TechProfessor MCP server

A push-based CRUD surface over TechProfessor artifacts (quizzes, tours, flashcards, playgrounds, exams, syllabi, showcases) for any MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, other agents). This server never generates content — you (the client) author the artifact, and the MCP persists, reads, and updates it. Create and Update just push what you made: no server-side AI, no provider key, no serverless time limit.

The flow for every type is the same: call get_artifact_schema for the exact shape, author the artifact, push_artifact to save it, then read it back with get_artifact / list_artifacts and edit it with update_artifact. Optionally group existing artifacts into a course with the course tools.

Tools

| Tool | What it does | |------|--------------| | push_artifact | Create — upload one artifact you authored (quiz/tour/flashcards/playground/exam/syllabus/showcase). | | push_artifacts | Create (bulk) — upload authored artifact JSON files (a directory or single file). | | get_artifact | Read — fetch one artifact in full, including every item with its id. | | list_artifacts | Read (list) — list your artifacts and their session_id. | | update_artifact | Update — edit an artifact in place: title/description and/or items by id. | | get_artifact_schema | Return the exact package shape (+ example) for a type, so an authored artifact validates on the first upload. | | list_repos | List your repositories and their repo_id (to attach a pushed artifact to a repo). | | list_teams | List your teams and their team_id (target for pushes). | | list_courses | List your courses and their course_id. | | create_course | Create a new (empty) course. | | get_course | Fetch one course's items, each with the session it points to. | | add_course_item | Add an existing artifact (by session_id) as a step in a course. |

Create an artifact (push)

You author the artifact; this server persists it. Steps:

1. get_artifact_schema({ type }) — get the exact package shape (+ an example) for quiz / tour / flashcards / playground / exam / syllabus / showcase.
2. Author the package JSON yourself (one artifact per package).
3. push_artifact({ artifact, repo_id?, team_id? }) — save it. repo_id attaches it to a repo (from list_repos); omit for a standalone artifact. team_id (from list_teams) saves to a team space instead of your private one. Re-pushing the same source_ref updates that artifact (idempotent full-replace) instead of creating a duplicate.

push_artifacts does the same from .json files — a directory or a single file. The response includes a web_link you can open to study or share. The link is placement-aware: root artifacts use their flat type home, while repo-backed artifacts use the nested repository/view home. All links returned by push, list, get, and update are canonical browser links.

To read and edit existing artifacts, follow the flow list_artifacts → get_artifact → update_artifact. Call list_artifacts to find a session_id, then get_artifact to fetch every item with its id and current values, then update_artifact to change the title/description and/or specific items by id. Edits happen in place (no new version is created) and are strictly owner-scoped — you only ever see or edit artifacts you own.

push_artifacts takes a path (a directory of artifact JSON files or a single .json file; defaults to .techprof) and an optional team_id. It POSTs each file to the ingest endpoint and reports one line per file. The server caps ingests at 30/min; larger batches may be rate-limited (429).

Exams and syllabi

push_artifact/push_artifacts also accept type: "exam" and type: "syllabus" — call get_artifact_schema({ type: "exam" }) or get_artifact_schema({ type: "syllabus" }) for the exact shape before authoring one:

• An exam's items[] interleaves questions and coding exercises in one ordered list, each keyed by kind: "question" | "playground". Exam questions support multiple_choice/freeform only — no fill_blank.
• A syllabus's materials[] holds html/mermaid content — the field is body (not content). PDF materials are upload-only (not supported via push_artifact).

Both are editable with update_artifact the same way as any other artifact: get_artifact returns each exam item's kind and each syllabus material's fields, and you patch them by id (an exam question edits like a quiz question, an exam playground edits like a playground spec, a syllabus material edits title/body/sort_order).

Showcase

A showcase is marketing/positioning copy, not a learning artifact — one shared brief re-told as audience-shaped content. push_artifact/ push_artifacts accept type: "showcase"; call get_artifact_schema({ type: "showcase" }) for the exact shape before authoring one.

• showcase_format is "explainer" (cold web visitor, landing-page style), "one_pager" (customer/partner/press, dense one-page sheet), or "posts" (followers/subscribers, ready-to-post blog + email copy). "pitch_deck" is a real format value but Phase 2 (slide model + .pptx export) — not yet pushable.
• sections[] holds the content, each { kind, heading, body } in order. kind is per-format convention (not schema-enforced): explainer uses hero | problem | how | benefits | faq | cta; one_pager uses header | problem | what | benefit | who | proof | cta; posts uses blog | email.
• Either inline a new brief (one_liner, who_for, problem, how_it_works, why_different, proof, business_model, team, cta, tone) or link an existing one you own with brief_id — the two are mutually exclusive.

Like exam/syllabus, showcase is author-only (no generate_showcase tool). update_artifact does not yet support editing showcase sections.

Courses

A course groups existing artifacts (by session_id) into an ordered sequence — it is not an artifact type itself and is never pushed via push_artifact. Typical flow: push the pieces you want (a tour, an exam, a syllabus, …) with push_artifact, create_course to make the container, then add_course_item once per piece with its session_id. Use list_courses / get_course to review what's already in a course before adding more.

Setup

1. In TechProfessor, open Account → Developer & MCP and create a token (tp_pat_…). Copy it — it is shown only once. No AI provider key is needed — this server never generates content, it only stores what you author.
2. Add the server to your MCP client (below). Prefer the hosted HTTP endpoint (https://tech-professor.com/api/mcp) — no clone or build needed. To run the local stdio package from source instead, see Local development.

Configure your MCP client

Hosted HTTP (recommended)

No local Node/npx required. Point any MCP client at the hosted Streamable HTTP endpoint and pass your token as a Bearer header — same shape as GitHub Copilot's remote MCP:

claude mcp add-json techprofessor \
  '{"type":"http","url":"https://tech-professor.com/api/mcp","headers":{"Authorization":"Bearer tp_pat_xxx"}}'

claude mcp add --transport http techprofessor https://tech-professor.com/api/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer tp_pat_xxx"

Cursor / Claude Desktop / .mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "techprofessor": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://tech-professor.com/api/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer tp_pat_xxx" }
    }
  }
}

For local development, use http://localhost:1420/api/mcp (or your Vite port) against a token minted on that instance. Account → Developer & MCP also shows a ready-made add-json command with your freshly created token filled in.

Local stdio (npx) — optional

Prefer HTTP above. Use the published package when you need filesystem push_artifacts (bulk upload from a directory):

claude mcp add techprofessor -s user \
  -e TECHPROF_API_TOKEN=tp_pat_xxx \
  -- npx -y @techprofessor/mcp

claude mcp add-json techprofessor \
  '{"type":"stdio","command":"npx","args":["-y","@techprofessor/mcp"],"env":{"TECHPROF_API_TOKEN":"tp_pat_xxx"}}'

-s user registers it for every project; drop it to add only the current one.

TECHPROF_BASE_URL defaults to https://tech-professor.com (the hosted app); set it only to point at your own deployment or http://localhost:1420 for local development.

Local development

From a clone of the repo (to hack on the server itself):

cd mcp-server
bun install
TECHPROF_API_TOKEN=tp_pat_xxx TECHPROF_BASE_URL=http://localhost:1420 bun src/index.ts

Inspect tools interactively with the MCP Inspector:

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector npx -y @techprofessor/mcp