Substack MCP server for AI agents

This MCP server allows you to download and parse Substack posts directly from the Claude.ai desktop app. It extracts key content from Substack articles and makes them available to Claude for summarizing, analyzing, or discussing.

Installation

Prerequisites

Node.js v18 or higher
Claude desktop app installed

Setup Process

Install the required dependencies:
```
npm install
```

Configure the Claude desktop app by adding the following to your configuration file located at ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-substack": {
      "command": "/opt/homebrew/bin/node",
      "args": ["/path/to/mcp-substack/lib/index.mjs"],
      "methods": {
        "download_substack": {
          "description": "Download and parse content from a Substack post"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Make sure to replace /path/to/mcp-substack with the actual path where you've stored the MCP Substack Server files.

Start the server:
```
npm start
```

Usage

Basic Usage

Once the server is properly configured and running, you can use it directly within the Claude desktop app. Simply ask Claude to download and process a Substack post using natural language:

Could you download and summarize this Substack post: [URL]

Replace [URL] with the actual URL of the Substack post you want to analyze.

What Gets Extracted

The MCP Substack Server extracts the following elements from Substack posts:

Title
Author name
Subtitle/description
Main article content

Limitations

Works only with public Substack posts (not with subscriber-only content)
Requires the Claude desktop app (not compatible with the web version)
The server must be running for the functionality to work

How to add this MCP server to 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 > MCP and click "Add new global MCP server".

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

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "cursor-rules-mcp": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "cursor-rules-mcp"
            ]
        }
    }
}

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 explictly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.