Outline

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MCP Outline Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server enabling AI assistants to interact with Outline (https://www.getoutline.com)

Overview

This project implements a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that allows AI assistants (like Claude) to interact with Outline document services, providing a bridge between natural language interactions and Outline's document management capabilities.

Features

Currently implemented:

  • Document Search: Search for documents by keywords
  • Collection Management: List collections and view document structure
  • Document Reading: Read document content, export as markdown
  • Comment Management: View and add comments on documents
  • Document Creation: Create new documents in collections
  • Document Editing: Update document content and move documents
  • Backlink Management: View documents that link to a specific document

Getting Started

Prerequisites

  • Python 3.10+
  • Outline account with API access
  • Outline API key (get this from your Outline account settings)

Installation

## Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/Vortiago/mcp-outline.git
cd mcp-outline

## Install in development mode
uv pip install -e ".[dev]"

Configuration

Create a .env file in the project root with the following variables:

## Outline API Configuration
OUTLINE_API_KEY=your_outline_api_key_here

## For cloud-hosted Outline (default)
## OUTLINE_API_URL=https://app.getoutline.com/api

## For self-hosted Outline
## OUTLINE_API_URL=https://your-outline-instance.example.com/api

Running the Server

## Development mode with the MCP Inspector
mcp dev src/mcp_outline/server.py

## Or use the provided script
./start_server.sh

## Install in Claude Desktop (if available)
mcp install src/mcp_outline/server.py --name "Document Outline Assistant"

Usage Examples

Search for Documents

Search for documents containing "project planning"

List Collections

Show me all available collections

Read a Document

Get the content of document with ID "docId123"

Create a New Document

Create a new document titled "Research Report" in collection "colId456" with content "# Introduction\n\nThis is a research report..."

Add a Comment

Add a comment to document "docId123" saying "This looks great, but we should add more details to the methodology section."

Move a Document

Move document "docId123" to collection "colId789"

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

Development

## Run tests
uv run pytest tests/

## Format code
uv run ruff format .

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments