designvault-mcp

DesignVault MCP server

Connect your DesignVault design-asset library to any MCP-compatible AI client — Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, and more.

Search your library by meaning, browse collections, find similar assets, and (optionally) push, tag, and organize assets — all from inside your AI client.

📖 Full documentation: www.designvault.net/docs/mcp

"Find dark hero banners from the Q4 launch in DesignVault"
"What's in the 'Spring 2026 campaign' collection?"
"Show me assets similar to this one"
"Tag this asset as 'website' and 'dark' and add it to Q4 Launch"

Quick start

You need a DesignVault API key (dv_live_…), generated under Settings → API keys in your DesignVault organization.

Claude Desktop

Add this to your claude_desktop_config.json (macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "designvault": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "designvault-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "DESIGNVAULT_API_KEY": "dv_live_xxxxxxxx"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. You'll see the DesignVault tools available in the chat.

Cursor / other MCP clients

Same shape — any client that speaks MCP over stdio:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "designvault": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "designvault-mcp"],
      "env": { "DESIGNVAULT_API_KEY": "dv_live_xxxxxxxx" }
    }
  }
}

Configuration

Variable	Required	Default	Description
DESIGNVAULT_API_KEY	✅	—	Per-org API key (dv_live_…). Settings → API keys.
DESIGNVAULT_BASE_URL	—	https://www.designvault.net	Override to point at a preview deployment or http://localhost:3000 during development.
DESIGNVAULT_ENABLE_WRITE	—	off	Set to 1 / true to register the write tools (create, update, delete).

Read-only by default

Write tools are off unless you set DESIGNVAULT_ENABLE_WRITE=1. This is deliberate: a key pasted into a shared or published MCP config can't mutate or delete your data unless you explicitly opt in. Enable write only when you want the AI to create/update/delete assets and collections.

Tools

Read (always available)

Tool	What it does
search_assets	Hybrid full-text + semantic search by natural-language query.
list_assets	List/filter assets (by type, client, product, tag, text) with pagination.
get_asset	Fetch one asset with tags + a signed thumbnail URL.
find_similar_assets	Nearest neighbours to an asset by embedding similarity.
list_collections	List collections with asset counts and smart/manual flag.
get_collection	Fetch a collection and its assets (smart collections evaluated live).
list_tags	List the org's tags.
list_asset_types	List the org's asset-type catalogue.

Write (opt-in via DESIGNVAULT_ENABLE_WRITE)

Tool	What it does
push_asset	Ingest a new asset from an image URL, with metadata + tags.
update_asset	Update an asset's metadata; replace its tags.
delete_asset	Permanently delete an asset.
create_collection	Create a manual or smart collection.
update_collection	Rename / toggle public link.
delete_collection	Delete a collection (assets are kept).
add_asset_to_collection	Add an asset to a manual collection.
remove_asset_from_collection	Remove an asset from a manual collection.

All tools map 1:1 to the public REST API (/api/v1). The same per-key rate limits and scopes apply — write tools need a key with the assets:write scope.

How it works

This server is a thin, stateless translation layer: each MCP tool call becomes one authenticated HTTPS request to your DesignVault API. No data is cached or stored locally. Thumbnail URLs are short-lived signed URLs — re-fetch rather than persist them.

Local development

npm install
npm run build
DESIGNVAULT_API_KEY=dv_live_xxx DESIGNVAULT_BASE_URL=http://localhost:3000 npm start

npm run watch recompiles on change.

License

MIT