mcp-outline

📢 Official Outline MCP Server Available

Outline now ships an official MCP server — we recommend using it. Read the docs.

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A Model Context Protocol server for interacting with Outline document management.

Features

• Document operations: Search, read, create, edit, archive documents
• Collections: List, create, manage document hierarchies
• Comments: Add and view threaded comments
• Backlinks: Find documents referencing a specific document
• MCP Resources: Direct content access via URIs (outline://document/{id}, outline://collection/{id}, etc.)
• Automatic rate limiting: Transparent handling of API limits with retry logic

Prerequisites

Before using this MCP server, you need:

• An Outline account (cloud hosted or self-hosted)
• API key from Outline web UI: Settings → API Keys → Create New
• Python 3.10+ (for non-Docker installations)

Getting your API key: Log into Outline → Click your profile → Settings → API Keys → "New API Key". Copy the generated token.

Quick Start

One-Click Install

Click a button to install with interactive API key prompt:

Manual Install

Install with uv (recommended), pip, or Docker:

uvx mcp-outline          # using uv
pip install mcp-outline   # using pip

# using Docker
docker run -e OUTLINE_API_KEY=<your-key> ghcr.io/vortiago/mcp-outline:latest

Then add to your MCP client config (works with VS Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, and others):

{
  "inputs": [
    {
      "id": "outline_api_key",
      "type": "promptString",
      "description": "Enter OUTLINE_API_KEY",
      "password": true
    },
    {
      "id": "outline_api_url",
      "type": "promptString",
      "description": "Outline API URL (optional, for self-hosted)",
      "password": false
    }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "mcp-outline": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["mcp-outline"],
      "env": {
        "OUTLINE_API_KEY": "${input:outline_api_key}",
        "OUTLINE_API_URL": "${input:outline_api_url}"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

claude mcp add mcp-outline uvx mcp-outline

Installing the repo as a plugin instead also bundles the outline-explorer agent (fast read-only wiki exploration) and the outline skill (Outline conventions: mermaidjs fences, document structure, editing workflows).

Claude Desktop

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-outline": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["mcp-outline"],
      "env": {
        "OUTLINE_API_KEY": "<YOUR_API_KEY>",
        "OUTLINE_API_URL": "<YOUR_OUTLINE_URL>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Setup guides for more clients: Docker (HTTP), Cline, Codex, Windsurf, and others

Configuration

Variable	Required	Default	Notes
OUTLINE_API_KEY	Yes*	-	Required for tool calls to succeed. For SSE/HTTP, can alternatively be provided per-request via x-outline-api-key header (details)
OUTLINE_API_URL	No	https://app.getoutline.com/api	For self-hosted: https://your-domain/api
OUTLINE_VERIFY_SSL	No	true	Set false for self-signed certificates
OUTLINE_READ_ONLY	No	false	true = disable ALL write operations (details)
OUTLINE_DISABLE_DELETE	No	false	true = disable only delete operations (details)
OUTLINE_DISABLE_AI_TOOLS	No	false	true = disable AI tools (for Outline instances without OpenAI)
OUTLINE_DISABLE_RECENT_DOCUMENTS	No	false	true = disable the list_recently_updated_documents tool
OUTLINE_DYNAMIC_TOOL_LIST	No	false	true = enable per-user tool filtering by role/key scopes (details)
OUTLINE_MAX_CONNECTIONS	No	100	Max concurrent connections in pool
OUTLINE_MAX_KEEPALIVE	No	20	Max idle connections in pool
OUTLINE_TIMEOUT	No	30.0	Read timeout in seconds
OUTLINE_CONNECT_TIMEOUT	No	5.0	Connection timeout in seconds
OUTLINE_WRITE_TIMEOUT	No	30.0	Write timeout in seconds
OUTLINE_CACHE_TTL	No	30	Document cache TTL in seconds. The short default absorbs same-task read bursts without stressing the Outline API; set 0 to disable caching (always-fresh reads) or higher (e.g. 300) for more API savings. Staged edits work either way
OUTLINE_CACHE_MAX_SIZE	No	100	Max cached documents
MCP_TRANSPORT	No	stdio	Transport mode: stdio (local), sse or streamable-http (remote)
MCP_HOST	No	127.0.0.1	Server host. Use 0.0.0.0 in Docker for external connections
MCP_PORT	No	3000	HTTP server port (only for sse and streamable-http modes)

Access Control

Feature	Env Var	Effect
Read-only mode	OUTLINE_READ_ONLY=true	Disables all write operations — only search, read, and export tools available
Disable deletes	OUTLINE_DISABLE_DELETE=true	Disables only delete operations, all other writes allowed
Disable recent-changes tool	OUTLINE_DISABLE_RECENT_DOCUMENTS=true	Disables only the list_recently_updated_documents tool
Dynamic tool list	OUTLINE_DYNAMIC_TOOL_LIST=true	Filters tools per-user based on Outline role and API key scopes
Per-user Outline API keys	x-outline-api-key header	Each user passes their own Outline API key in HTTP mode for multi-user setups

Read-only mode takes precedence over disable-delete. See Configuration Guide for details.

