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Copy file name to clipboardExpand all lines: 16/umbraco-cms/reference/developer-mcp/concepts/model-context-protocol.md
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# Model Context Protocol (MCP)
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**Model Context Protocol (MCP)** is a standardised way to connect Large Language Models (LLMs) with external tools, APIs, and data sources. It brings order and consistency to how LLMs interact with the outside world — transforming what used to be complex, manual integrations into something modular and predictable.
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**Model Context Protocol (MCP)** is a standardised way to connect Large Language Models (LLMs) with external tools, APIs, and data sources. It brings order and consistency to how LLMs interact with the outside world. This transforms complex, manual integrations into something modular and predictable.
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## The History of MCP
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Anthropic describes it as “the USB-C of connecting to LLMs.”
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Before MCP, connecting an LLM to external systems such as APIs, files, or databases was a complex and manual process. Each integration required custom glue code and inconsistent communication patterns.
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With MCP, this has changed. The protocol provides a standardised, declarative way to describe and expose capabilities — making it much easier for developers to connect logic and data to an LLM in a reliable, repeatable way.
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With MCP, this has changed. The protocol provides a standardised, declarative way to describe and expose capabilities. This makes it much easier for developers to connect logic and data to an LLM in a reliable, repeatable way.
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## What Is MCP
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### MCP Clients
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An MCP client represents a single connection between the LLM and an MCP server. It routes information between the MCP servers and the model, makes each MCP capability visible to the LLM, passes calls from the model to the correct server, and returns the results back to the LLM.
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An MCP client represents a single connection between the LLM and an MCP server. It routes information between the MCP servers and the model. It makes each MCP capability visible to the LLM. The client passes calls from the model to the correct server and returns the results back.
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In short, the client acts as the traffic controller between the model and the external systems it can interact with.
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- Filesystems
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- Any other external system
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A single client can connect to multiple servers, each running in parallel — for example, one server might expose Umbraco’s Management API, another might provide access to a local file system, and a third could connect to an external data source such as a CRM or analytics database. This allows the LLM to draw from and interact with several systems at once, all through a single, unified MCP connection.
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A single client can connect to multiple servers, each running in parallel. For example, one server might expose Umbraco's Management API, another might provide access to a local file system. A third could connect to an external data source such as a CRM or analytics database. This allows the LLM to draw from and interact with several systems at once. All of this happens through a single, unified MCP connection.
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Each exposed element has a name, a description and an input schema, which the model uses to understand what the MCP server element does and when to use it.
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Each exposed element has a name, a description, and an input schema. The model uses these to understand what the MCP server element does and when to use it.
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## The Core Elements of MCP
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## What This Means for Umbraco
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The Developer MCP Server builds on top of Umbraco’s Management API (introduced in v14), which exposes everything the Backoffice can do — from content and media to document and data types — through consistent, structured endpoints.
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The Developer MCP Server builds on top of Umbraco's Management API (introduced in v14). This API exposes everything the Backoffice can do through consistent, structured endpoints. This includes content, media, document types, and data types.
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These APIs follow predictable patterns for CRUD operations, listings etc, making them an ideal foundation for the Model Context Protocol (MCP).
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However, the Backoffice UI can only ever expose a fraction of the functionality that the Management API makes possible. It’s designed for day-to-day content management — not for executing complex, multi-step operations that span across entities or require dynamic logic. Many advanced or edge case workflows are simply too specialised, too costly, or too confusing to implement in the UI.
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By giving an LLM or AI agent access to these APIs through MCP, you can now ask it to perform powerful, compound tasks that are impossible in the Backoffice and impractical to achieve manually.
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By giving an LLM or AI agent access to these APIs through MCP, you can now ask it to perform powerful, compound tasks. These tasks would be impossible in the Backoffice and impractical to achieve manually.
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MCP turns Umbraco’s structured API surface into something the model can read from, reason about, and automate — unlocking the full depth of Umbraco’s capabilities, not just the parts surfaced through the UI.
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MCP turns Umbraco's structured API surface into something the model can read from, reason about, and automate. This unlocks the full depth of Umbraco's capabilities, not just the parts surfaced through the UI.
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{% hint style="info" %}
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MCP is not a replacement for the Umbraco Backoffice. Many actions — like visual content design, layout composition, and structured editing — are best completed using the UI.
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Instead, the Developer MCP Server augments the Backoffice, empowering you to run complex, technical operations that are better expressed as goals or workflows rather than manual clicks.
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MCP is not a replacement for the Umbraco Backoffice. Many actions are best completed using the UI. This includes visual content design, layout composition, and structured editing.
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Instead, the Developer MCP Server augments the Backoffice. It empowers you to run complex, technical operations that are better expressed as goals or workflows rather than manual clicks.
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{% endhint %}
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Because MCP exposes the Management API as composable tools, the model can chain endpoints in an unlimited number of combinations to solve real-world tasks. You describe the outcome you want, and the model figures out how to get there.
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MCP exposes the Management API as composable tools. This means the model can chain endpoints in an unlimited number of combinations to solve real-world tasks. You describe the outcome you want, and the model figures out how to get there.
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For example:
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You’ve always had access to the Management API — but using it directly meant writing custom scripts or tooling. Now, with MCP, the model (or an agent) can dynamically plan and execute API calls on your behalf.
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It looks like magic — but it’s really just tool orchestration: the LLM figures out what to call, when, and why based on the tools it’s been given and the goal you’ve described.
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It looks like magic — but it's really just tool orchestration. The LLM figures out what to call, when, and why. It bases this on the tools it's been given and the goal you've described.
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The only limit is your imagination. If you can explain what you want, an LLM that understands Umbraco and has the right MCP tools can be left to figure out how to make it happen.
