
      "env": {
        "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "sk-ant-..."
      }
    }
  }
}

Windsurf

Open Settings → Cascade → MCP and click "Add Server", or edit ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cuppa-studio": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@cuppa-studio/mcp"],
      "env": {
        "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "sk-ant-..."
      }
    }
  }
}

VS Code (Copilot)

VS Code supports MCP servers through GitHub Copilot's agent mode. Add to your .vscode/mcp.json:

{
  "servers": {
    "cuppa-studio": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@cuppa-studio/mcp"],
      "env": {
        "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "sk-ant-..."
      }
    }
  }
}

Other MCP Clients

Any MCP-compatible client can use Cuppa Studio. The server runs over stdio — the universal configuration is:

Setting	Value
Transport	stdio
Command	`npx`
Arguments	`@cuppa-studio/mcp`
Environment	`ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...`

Verifying the Setup

After configuring, verify Cuppa Studio is connected by asking your AI assistant:

# Test the connection
"List all Cuppa Studio themes"

# Should return the 8 built-in themes with colors and fonts

If this works, you're ready to generate presentations. Try:

"Generate a tech talk about WebSockets with code examples and a mermaid diagram"

Available Tools

Once connected, your AI assistant has access to these tools:

Tool	Description
`generate_presentation`	Generate a presentation from a prompt — outputs a `.md` file
`refine_presentation`	Modify an existing presentation — reads `.cup` or `.md`, outputs `.md`
`compile_markdown`	Compile Cuppa Studio markdown into a `.cup` file
`read_cupfile`	Read and parse a `.cup` file
`write_cupfile`	Write a CupFile JSON object to a `.cup` archive
`list_themes`	List all themes with color schemes and fonts
`list_templates`	List all presentation templates

Prompt Templates

The MCP server includes 10 pre-built prompt templates that structure your request automatically. Use them by asking your AI assistant to use a specific template:

# Using prompt templates
"Use the tech-talk template about WebSockets"
"Use the pitch-deck template for my startup Acme Corp"
"Use the incident-postmortem template for the March 5 outage"

Template	Input	Theme	Slides
`tech-talk`	Topic	dark	8-10
`team-update`	Team name	corporate	5-7
`product-demo`	Product	bold	10-12
`workshop`	Topic	ocean	12-15
`pitch-deck`	Company	minimal	10-12
`architecture-review`	System	dark	8-10
`sprint-demo`	Sprint	bold	7-9
`code-walkthrough`	Topic	dark	8-10
`incident-postmortem`	Incident	dark	7-9
`api-docs`	API name	ocean	7-9

Workflow: MCP → Studio

The MCP server outputs .md files — standard Cuppa Studio markdown. Here's the recommended workflow:

Generate — ask your AI assistant to create a presentation. It writes a .md file.
Open in Studio — drag the .md file into Cuppa Studio or copy-paste the contents.
Refine — edit the markdown directly in Studio, or ask the AI to refine it.
Present — click Present in Studio, or use mycuppa serve slides.md.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Solution
Tools not showing up	Restart your AI client after adding the config. Check that `npx @cuppa-studio/mcp` runs without errors in your terminal.
"ANTHROPIC_API_KEY not set"	Add the `env` block to your MCP config, or `export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=...` in your shell profile.
Slow first run	The first `npx` invocation downloads the package. Subsequent runs are cached.
Permission errors	Ensure Node.js 18+ is installed and `npx` is on your PATH.
Generated file not found	By default, files are written to your system temp directory. Use the `outputPath` parameter to specify a location.

For prompt writing tips, see the AI Guide.