OpenFlowKit MCP Server

Give Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, or any MCP client first-class diagramming tools.

OpenFlowKit MCP is local-first by design — it runs on your machine over stdio with no API key and no cloud round-trip, and its tools return deterministic output. Your MCP client already has an LLM; this server just gives it diagram-specific tools.

Instead, it gives the agent diagram-specific powers:

• read the OpenFlow DSL reference
• inspect starter templates
• analyze local codebases
• find exact cloud and developer icon slugs
• validate agent-authored DSL
• create shareable OpenFlowKit viewer URLs

No API keys, no telemetry, no account, no server-side storage.

You:    Create a checkout flow with a promo-code branch
Claude: reads openflowkit://docs/dsl-cheatsheet
        writes OpenFlow DSL itself
        calls validate_openflow_dsl
        fixes any issues
        calls create_viewer_url
        returns DSL + viewer link

Install

# No install required; npx fetches the latest published version
npx -y @vrun-design/openflowkit-mcp

# Or install globally
npm install -g @vrun-design/openflowkit-mcp
openflowkit-mcp

Requires Node 18+.

Claude Desktop setup

Edit your Claude Desktop config:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openflowkit": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@vrun-design/openflowkit-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. You should see openflowkit in the tool picker.

Cursor / Windsurf / other MCP clients

Point the client at the same command:

• command: npx
• args: ["-y", "@vrun-design/openflowkit-mcp"]

The server speaks the standard MCP stdio protocol. Client UIs differ, but the command shape is the same.

Tools

All tools run locally and require no provider key.

| Tool | What it does | |---|---| | validate_openflow_dsl | Lint OpenFlow DSL with structured diagnostics | | create_viewer_url | Encode OpenFlow DSL into a shareable OpenFlowKit viewer URL | | analyze_codebase | Detect platforms, services, top-level structure, and language mix from a local repo | | find_icon | Fuzzy-search 1,600+ AWS, Azure, GCP, CNCF, and developer icons | | list_starter_templates | Browse built-in starter templates | | get_starter_template | Fetch a named starter template as DSL | | list_diagram_node_types | Return DSL node and edge reference data | | server_info | Return version and capability metadata |

Resources

Agents can read these directly:

| URI | Description | |---|---| | openflowkit://docs/dsl-cheatsheet | OpenFlow DSL syntax reference | | openflowkit://templates | Starter template catalog | | openflowkit://templates/{name} | DSL for a named starter template | | openflowkit://icons | Full icon catalog | | openflowkit://icons/{provider} | Icon catalog for one provider pack |

Provider packs are aws, azure, gcp, cncf, and developer.

Prompts

Clients can surface three prompt templates:

• flowchart_from_description — agent writes, validates, and links a flowchart
• convert_mermaid_to_openflow — agent converts Mermaid into OpenFlow DSL, validates it, and links it
• architecture_from_codebase — agent scans a local repo, picks icon slugs, validates DSL, and links the result

Recommended agent workflow

Ask your MCP client:

Using the openflowkit MCP server: read openflowkit://docs/dsl-cheatsheet, then write an OpenFlow DSL flowchart for checkout with cart, shipping, promo-code decision, payment, Stripe webhook, and confirmation. Call validate_openflow_dsl, fix any issues, then call create_viewer_url. Return the final DSL and viewer URL.

For architecture diagrams:

Using openflowkit: call analyze_codebase on /path/to/project, read openflowkit://docs/dsl-cheatsheet, use find_icon for exact architecture icons, write OpenFlow DSL, validate it, then create a viewer URL.

Privacy model

• No telemetry. The server never phones home.
• No provider keys. The MCP client model authors diagrams directly.
• No OpenFlowKit account. Viewer URLs encode the DSL locally in the URL hash.
• Local filesystem access only when requested. Codebase analysis only reads the path passed to analyze_codebase.

Development

This package lives in the openflowkit monorepo.

# From the repo root
npm install --workspace=mcp-server
npm run --workspace=mcp-server build
npm run --workspace=mcp-server test:run

# Run locally against the MCP Inspector
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector dist/index.js

The MCP Inspector gives you a UI to manually call every tool, browse every resource, and verify client behavior before publishing.