modelcontextprotocol/ext-apps/add-app-to-server
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This skill should be used when the user asks to "add an app to my MCP server", "add UI to my MCP server", "add a view to my MCP tool", "enrich MCP tools with UI", "add interactive UI to existing server", "add MCP Apps to my server", or needs to add interactive UI capabilities to an existing MCP server that already has tools. Provides guidance for analyzing existing tools and adding MCP Apps UI resources.
Install
npx vskill@latest install modelcontextprotocol/ext-apps/add-app-to-serverSKILL.md
Add UI to MCP Server
Enrich an existing MCP server's tools with interactive UIs using the MCP Apps SDK (@modelcontextprotocol/ext-apps).
How It Works
Existing tools get paired with HTML resources that render inline in the host's conversation. The tool continues to work for text-only clients — UI is an enhancement, not a replacement. Each tool that benefits from UI gets linked to a resource via _meta.ui.resourceUri, and the host renders that resource in a sandboxed iframe when the tool is called.
Getting Reference Code
Clone the SDK repository for working examples and API documentation:
API Reference (Source Files)
Read JSDoc documentation directly from /tmp/mcp-ext-apps/src/:
| File | Contents | |
|---|---|---|
src/app.ts | App class, handlers (ontoolinput, ontoolresult, onhostcontextchanged, onteardown), lifecycle | |
src/server/index.ts | registerAppTool, registerAppResource, getUiCapability, tool visibility options | |
src/spec.types.ts | All type definitions: McpUiHostContext, CSS variable keys, display modes | |
src/styles.ts | applyDocumentTheme, applyHostStyleVariables, applyHostFonts | |
src/react/useApp.tsx | useApp hook for React apps | |
src/react/useHostStyles.ts | useHostStyles, useHostStyleVariables, useHostFonts hooks |
Key Examples (Mixed Tool Patterns)
These examples demonstrate servers with both App-enhanced and plain tools — the exact pattern you're adding:
| Example | Pattern | |
|---|---|---|
examples/map-server/ | show-map (App tool) + geocode (plain tool) | |
examples/pdf-server/ | display_pdf (App tool) + list_pdfs (plain tool) + read_pdf_bytes (app-only tool) | |
examples/system-monitor-server/ | get-system-info (App tool) + poll-system-stats (app-only polling tool) |
Framework Templates
Learn and adapt from /tmp/mcp-ext-apps/examples/basic-server-{framework}/:
| Template | Key Files | |
|---|---|---|
basic-server-vanillajs/ | server.ts, src/mcp-app.ts, mcp-app.html | |
basic-server-react/ | server.ts, src/mcp-app.tsx (uses useApp hook) | |
basic-server-vue/ | server.ts, src/App.vue | |
basic-server-svelte/ | server.ts, src/App.svelte | |
basic-server-preact/ | server.ts, src/mcp-app.tsx | |
basic-server-solid/ | server.ts, src/mcp-app.tsx |
Step 1: Analyze Existing Tools
Before writing any code, analyze the server's existing tools and determine which ones benefit from UI.
- Read the server source and list all registered tools
- For each tool, assess whether it would benefit from UI (returns data that could be visualized, involves user interaction, etc.) vs. is fine as text-only (simple lookups, utility functions)
- Identify tools that could become app-only helpers (data the UI needs to poll/fetch but the model doesn't need to call directly)
- Present the analysis to the user and confirm which tools to enhance
Decision Framework
| Tool output type | UI benefit | Example | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Structured data / lists / tables | High — interactive table, search, filtering | List of items, search results | |
| Metrics / numbers over time | High — charts, gauges, dashboards | System stats, analytics | |
| Media / rich content | High — viewer, player, renderer | Maps, PDFs, images, video | |
| Simple text / confirmations | Low — text is fine | "File created", "Setting updated" | |
| Data for other tools | Consider app-only | Polling endpoints, chunk loaders |
Step 2: Add Dependencies
Plus framework-specific dependencies if needed (e.g., react, react-dom, @vitejs/plugin-react for React), and @modelcontextprotocol/node / @modelcontextprotocol/express if the server uses HTTP transports.