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The only limit is your imagination. If you can explain what you want, an LLM that understands Umbraco can figure out how to make it happen. This assumes it has the right MCP tools available.
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## The LLM as a Collaborator
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Beyond automation, MCP enables you to leverage the expertise of the LLM as an intelligent contributor to your Umbraco project. Instead of just executing tasks, the model can assist in planning schema changes, refactoring document types, improving naming conventions, and proposing best practices — all based on a deep understanding of the CMS. It can help you migrate, restructure, and optimise your setup, reducing manual effort while increasing technical quality. With the Developer MCP Server, the LLM becomes more than a command executor — it becomes a **collaborative development partner**.
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Beyond automation, MCP enables you to leverage the expertise of the LLM as an intelligent contributor to your Umbraco project. Instead of just executing tasks, the model can assist in planning schema changes, refactoring document types, improving naming conventions, and proposing best practices. All of this is based on a deep understanding of the CMS. It can help you migrate, restructure, and optimise your setup, reducing manual effort while increasing technical quality. With the Developer MCP Server, the LLM becomes more than a command executor — it becomes a **collaborative development partner**.
Copy file name to clipboardExpand all lines: 16/umbraco-cms/reference/developer-mcp/host-setup/claude-desktop.md
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{% endhint %}
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From here, you should [choose which tools or tool collections](../available-tools.md) you want to enable for your first task.
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Unfortunately, you will need to restart Claude Desktop every time you make a change to the tools you are using.
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Note that you will need to restart Claude Desktop every time you make a change to the tools you are using.
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## Node version mismatch
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Occasionally, Claude Desktop may choose to use the wrong version of Node.js when running the MCP Server.
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A minimum of Node.js version 22 is required. This issue most commonly occurs when using a Node.js version manager such as nvm. Claude Desktop can sometimes default to the lowest installed version rather than the active one set by nvm.
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Unfortunately, the only reliable fix for this is to remove all older Node.js versions, leaving only version 22 or higher installed.
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The only reliable fix for this is to remove all older Node.js versions, leaving only version 22 or higher installed.
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This behaviour appears to be specific to Claude Desktop and does not affect any other AI hosts.
Copy file name to clipboardExpand all lines: 16/umbraco-cms/reference/developer-mcp/host-setup/cursor.md
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# Cursor Setup
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[Cursor](https://cursor.com/) is an AI-powered code editor built as a fork of Visual Studio Code. It enhances the familiar VS Code experience with conversational AI features that help you write, refactor, and understand code more efficiently.
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[Cursor](https://cursor.com/) is an AI-powered code editor built as a fork of Visual Studio Code. It enhances the familiar Visual Studio Code experience with conversational AI features that help you write, refactor, and understand code more efficiently.
Copy file name to clipboardExpand all lines: 16/umbraco-cms/reference/developer-mcp/host-setup/github-copilot.md
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## Getting started
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#### Click the button to install:
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[<imgsrc="https://img.shields.io/badge/VS_Code-VS_Code?style=flat-square&label=Install%20Server&color=0098FF"alt="Install in VS Code">](https://insiders.vscode.dev/redirect?url=vscode%3Amcp%2Finstall%3F%7B%22name%22%3A%22umbraco-mcp%22%2C%22command%22%3A%22npx%22%2C%22args%22%3A%5B%22%40umbraco-cms%2Fmcp-dev%40beta%22%5D%2C%22env%22%3A%7B%22NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED%22%3A%220%22%2C%22UMBRACO_CLIENT_ID%22%3A%22%3CAPI%20user%20name%3E%22%2C%22UMBRACO_CLIENT_SECRET%22%3A%22%3CAPI%20client%20secert%3E%22%2C%22UMBRACO_BASE_URL%22%3A%22https%3A%2F%2F%3Cdomain%3E%22%2C%22UMBRACO_INCLUDE_TOOL_COLLECTIONS%22%3A%22document%2Cmedia%2Cdocument-type%2Cdata-type%22%7D%7D)
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#### Click the button to install
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[<imgsrc="https://img.shields.io/badge/VS_Code-VS_Code?style=flat-square&label=Install%20Server&color=0098FF"alt="Install in Visual Studio Code">](https://insiders.vscode.dev/redirect?url=vscode%3Amcp%2Finstall%3F%7B%22name%22%3A%22umbraco-mcp%22%2C%22command%22%3A%22npx%22%2C%22args%22%3A%5B%22%40umbraco-cms%2Fmcp-dev%40beta%22%5D%2C%22env%22%3A%7B%22NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED%22%3A%220%22%2C%22UMBRACO_CLIENT_ID%22%3A%22%3CAPI%20user%20name%3E%22%2C%22UMBRACO_CLIENT_SECRET%22%3A%22%3CAPI%20client%20secert%3E%22%2C%22UMBRACO_BASE_URL%22%3A%22https%3A%2F%2F%3Cdomain%3E%22%2C%22UMBRACO_INCLUDE_TOOL_COLLECTIONS%22%3A%22document%2Cmedia%2Cdocument-type%2Cdata-type%22%7D%7D)
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**Requirements:**VS Code 1.101+ with GitHub Copilot Chat extension installed.
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**Requirements:**Visual Studio Code 1.101+ with GitHub Copilot Chat extension installed.
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Or install manually:
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Follow the MCP [install guide](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/customization/mcp-servers#_add-an-mcp-server), use this config.
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## Getting started
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Once you’ve added your MCP Server and updated the JSON configuration, restarting and managing the server is simple.
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Once you’ve added your MCP Server and updated the JSON configuration, restarting and managing the server is straightforward.
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