MCP Setup Guide

This guide walks you through setting up the Templated MCP server with different AI assistants.

Before you begin, make sure you have:

1. A Templated account — Sign up for free
2. Your API key — Find it in your dashboard

For local server mode, you’ll also need:

• Node.js 18 or higher installed

Claude Desktop supports both remote and local MCP servers.

1. Locate your config file

   The Claude Desktop configuration file is located at:

   • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
   • Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

2. Edit the configuration

   Open the file and add the Templated MCP server:

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "templated": {
         "command": "npx",
         "args": ["mcp-server-templated"],
         "env": {
           "TEMPLATED_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY"
         }
       }
     }
   }

   Replace YOUR_API_KEY with your actual API key.

3. Restart Claude Desktop

   Completely quit and reopen Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect.

4. Verify the connection

   Look for a tools icon (hammer) in the chat input area. Click it to see available Templated tools.

1. Locate your config file

   Same location as above.

2. Edit the configuration

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "templated": {
         "url": "https://mcp.templated.io/mcp?apiKey=YOUR_API_KEY"
       }
     }
   }

3. Restart Claude Desktop

   Completely quit and reopen Claude Desktop.

Cursor supports MCP servers through its configuration file.

1. Locate your config file

   The Cursor MCP configuration file is located at:

   • macOS/Linux: ~/.cursor/mcp.json
   • Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.cursor\mcp.json

2. Create or edit the configuration

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "templated": {
         "url": "https://mcp.templated.io/mcp?apiKey=YOUR_API_KEY"
       }
     }
   }

3. Restart Cursor

   Close and reopen Cursor for the changes to take effect.

4. Start using Templated

   In the Composer or Chat panel, you can now ask Cursor to use Templated tools.

1. Locate your config file

   Same location as above.

2. Edit the configuration

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "templated": {
         "command": "npx",
         "args": ["mcp-server-templated"],
         "env": {
           "TEMPLATED_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY"
         }
       }
     }
   }

3. Restart Cursor

ChatGPT supports MCP servers through Connected Apps in the settings.

1. Open ChatGPT Settings

   Go to Settings → Connected Apps → Add MCP Server

2. Enter the server URL

   https://mcp.templated.io/mcp?apiKey=YOUR_API_KEY

   Replace YOUR_API_KEY with your actual API key.

3. Set authentication to “No Auth”

   Since the API key is included in the URL, select “No Auth” for authentication type.

4. Click Create

   ChatGPT will verify the connection and add Templated to your connected apps.

5. Start using Templated

   In any conversation, you can now ask ChatGPT to use Templated tools to generate images, manage templates, and more.

Claude.ai web interface also supports MCP servers.

1. Go to Settings

   Click on your profile icon and navigate to Settings → Developer → MCP Servers

2. Add a new server

   Click Add Server and enter:

   • Name: Templated
   • URL: https://mcp.templated.io/mcp?apiKey=YOUR_API_KEY

3. Save and start chatting

   The Templated tools will now be available in your conversations.

When building multi-tenant applications (e.g. a chat interface where each customer edits their own templates), you can scope the MCP server so that each session only has access to a specific subset of resources. This is enforced at the server level, making it immune to prompt injection.

You can scope by folder ID, external ID, or both.

If you already use externalId to link templates to your own customers (e.g. via the Embedded Editor), you can use the same identifier to scope MCP access.

When set, the MCP server will:

• Only list templates and renders matching that external ID
• Automatically assign the external ID to new templates
• Reject any operation on a template that doesn’t match

https://mcp.templated.io/mcp?apiKey=YOUR_API_KEY&externalId=CUSTOMER_123

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "templated": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["mcp-server-templated"],
      "env": {
        "TEMPLATED_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY",
        "TEMPLATED_EXTERNAL_ID": "CUSTOMER_123"
      }
    }
  }
}

You can also restrict access to a specific folder. When set, the MCP server will:

• Only list templates and renders from that folder
• Automatically move new templates into the folder
• Reject any operation on a template outside the folder
• Hide folder management tools (since the folder is fixed)

https://mcp.templated.io/mcp?apiKey=YOUR_API_KEY&folderId=FOLDER_ID

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "templated": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["mcp-server-templated"],
      "env": {
        "TEMPLATED_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY",
        "TEMPLATED_FOLDER_ID": "FOLDER_ID"
      }
    }
  }
}

You can use both scoping parameters together for stricter isolation. For example, to restrict access to a specific folder AND external ID:

https://mcp.templated.io/mcp?apiKey=YOUR_API_KEY&folderId=FOLDER_ID&externalId=CUSTOMER_123

If the tools don’t appear after configuration:

1. Completely restart the AI assistant (not just close the window)
2. Check the config file location — it must be in the exact path specified
3. Verify JSON syntax — use a JSON validator to check for errors
4. Check for existing configs — you may need to merge with existing mcpServers

If using local server mode:

# Verify Node.js version
node --version  # Should be 18.0.0 or higher

# Test the MCP server directly
TEMPLATED_API_KEY=your_key npx mcp-server-templated

If you’re still having issues:

• Check our GitHub Issues
• Contact us at support@templated.io