Basecoat UI MCP

Basecoat UI MCP

Offline Model Context Protocol server for Basecoat UI (shadcn/ui look without bundling or requiring React).

Curated templates, macro layouts, rhythm tokens, and static validation for Astro, Next.js, HTML, and Tailwind CSS 4.

The server exposes a deterministic, offline registry for AI coding agents instead of requiring clients to scrape documentation. It runs over local stdio with zero runtime network requests, bounded < 2 KB responses, and bounded lexical/heuristic static source validation. The host application remains responsible for rendering, data access, authentication, sessions, credentials, OAuth, captcha, and other runtime behavior.

Install

Requires Node.js 22.14.0 or newer.

Quick Start by Client

Cursor (.cursor/mcp.json)

{

"mcpServers": { "basecoat-ui": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "@intellmedia/basecoat-ui-mcp", "--project-root", "${workspaceFolder}"] } } }

Claude Desktop (claude_desktop_config.json)

{

"mcpServers": { "basecoat-ui": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "@intellmedia/basecoat-ui-mcp", "--project-root", "/absolute/path/to/your/application"] } } }

Claude Code (CLI)

claude mcp add basecoat-ui -- npx -y @intellmedia/basecoat-ui-mcp --project-root $(pwd)

Generic npx (no install)

{

"mcpServers": { "basecoat-ui": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "@intellmedia/basecoat-ui-mcp", "--project-root", "/absolute/path/to/your/application"] } } }

npm

npm install --global @intellmedia/basecoat-ui-mcp

Add the server to an MCP client. Use an absolute path for the host application so design context and persistent sessions belong to the intended project:

{

"mcpServers": { "basecoat-ui": { "command": "basecoat-ui-mcp", "args": ["--project-root", "/absolute/path/to/your/application"] } } }

The compiled entry can also be invoked directly:

{

"mcpServers": { "basecoat-ui": { "command": "node", "args": [ "/absolute/path/to/node_modules/@intellmedia/basecoat-ui-mcp/dist/server/stdio.js", "--project-root", "/absolute/path/to/your/application" ] } } }

Published packages include prebuilt dist/ and the immutable semantic snapshot under src/semantics/. Server startup reads that snapshot and does not write inside the installed package. The package contract test builds first, creates and extracts an actual npm tarball, marks the extracted package tree read-only, starts its dist/server/stdio.js under a network tripwire, completes MCP initialize and tool-list requests, and closes the connection. A source checkout does not include dist/.

From source

git clone https://github.com/zygiu-zygis/basecoat-ui-mcp.git

cd basecoat-ui-mcp npm ci npm run build npm start -- --project-root /absolute/path/to/your/application

--project-root takes precedence over BASECOAT_PROJECT_ROOT, which takes precedence over the launch directory. The selected directory is the host project, not the MCP installation directory. The server exposes stdio only.

Project-root configuration

The configured root controls two things:

• DESIGN.md is read from that directory by basecoat://project/context.
• Persistent macro sessions are stored under /.basecoat/designer/.
• .basecoat/rhythm.json is an optional strict override. It must live under a real .basecoat directory inside the project root, be a regular non-symlink file no larger than 65,536 UTF-8 bytes, and resolve inside that root; missing or rejected files leave the packaged profile unchanged. Matching mapping IDs replace in place and keep packaged order.

Only that exact directory is used. The server does not walk parent directories. Keep .basecoat/ in the host project and back it up if design sessions are part of your workflow. The MCP server never writes host application source files.

Basecoat MCP tools

The server exposes 22 offline MCP tools organized across six architectural layers: project setup and configuration, intent-driven layout orchestration, theme-aware charts, component retrieval, macro design graphs, and semantic state contracts. Every tool result is a bounded MCP packet of at most 1,999 UTF-8 bytes. Larger result sets use cursors; responses are not sliced mid-JSON.

Complete MCP Tool Table

Intent-Driven Design Layer (Fast Path)

1. basecoat_setup_config - Framework and styling configuration generator. Outputs ready-to-use boilerplate for 6 targets (astro, vanilla, nextjs, sveltekit, vite, htmx), 8 aesthetic style packs (vega, nova, maia, lyra, mira, luma, sera, rhea), complete OKLCH @theme inline blocks, and synchronous inline dark mode scripts.
2. basecoat_page_architect - Query recipes (src/macros/authoring/recipes/*.json) and macro blocks (src/macros/authoring/blocks/*.json) by intent, recipe, or block. Delivers full layout scaffolds with explicit data-slot markers, semantic HTML skeletons, grid structures, and responsive containers. Fully covers 5 dashboard page archetypes:

• Executive Dashboard (workspace-dashboard, executive-dashboard) - KPI stat cards, revenue chart, and recent activity.
• E-commerce Overview (ecommerce-overview) - Sales metrics, revenue analytics, top products card, and order summary.
• Analytics Workspace (analytics-workspace) - Filter toolbar, time-series interactive chart, and cohort analysis breakdown.
• Data Table Detail (workspace-detail, data-table-detail) - Paginated data table with search/filters and slide-over inspection drawer.
• Settings Split-Screen (workspace-settings, settings-split-screen) - Two-column responsive layout with vertical section navigation and form controls. Supports density controls (compact for high-density enterprise tools, comfortable for standard interfaces).

1. basecoat_compose_stack - Dynamically composes 45 pre-built component stacks across 7 categories (shell-stacks, header-stacks, kpi-stacks, chart-stacks, table-stacks, overlay-stacks, form-stacks) into canonical shells (sidebar-01..sidebar-16, topbar-shell, inset-shell, split-shell) with automated slot hydration.
2. basecoat_rules_enforcer - Enforces strict technical constraints across tailwind-v4, fsm-contracts, tokens, semantic-html, and dashboard-patterns:

• MET-01: KPI numerals require text-2xl/text-3xl with tabular-nums and semantic trend indicators.
• TBL-01: Data tables require wrapper, sticky blurred , and right-aligned numeric cells.
• FRM-01: Input controls require wrappers with associated .
• NAV-01: Headers must use compact h-12 or h-14 (forbidding oversized h-16).
• TW4-01: Rejects deprecated Tailwind v3 utilities (bg-opacity-*, flex-shrink-*, @tailwind directives).
• TOK-01: Rejects arbitrary bracket dimensions (w-[327px]) and hardcoded hex colors (#ff0000, bg-[#123456]).
• FSM-01: Enforces finite sta