Manic MCP Server

Give any MCP-capable AI — Claude Code, Claude Desktop, or a local model — the ability to write, validate, and render Manic animations.

The connected model is the author: this server deliberately has no AI- generation tool and spends no Manic AI credits. Instead it hands the model the complete Manic authoring guide, then lets it validate its own .manic source and render real videos through the Manic platform with your API key.

Tools

| Tool | Auth | What it does | |---|---|---| | manic_authoring_guide | none | Fetches the full, current Manic language guide — the same system prompt Manic's own AI uses. The model reads this once, then writes real Manic. | | manic_check | API key (check) | Validates .manic source and returns exact diagnostics. Cheap — always check before rendering. | | manic_render | API key (render:create) | Submits source to the hosted renderer (mp4/gif/webm/mov/still). Returns a durable job id. Spends export credits. | | manic_render_status | API key (jobs:read) | Polls a render job; returns the artifact URL when done, or the exact compile error to fix. | | manic_save_to_project | API key (projects:read/write) | Saves the file into your Manic project, where it opens in Manic Create and Manic Workbench. |

The intended loop: guide → write → check → (fix → check…) → render → poll → video — with every generated file optionally saved as a real project document.

Setup

Create an API key at app.maniclang.com/account with scopes: check, render:create, jobs:read, projects:read, projects:write. (Without a key, only manic_authoring_guide works.)

No install needed — npx runs the published package directly.

Claude Code

claude mcp add manic -e MANIC_API_KEY=mk_live_… -- npx -y @maniclang/mcp-server

Claude Desktop / other MCP clients

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "manic": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@maniclang/mcp-server"],
      "env": { "MANIC_API_KEY": "mk_live_…" }
    }
  }
}

From source (development)

npm install && npm run build

Then use node /path/to/manic-mcp-server/dist/index.js as the command instead of npx -y @maniclang/mcp-server in any config above.

Other clients

Cursor, Windsurf, Cline, Continue, Zed, LM Studio, and any generic stdio MCP client — see docs/USAGE.md for copy-paste configs, the intended authoring loop, example prompts, the cost model, and troubleshooting.

Configuration

| Variable | Default | Purpose | |---|---|---| | MANIC_API_KEY | — | Your Manic API key; required for everything except the authoring guide | | MANIC_API_BASE_URL | https://api.maniclang.com/v1 | Platform API base | | MANIC_SYSTEM_PROMPT_URL | the hosted Manic guide | Override the authoring-guide source |

Try it

Ask your model:

"Read the Manic authoring guide, then create a 15-second animation of a pendulum tracing its path, validate it, render it as mp4, and give me the video link."

Links

• Manic · Manic App · API reference
• Manic Create — browser playground
• Manic Workbench — desktop client
• Manic Animate — browser extension