Tools

Note: Tool availability depends on your access control settings.

Search & Discovery

• search_documents(query, collection_id?, limit?, offset?, statusFilter?) - Search documents by keywords with pagination. Defaults to published documents; pass statusFilter with draft, archived, and/or published to include other states
• list_recently_updated_documents(date_filter?, collection_id?, status_filter?, limit?, offset?) - List documents by most recent change, newest first (e.g. "what changed this week"). date_filter windows by last change: day/week/month/year (default week). Defaults to published documents
• list_collections() - List all collections
• get_collection_structure(collection_id) - Get document hierarchy within a collection
• get_document_id_from_title(query, collection_id?) - Find document ID by title search

Document Reading

• read_document(document_id, offset?, limit?) - Get document content with optional line-range pagination
• export_document(document_id) - Export document as markdown

Document Navigation

• get_document_toc(document_id) - Get table of contents with heading structure and line numbers
• read_document_section(document_id, heading) - Read a specific section by heading match (case-insensitive substring)

Document Management

• create_document(title, collection_id, text?, parent_document_id?, publish?) - Create new document
• update_document(document_id, title?, text?, append?) - Replace full document content (append mode available)

Document Editing

• edit_document(document_id, edits, save?) - String-match editing with batched replacements; save=False stages changes locally, save=True on the final call pushes all changes
• move_document(document_id, collection_id?, parent_document_id?) - Move document to different collection or parent

Document Lifecycle

• archive_document(document_id) - Archive document
• unarchive_document(document_id) - Restore document from archive
• delete_document(document_id, permanent?) - Delete document (or move to trash)
• restore_document(document_id) - Restore document from trash
• list_archived_documents() - List all archived documents
• list_trash() - List all documents in trash

Comments & Collaboration

• add_comment(document_id, text, parent_comment_id?) - Add comment to document (supports threaded replies)
• list_document_comments(document_id, include_anchor_text?, limit?, offset?) - View document comments with pagination
• get_comment(comment_id, include_anchor_text?) - Get specific comment details
• get_document_backlinks(document_id) - Find documents that link to this document

Collection Management

• create_collection(name, description?, color?) - Create new collection
• update_collection(collection_id, name?, description?, color?) - Update collection properties
• delete_collection(collection_id) - Delete collection
• export_collection(collection_id, format?) - Export collection (default: outline-markdown)
• export_all_collections(format?) - Export all collections

Batch Operations

• batch_create_documents(documents) - Create multiple documents at once
• batch_update_documents(updates) - Update multiple documents at once
• batch_move_documents(document_ids, collection_id?, parent_document_id?) - Move multiple documents
• batch_archive_documents(document_ids) - Archive multiple documents
• batch_delete_documents(document_ids, permanent?) - Delete multiple documents

AI-Powered

• ask_ai_about_documents(question, collection_id?, document_id?) - Ask natural language questions about your documents

Resources

• outline://collection/{id} - Collection metadata (name, description, color, document count)
• outline://collection/{id}/tree - Hierarchical document tree structure
• outline://collection/{id}/documents - Flat list of documents in collection
• outline://document/{id} - Full document content (markdown)
• outline://document/{id}/backlinks - Documents that link to this document

Development

git clone https://github.com/Vortiago/mcp-outline.git
cd mcp-outline
uv sync --group dev

uv run poe test-unit          # unit tests
uv run poe test-integration   # integration tests (starts MCP server via stdio)
uv run poe test-e2e           # E2E tests (requires Docker)

See Development Guide for self-hosted Outline setup, MCP Inspector, and more.

Troubleshooting

Server not connecting? Test your API key:

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" YOUR_OUTLINE_URL/api/auth.info

See Troubleshooting Guide for common issues with tools, rate limiting, and Docker.

Contributing

Contributions welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md for setup instructions.

License

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

Acknowledgments

• Built with MCP Python SDK
• Uses Outline API for document management