openl-mcp

Let an AI assistant work with your OpenL Studio business rules — ask Claude, Cursor, or VS Code Copilot in plain language to view, edit, test, and deploy rules. This package is the connector (an MCP server) between your AI client and OpenL Studio.

Setting this up for Claude, Cursor, or VS Code? Follow the Quick Start — you paste one configuration block into your AI client; the client runs this package for you via npx. The sections below are for manual and advanced use.

What you get

• Tools covering OpenL Studio repositories, projects, files, rules tables, tests, an interactive rule debugger (tracing), and deployments (all prefixed openl_)
• 14 expert-guidance prompts (create_rule, deploy_project, run_test, …) for complex OpenL Studio workflows
• Multiple response formats — round-trippable json by default, plus markdown, markdown_concise, and markdown_detailed for human-readable output

Details and tool reference: Usage Examples.

Install & configure (manual use)

Run ad-hoc with npx — pass your OpenL Studio URL as the argument (this starts the MCP server on stdio and waits for an MCP client; it is not meant to be used interactively on its own):

npx -y openl-mcp http://localhost:8080

Or install globally: npm install -g openl-mcp, then openl-mcp <url>.

• The base URL can also come from the OPENL_BASE_URL environment variable (the positional argument wins if both are set).
• Authentication is optional — single-user OpenL Studio accepts unauthenticated requests. To authenticate, set OPENL_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN=<your-token> (or pass --token); create the token in OpenL Studio under User Settings → Personal Access Tokens.
• Other settings: OPENL_TIMEOUT / --timeout, and more in the Advanced Guide.

Requirements: Node.js ≥ 24 — or just Docker, see No Node.js? Use Docker.

Use with Claude Desktop

Add to claude_desktop_config.json (in Claude Desktop: Settings → Developer → Edit Config):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openl": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "openl-mcp", "<your-openl-studio-url>"],
      "env": {
        "OPENL_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN": "<your-token>"
      }
    }
  }
}

The base URL is passed as the positional argument. The env block holds auth — omit it for single-user servers that don't require credentials.

For Claude Code (claude mcp add openl -- npx -y openl-mcp <url>), Cursor, and VS Code, see the Quick Start.

Use as a CLI (direct API calls, no MCP client)

The same binary can invoke any tool directly from the shell — useful for scripting, CI, and ad-hoc debugging:

npx -y openl-mcp --help                              # tool catalog, no config needed
npx -y openl-mcp --version                           # version + the build it came from
npx -y openl-mcp <url> list_repositories --token <pat>   # one direct call

See the CLI Guide for the full reference: flags, argument passing, output formats, exit codes, and recipes.

No Node.js? Use Docker

There's no custom image — run the package on the official Node image, with nothing installed but Docker:

docker run --rm -i node:lts-alpine npx -y openl-mcp http://host.docker.internal:8080

Use this as the command/args in your MCP client config (use host.docker.internal to reach an OpenL Studio on the host). For a one-command OpenL Studio + MCP stack, see the Docker setup guide.

Links

• Source & issues: https://github.com/openl-tablets/openl-mcp
• OpenL Studio: https://openl-tablets.org/
• MCP spec: https://modelcontextprotocol.io/

License

LGPL-3.0 — follows the OpenL Studio project license.