GrowthBook MCP Thin
A thin MCP server for GrowthBook with four tools:
growthbook_list_skills | List bundled GrowthBook agent skills (name + description) |
growthbook_read_skill | Return the full skill markdown (workflow + guardrails) |
growthbook_api_read | Authenticated GET passthrough to the GrowthBook API |
growthbook_api_write | Authenticated POST/PUT/PATCH/DELETE passthrough |
Competence lives in the skills repo and is bundled at build time. Capability is split into read vs write API tools (no per-endpoint formatters) so clients can honor readOnlyHint / destructiveHint correctly.
Tools are prefixed with growthbook_ so they stay unambiguous when a client has multiple MCP servers loaded.
Install / run
npm install
npm run build
Point your MCP client at the compiled entrypoint:
{
"mcpServers": {
"growthbook": {
"command": "node",
"args": ["/absolute/path/to/growthbook-mcp/server/index.js"],
"env": {
"GB_API_KEY": "your_api_key_or_pat",
"GB_API_URL": "https://api.growthbook.io"
}
}
}
}
Or run the published package:
npx @growthbook/mcp
Environment variables
GB_API_KEY | Yes for stdio; optional for HTTP OAuth | — | GrowthBook API key or personal access token |
GB_API_URL | No | https://api.growthbook.io | API base URL (self-hosted) and default OAuth AS issuer |
GB_MCP_TRANSPORT | No | stdio | stdio or http |
GB_MCP_PORT | No | 3333 | HTTP listen port (when transport=http) |
GB_MCP_HOST | No | 127.0.0.1 | HTTP bind host |
GB_MCP_URL | Yes for HTTP | — | Public MCP base URL stamped into OAuth resource metadata (server refuses to start in HTTP mode without it) |
GB_OAUTH_ISSUER | No | GB_API_URL | GrowthBook OAuth AS issuer URL |
GB_HTTP_HEADER_* | No | — | Extra request headers (e.g. GB_HTTP_HEADER_CF_ACCESS_TOKEN) |
GB_SKILLS_ENABLED | No | true | Set to false / 0 to disable skill tools |
HTTP + OAuth mode
OAUTH_AS_ENABLED=1
GB_MCP_TRANSPORT=http GB_API_URL=http://localhost:3100 GB_MCP_PORT=3333 npm start
Clients connect to:
http://127.0.0.1:3333/mcp — full (skills + API read/write)
http://127.0.0.1:3333/mcp/api — capability-only (growthbook_api_read + growthbook_api_write)
Unauthenticated requests receive 401 with WWW-Authenticate pointing at /.well-known/oauth-protected-resource, which advertises the GrowthBook Authorization Server.
Before handling MCP, the server probes GrowthBook REST (GET /api/v1/) with the bearer. A 401 from that probe (or later from an API tool) yields HTTP 401 with error="invalid_token" so the MCP client can refresh — instead of surfacing "This API key has expired" as a tool error. A 403 is treated as an accepted bearer (permission denied ≠ invalid token) so clients are not forced into a refresh loop.
Capability-only mode
HTTP (recommended for remote): point the client at /mcp/api instead of /mcp:
{
"mcpServers": {
"growthbook": {
"url": "http://127.0.0.1:3333/mcp/api"
}
}
}
/mcp | growthbook_list_skills, growthbook_read_skill, growthbook_api_read, growthbook_api_write (unless GB_SKILLS_ENABLED=false) |
/mcp/api | growthbook_api_read, growthbook_api_write only |
stdio / process-wide: set env so skills are never registered:
"env": {
"GB_API_KEY": "...",
"GB_SKILLS_ENABLED": "false"
}
When skills are disabled, only the API read/write tools are registered. growthbook_list_skills and growthbook_read_skill are not exposed.
How skills are bundled
npm run build
scripts/bundle-skills.mjs copies every skills/*/SKILL.md from the canonical skills checkout into server/skills/<name>.md.
Source path resolution:
SKILLS_SRC env var (path to the skills repo root), or
../skills (sibling directory)
The skills repo stays the source of truth — this package never forks skill content.
Using skills with the API tools
Bundled skills still show workflows as:
gb-call GET /api/v1/projects
gb-call POST /api/v2/features ./payload.json
This MCP server does not shell out to gb-call. Map GET → growthbook_api_read and POST/PUT/PATCH/DELETE → growthbook_api_write with the same path and optional JSON body string. Server instructions and growthbook_read_skill output include this bridge note.
Tools detail
growthbook_api_read / growthbook_api_write
{ "path": "/api/v1/projects" }
{ "method": "POST", "path": "/api/v2/features", "body": "{\"id\":\"my-flag\",...}" }
- Read: GET only (
readOnlyHint: true)
- Write:
POST | PUT | PATCH | DELETE (destructiveHint: true)
- Returns raw response body on 2xx
- On non-2xx, returns an actionable error (
isError: true) covering auth failures, self-hosted 404 hints, and rate limits
- Freeform paths target the GrowthBook REST API
growthbook_list_skills / growthbook_read_skill
Only registered when GB_SKILLS_ENABLED is not disabled. growthbook_read_skill returns the full SKILL.md content so the agent can follow workflow steps and guardrails.
Development
npm install
npm run build
npm start
Standalone HTTP mode
By default the server runs over stdio. Set GB_MCP_TRANSPORT=http to run it as a standalone HTTP server that exposes MCP at /mcp (skills + API tools) and /mcp/api (capability-only), behind an OAuth 2.0 protected-resource surface (RFC 9728 metadata + RFC 6750 WWW-Authenticate).
GB_MCP_URL (required in HTTP mode) — the server's public base URL. It is stamped into the OAuth resource (audience) and the protected-resource metadata, so it is never derived from request headers. The server refuses to start without it.
GB_MCP_PORT (default 3333) and GB_MCP_HOST (default 127.0.0.1).
- Incoming bearers are validated by probing the GrowthBook REST API; a rejected token gets HTTP
401 + WWW-Authenticate so the client can refresh.
Run it on a trusted network or bound to loopback. For a multi-tenant or public deployment, front it with your own gateway/auth.
Releases
Cutting a release is deliberate: bump the version in package.json, then push a matching v* tag:
git tag v2.0.0
git push origin v2.0.0
That tagged commit (with skills frozen at cut time) publishes:
@growthbook/mcp to npm — prereleases (versions with a -, e.g. 2.0.0-beta.1) go under the beta dist-tag; stable versions become latest
- a multi-arch (
amd64 + arm64) image to ghcr.io/growthbook/growthbook-mcp (:<version>, plus :<major>, :<major>.<minor>, and :latest for stable releases)
- an entry in the MCP registry
- a GitHub Release
Install a release with npx @growthbook/mcp@<version> or pull ghcr.io/growthbook/growthbook-mcp:<version>.