Activepieces MCP server

Activepieces is an open source MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that provides AI automation capabilities through a type-safe pieces framework written in TypeScript. When you contribute pieces to Activepieces, they automatically become available as MCP servers that you can use with LLMs through Claude Desktop, Cursor, or Windsurf.

Installation

To get started with Activepieces, you have several deployment options:

Using Docker

The easiest way to install Activepieces is using Docker:

docker run -d \
  -p 8080:8080 \
  -v activepieces_data:/app/data \
  -e AP_ENCRYPTION_KEY=YourEncryptionKey \
  -e [email protected] \
  -e AP_ADMIN_PASSWORD=YourPassword \
  activepieces/activepieces:latest

Replace the environment variables with your desired values:

• AP_ENCRYPTION_KEY: A secure encryption key
• AP_ADMIN_EMAIL: Admin user email
• AP_ADMIN_PASSWORD: Admin user password

Using Docker Compose

For a more comprehensive setup, you can use Docker Compose:

version: "3"
services:
  activepieces:
    image: activepieces/activepieces:latest
    container_name: activepieces
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    volumes:
      - activepieces_data:/app/data
    environment:
      - AP_ENCRYPTION_KEY=YourEncryptionKey
      - [email protected]
      - AP_ADMIN_PASSWORD=YourPassword

volumes:
  activepieces_data:

Save this as docker-compose.yml and run:

docker-compose up -d

Configuration

Activepieces can be configured using environment variables:

Basic Configuration

AP_ENCRYPTION_KEY=your-encryption-key
[email protected]
AP_ADMIN_PASSWORD=your-password

Advanced Configuration

# Database configuration
AP_POSTGRES_DATABASE=activepieces
AP_POSTGRES_HOST=localhost
AP_POSTGRES_PASSWORD=postgres
AP_POSTGRES_PORT=5432
AP_POSTGRES_USERNAME=postgres

# Redis configuration (for production)
AP_REDIS_URL=redis://localhost:6379

# Frontend URL
AP_FRONTEND_URL=http://localhost:8080

# File storage (optional)
AP_FILE_STORAGE_STRATEGY=minio
AP_MINIO_ENDPOINT=your-minio-endpoint
AP_MINIO_ACCESS_KEY=your-access-key
AP_MINIO_SECRET_KEY=your-secret-key

Using Activepieces as an MCP Server

To use Activepieces as an MCP server with LLMs:

1. Connect to the Interface

After installation, access the Activepieces interface at:

http://localhost:8080

2. Create a Piece

You can use existing pieces or create your own. Pieces are TypeScript modules that define integrations with various services.

3. Use with LLMs

To use Activepieces with Claude Desktop, Cursor, or Windsurf:

1. Configure the MCP server URL in your LLM interface
2. Point to your Activepieces instance
3. Select from available pieces to enhance your LLM's capabilities

Extending Functionality

Creating Custom Pieces

You can create your own pieces using the TypeScript framework:

import { createPiece, PieceAuth } from '@activepieces/pieces-framework';

export const myCustomPiece = createPiece({
  name: 'my-custom-piece',
  displayName: 'My Custom Piece',
  auth: PieceAuth.None(),
  actions: [
    // Define your actions here
  ],
  triggers: [
    // Define your triggers here
  ],
});

Available Features

Activepieces offers many built-in features:

• Loops and branches for flow control
• Auto-retries for reliability
• HTTP requests
• Code execution with NPM support
• AI assistance in code pieces
• Versioned flows
• Language translations
• Customizable templates
• Access to 200+ pre-built integrations

Community Support

For additional help, you can:

• Visit the official documentation
• Join the Discord community for support

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "activepieces" '{"command":"npx","args":["-y","@activepieces/cli"]}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "activepieces": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "@activepieces/cli"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

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

2. Add this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "activepieces": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "@activepieces/cli"
            ]
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect