Strapi MCP Capabilities

Register custom MCP tools/prompts/resources so AI clients can trigger plugin-specific actions on a running Strapi instance. Strapi 5.47.0+. API source of truth: @strapi/types, search mcp.

Hard rules

1. Enable the server: config/server.ts must set mcp: { enabled: true }. Endpoint is POST /mcp.
2. Register only in the register() phase. The capability list is locked once the MCP server starts (during bootstrap). Registering later throws.
3. Use Zod from @strapi/utils (import { z } from '@strapi/utils'), not standalone zod.
4. Never use global strapi at module top-level. Either register inline (have strapi) or use ai.mcp.defineTool(...) to define at module scope, then register with the injected strapi.

Two registration patterns

Inline — when strapi is in scope (a function called from register()):

// mcp/tools/get-store-kpis.ts
import type { Core } from '@strapi/strapi';
import { z } from '@strapi/utils';