Activepieces is an open source automation platform similar to Zapier, offering over 280+ integrations that can be used as Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers with large language models through Claude Desktop, Cursor, or Windsurf. It provides a TypeScript framework for building custom integrations with various services.
To get started with Activepieces as an MCP server, you'll need to install it on your system. There are several installation options available.
Before installing, ensure you have:
The easiest way to deploy Activepieces is using Docker:
docker run -d \
--name activepieces \
-p 8080:8080 \
-e AP_DATABASE_URL=postgresql://postgres:[email protected]:5432/activepieces \
-v activepieces_data:/app/data \
activepieces/activepieces:latest
This command will:
When deploying Activepieces, you can configure it using the following environment variables:
# Required configuration
AP_DATABASE_URL=postgresql://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/activepieces
# Optional configurations
AP_ENCRYPTION_KEY=YOUR_ENCRYPTION_KEY
AP_JWT_SECRET=YOUR_JWT_SECRET
AP_FRONTEND_URL=http://localhost:8080
Once you have Activepieces running, you can use it as an MCP server with LLMs through compatible clients.
Activepieces offers 280+ integrations (pieces) including:
To create and manage automation flows:
{
"name": "Example Flow",
"trigger": {
"type": "WEBHOOK"
},
"actions": [
{
"type": "PIECE",
"name": "Send Email",
"pieceType": "gmail"
}
]
}
Activepieces supports complex flow logic:
// Example of using a loop in your flow
const items = steps.trigger.output.items;
for (const item of items) {
// Process each item
}
// Example of using branches
if (steps.trigger.output.status === 'completed') {
// Do something
} else {
// Do something else
}
You can include custom code in your flows:
// Example code step
const data = steps.trigger.output;
const transformedData = {
name: data.name.toUpperCase(),
email: data.email.toLowerCase(),
timestamp: new Date().toISOString()
};
return transformedData;
Activepieces supports human-in-the-loop operations:
If you encounter issues with your Activepieces MCP server:
docker logs activepieces
If you need assistance:
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.
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.
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"
]
}
}
}
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.
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.
To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:
1. Find your configuration file:
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
~/.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