Outline MCP Server

MCP Outline Server

## 📢 Official Outline MCP Server Available

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

Read the docs.

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:

%22%2C%22password%22%3Afalse%7D%5D&config=%7B%22command%22%3A%22uvx%22%2C%22args%22%3A%5B%22mcp-outline%22%5D%2C%22env%22%3A%7B%22OUTLINE_API_KEY%22%3A%22%24%7Binput%3Aoutline_api_key%7D%22%2C%22OUTLINE_API_URL%22%3A%22%24%7Binput%3Aoutline_api_url%7D%22%7D%7D) %22%2C%22password%22%3Afalse%7D%5D&config=%7B%22command%22%3A%22uvx%22%2C%22args%22%3A%5B%22mcp-outline%22%5D%2C%22env%22%3A%7B%22OUTLINE_API_KEY%22%3A%22%24%7Binput%3Aoutline_api_key%7D%22%2C%22OUTLINE_API_URL%22%3A%22%24%7Binput%3Aoutline_api_url%7D%22%7D%7D&quality=insiders)

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= 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": " ", "OUTLINE_API_URL": " " } } } }

</details>

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

Configuration

Access Control

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