AI-Native Templates MCP Server

MCP server that provides AI-Native Engineer templates for syncing to your projects.

Overview

This MCP server is a pure data provider. It fetches templates from GitHub and returns them with llmInstructions that guide the AI agent on how to handle each file. The agent (not the MCP) performs all file operations.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+
• gh CLI installed and authenticated:

# Install gh CLI
brew install gh  # macOS
# or see https://cli.github.com/

# Authenticate
gh auth login

Installation

Via npx (recommended)

Add to your .cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ai-native-engineer": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@shaykec/ai-native-engineer"]
    }
  }
}

Local development

cd mcp-server
npm install
npm run build

Add to .cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ai-native-engineer": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/mcp-server/dist/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Usage

Single Tool: templates

This MCP exposes one tool with two modes:

List Templates

templates({ mode: "list" })

Returns array of available templates with descriptions:

{
  "templates": [
    { "path": "templates/root/AGENTS.md", "destPath": "AGENTS.md", "description": "Core AI agent instructions." },
    { "path": "templates/cursor-rules/security.mdc", "destPath": ".cursor/rules/security.mdc", "description": "Security rules." }
  ]
}

Sync Templates

templates({ mode: "sync" })

Returns all templates with content and handling instructions:

{
  "templates": [
    {
      "destPath": "AGENTS.md",
      "content": "# AGENTS.md - AI Agent Instructions...",
      "llmInstructions": {
        "purpose": "Core AI agent instructions.",
        "action": "merge",
        "preserve": ["Quick Reference Commands", "Project Overview"],
        "update": ["Critical Rules", "Workflows"],
        "hints": "Keep project-specific content, update process sections."
      }
    }
  ],
  "latestCommit": "abc1234",
  "globalInstructions": "For each template..."
}

llmInstructions Actions

| Action | Behavior | |--------|----------| | create-if-missing | Only create file if it doesn't exist | | overwrite | Replace file entirely with template | | merge | Use preserve/update arrays to intelligently merge |

Templates Included

• Root docs: AGENTS.md, CONTRIBUTING.md, SECURITY.md, TESTING.md
• Cursor rules: always.mdc, security.mdc, testing.mdc, code-style.mdc, architecture.mdc
• Scripts: start-issue.sh, finish-issue.sh, check-ci.sh, setup.sh, etc.
• GitHub: PR template, issue templates, CI workflows
• Knowledge: DECISIONS.md, KNOWN_ISSUES.md, LESSONS_LEARNED.md

How It Works

1. Templates are stored in shayke-cohen/ai-native-engineer GitHub repo
2. MCP fetches templates via gh api (uses your existing GitHub auth)
3. Templates are cached for 1 hour
4. Agent receives templates + llmInstructions
5. Agent reads existing files, applies merge logic, writes files
6. No file system access needed by MCP - agent handles everything

Agent Workflow

When a user asks to sync templates:

1. Agent calls templates({ mode: "sync" })
2. For each template in response:
   • Read existing file at destPath (if any)
   • Apply action from llmInstructions
   • Write file using agent's file tools
3. Report: X created, Y updated, Z skipped
4. Remind user: chmod +x scripts/*.sh

Source Repository

Templates: https://github.com/shayke-cohen/ai-native-engineer

Related

• ai-tester - AI-powered testing MCP server