MCP Setup

Zindex provides 5 MCP tools that let AI agents create, edit, validate, and render diagrams natively.

Claude Desktop

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

Hosted mode (recommended)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zindex": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@zindex/mcp"],
      "env": {
        "ZINDEX_API_URL": "https://api.zindex.ai",
        "ZINDEX_API_KEY": "your-api-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Local mode (no API key needed)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zindex": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@zindex/mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Local mode uses in-memory storage — diagrams are lost when the server stops.

Available tools

Tool	Description
`dsp_create_scene`	Create a new diagram scene
`dsp_apply_ops`	Apply operations (add nodes, edges, groups, constraints)
`dsp_validate_scene`	Validate a scene for structural and semantic correctness
`dsp_render_scene`	Render a scene to SVG or PNG
`dsp_get_scene`	Retrieve a scene by ID, optionally at a specific revision

Environment variables

Variable	Required	Description
`ZINDEX_API_URL`	For hosted mode	URL of the Zindex API
`ZINDEX_API_KEY`	For hosted mode	API key for authentication

Example interaction

Once configured, ask your AI agent:

“Create an architecture diagram showing an API Gateway connecting to a Database and a Redis Cache”

The agent will use the MCP tools to:

dsp_create_scene — initialize the diagram
dsp_apply_ops — add nodes and edges
dsp_render_scene — render to SVG or PNG