HTML Page Preview MCP server

This Model Context Protocol (MCP) server enables capturing screenshots of local HTML files and analyzing their structure. It provides tools for generating visual previews with proper styling and extracting information about HTML elements like headings, paragraphs, images, and links.

Installation

To set up the MCP File Preview Server:

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/your-username/mcp-file-preview.git
   cd mcp-file-preview
   

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install
   

3. Build the project:

   npm run build
   

Configuration

You need to add the server to your Claude or Cline MCP settings:

Claude Desktop App

Add the following to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "file-preview": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/mcp-file-preview/build/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Cline VSCode Extension

Add these settings to VSCode's MCP configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "file-preview": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/mcp-file-preview/build/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Using the Tools

The server provides two primary tools:

File Preview Tool

The preview_file tool captures a screenshot and returns HTML content:

<use_mcp_tool>
<server_name>file-preview</server_name>
<tool_name>preview_file</tool_name>
<arguments>
{
  "filePath": "/path/to/file.html",
  "width": 1024,  // optional
  "height": 768   // optional
}
</arguments>
</use_mcp_tool>

All screenshots are automatically saved to the screenshots/ directory in the project folder.

Content Analysis Tool

The analyze_content tool examines HTML structure:

<use_mcp_tool>
<server_name>file-preview</server_name>
<tool_name>analyze_content</tool_name>
<arguments>
{
  "filePath": "/path/to/file.html"
}
</arguments>
</use_mcp_tool>

This tool returns counts of:

• Headings
• Paragraphs
• Images
• Links

Troubleshooting

If you don't see the tools in the dropdown menu:

1. Use the MCP Inspector:

   npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector
   

2. Connect with:

   • Transport Type: STDIO
   • Command: node
   • Arguments: /path/to/build/index.js

3. Check Claude OS logs for any error messages

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 "file-preview" '{"command":"node","args":["/path/to/mcp-file-preview/build/index.js"]}'

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": {
        "file-preview": {
            "command": "node",
            "args": [
                "/path/to/mcp-file-preview/build/index.js"
            ]
        }
    }
}

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": {
        "file-preview": {
            "command": "node",
            "args": [
                "/path/to/mcp-file-preview/build/index.js"
            ]
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect