Manic MCP Server

Give any MCP-capable AI — Claude Code, Claude Desktop, or a local model — the ability to write, validate, and render Manic animations.

The connected model is the author: this server deliberately has no AI- generation tool and spends no Manic AI credits. Instead it hands the model the complete Manic authoring guide, then lets it validate its own .manic source and render real videos through the Manic platform with your API key.

Tools

Tool	Auth	What it does
manic_authoring_guide	none	Fetches the full, current Manic language guide — the same system prompt Manic's own AI uses. The model reads this once, then writes real Manic.
manic_check	API key (check)	Validates .manic source and returns exact diagnostics. Cheap — always check before rendering.
manic_render	API key (render:create)	Submits source to the hosted renderer (mp4/gif/webm/mov/still). Returns a durable job id. Spends export credits.
manic_render_status	API key (jobs:read)	Polls a render job; returns the artifact URL when done, or the exact compile error to fix.
manic_save_to_project	API key (projects:read/write)	Saves the file into your Manic project, where it opens in Manic Create and Manic Workbench.

The intended loop: guide → write → check → (fix → check…) → render → poll → video — with every generated file optionally saved as a real project document.

Setup

Create an API key at app.maniclang.com/account with scopes: check, render:create, jobs:read, projects:read, projects:write. (Without a key, only manic_authoring_guide works.)

No install needed — npx runs the published package directly.

Claude Code

claude mcp add manic -e MANIC_API_KEY=mk_live_… -- npx -y @maniclang/mcp-server

Claude Desktop / other MCP clients

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "manic": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@maniclang/mcp-server"],
      "env": { "MANIC_API_KEY": "mk_live_…" }
    }
  }
}

From source (development)

npm install && npm run build

Then use node /path/to/manic-mcp-server/dist/index.js as the command instead of npx -y @maniclang/mcp-server in any config above.

Other clients

Cursor, Windsurf, Cline, Continue, Zed, LM Studio, and any generic stdio MCP client — see docs/USAGE.md for copy-paste configs, the intended authoring loop, example prompts, the cost model, and troubleshooting.

Configuration

Variable	Default	Purpose
MANIC_API_KEY	—	Your Manic API key; required for everything except the authoring guide
MANIC_API_BASE_URL	https://api.maniclang.com/v1	Platform API base
MANIC_SYSTEM_PROMPT_URL	the hosted Manic guide	Override the authoring-guide source

Try it

Ask your model:

"Read the Manic authoring guide, then create a 15-second animation of a pendulum tracing its path, validate it, render it as mp4, and give me the video link."

Links

• Manic · Manic App · API reference
• Manic Create — browser playground
• Manic Workbench — desktop client
• Manic Animate — browser extension