ext-apps 2.x requires the split base MCP SDK packages at ^2.0.0 (@modelcontextprotocol/core comes in transitively). Existing servers that still import @modelcontextprotocol/sdk v1 must migrate those imports and handler schemas before adding the App integration:
SDK v1 (@modelcontextprotocol/sdk) | SDK v2 | |
|---|---|---|
sdk/server/mcp.js (McpServer) | @modelcontextprotocol/server | |
sdk/server/streamableHttp.js (StreamableHTTPServerTransport) | NodeStreamableHTTPServerTransport from @modelcontextprotocol/node | |
| Express wiring by hand | createMcpExpressApp from @modelcontextprotocol/express | |
sdk/server/stdio.js | @modelcontextprotocol/server/stdio | |
sdk/types.js types (CallToolResult, …) | @modelcontextprotocol/client or @modelcontextprotocol/server | |
sdk/types.js zod schemas (CallToolResultSchema, …) | @modelcontextprotocol/core | |
Raw zod shapes: inputSchema: { q: z.string() } | inputSchema: z.object({ q: z.string() }) | |
extra.signal in tool callbacks | extra.mcpReq.signal | |
setRequestHandler(SomeRequestSchema, handler) | setRequestHandler("some/method", { params: ParamsSchema }, handler) (the 2-arg form is only for spec methods such as "tools/call") |
Step 3: Set Up the Build Pipeline
Vite Configuration
Create vite.config.ts with vite-plugin-singlefile to bundle the UI into a single HTML file:
HTML Entry Point
Create mcp-app.html (or one per distinct UI if tools need different views):
Build Scripts
Add build scripts to package.json. The UI must be built before the server code bundles it:
Step 4: Convert Tools to App Tools
Transform plain MCP tools into App tools with UI.
Before (plain MCP tool):
After (App tool with UI):
Key guidance:
- Always keep the `content` array with a text fallback for text-only clients
- Add
structuredContentfor data the UI needs to render - Link the tool to its resource via
_meta.ui.resourceUri - Leave tools that don't benefit from UI unchanged — they stay as plain tools
Step 5: Register Resources
Register the HTML resource so the host can fetch it:
If multiple tools share the same UI, they can reference the same resourceUri and the same resource registration.
Step 6: Build the UI
Handler Registration
Register ALL handlers BEFORE calling app.connect():
Host Styling
Use host CSS variables for theme integration:
Key variable groups: --color-background-*, --color-text-*, --color-border-*, --font-sans, --font-mono, --font-text-*-size, --font-heading-*-size, --border-radius-*. See src/spec.types.ts for the full list.
For React apps, use the useApp and useHostStyles hooks instead — see basic-server-react/ for the pattern.
Optional Enhancements
App-Only Helper Tools
Tools the UI calls but the model doesn't need to invoke directly (polling, pagination, chunk loading):
The UI calls these via app.callServerTool({ name: "poll-data", arguments: {} }).
CSP Configuration
If the UI needs to load external resources (fonts, APIs, CDNs), declare the domains:
Streaming Partial Input
For large tool inputs, show progress during LLM generation:
Graceful Degradation with getUiCapability()
Conditionally register App tools only when the client supports UI, falling back to text-only tools:
This is the start of the file. Read the full SKILL.md on GitHub.
Security
- Security scanPassed, 95 of 100Pattern checks on the skill's files.
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Source
- SKILL.md in the repositoryCheckingplugins/mcp-apps/skills/add-app-to-server/SKILL.md
Popularity
- Repository stars
- 1,973
- Repository forks
- 244
- Repository npm downloads, 7 days
- 780,792
- 7-day trend score
- 68
Stars and forks are for the whole GitHub repository, not this skill alone. Downloads are for the repository's npm package. Refreshed 3 Apr 2026, 6 months ago.
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