Spec Workflow MCP server for AI agents

The Spec Workflow MCP server enables structured spec-driven development with a real-time dashboard and VSCode extension. It provides a complete workflow for creating, approving, and tracking specifications and implementation tasks across your projects.

Installation

Add to Your AI Tool

First, add the MCP server to your AI tool configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "spec-workflow": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@pimzino/spec-workflow-mcp@latest", "/path/to/your/project"]
    }
  }
}

Choose Your Interface

You have two options to interact with the MCP server:

Option A: Web Dashboard

Start the dashboard (required for CLI users):

npx -y @pimzino/spec-workflow-mcp@latest --dashboard

The dashboard will be accessible at: http://localhost:5000

Note that only one dashboard instance is needed as all your projects will connect to the same dashboard.

Option B: VSCode Extension

For VSCode users, install the Spec Workflow MCP Extension from the VSCode marketplace: Spec Workflow MCP Extension

Usage

Basic Commands

Simply mention spec-workflow in your conversation with your AI tool:

Create a spec for user authentication

List my specs

Execute task 1.2 in spec user-auth

MCP Client Setup

Different AI tools require slightly different configurations:

Augment Code

Configure in your Augment settings:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "spec-workflow": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@pimzino/spec-workflow-mcp@latest", "/path/to/your/project"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code CLI

Add to your MCP configuration:

claude mcp add spec-workflow npx @pimzino/spec-workflow-mcp@latest -- /path/to/your/project

Important Notes:

The -y flag bypasses npm prompts for smoother installation
The -- separator ensures the path is passed to the spec-workflow script
Replace /path/to/your/project with your actual project directory path

Alternative for Windows (if the above doesn't work):

claude mcp add spec-workflow cmd.exe /c "npx @pimzino/spec-workflow-mcp@latest /path/to/your/project"

Claude Desktop

Add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "spec-workflow": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@pimzino/spec-workflow-mcp@latest", "/path/to/your/project"]
    }
  }
}

Important: Run the dashboard separately with --dashboard before starting the MCP server.

Cline/Claude Dev

Add to your MCP server configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "spec-workflow": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@pimzino/spec-workflow-mcp@latest", "/path/to/your/project"]
    }
  }
}

Continue IDE Extension

Add to your Continue configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "spec-workflow": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@pimzino/spec-workflow-mcp@latest", "/path/to/your/project"]
    }
  }
}

Cursor IDE

Add to your Cursor settings (settings.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "spec-workflow": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@pimzino/spec-workflow-mcp@latest", "/path/to/your/project"]
    }
  }
}

OpenCode

Add to your opencode.json configuration file:

{
  "$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
  "mcp": {
    "spec-workflow": {
      "type": "local",
      "command": ["npx", "-y", "@pimzino/spec-workflow-mcp@latest", "/path/to/your/project"],
      "enabled": true
    }
  }
}

Docker Deployment

You can also run the dashboard in a Docker container for isolated deployment:

# Using Docker Compose (recommended)
cd containers
docker-compose up --build

# Or using Docker CLI
docker build -f containers/Dockerfile -t spec-workflow-mcp .
docker run -p 5000:5000 -v "./workspace/.spec-workflow:/workspace/.spec-workflow:rw" spec-workflow-mcp

The dashboard will be available at: http://localhost:5000

Key Features

Structured Development Workflow - Sequential spec creation (Requirements → Design → Tasks)
Real-Time Web Dashboard - Monitor specs, tasks, and progress with live updates
VSCode Extension - Integrated sidebar dashboard for VSCode users
Approval Workflow - Complete approval process with revisions
Task Progress Tracking - Visual progress bars and detailed status
Implementation Logs - Searchable logs of all task implementations with code statistics
Multi-Language Support - Available in 11 languages

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 "spec-workflow" '{"command":"npx","args":["-y","@pimzino/spec-workflow-mcp@latest","/path/to/your/project"]}'

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": {
        "spec-workflow": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "@pimzino/spec-workflow-mcp@latest",
                "/path/to/your/project"
            ]
        }
    }
}

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": {
        "spec-workflow": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "@pimzino/spec-workflow-mcp@latest",
                "/path/to/your/project"
            ]
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect