The MCP UploadThing server enables AI assistants to upload files through the Model Context Protocol (MCP). This integration provides a straightforward way for AI systems to handle file uploads via UploadThing's service.
To get started with the MCP UploadThing server, make sure you have Node.js 22 or later installed on your system. Then follow these steps:
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/mcp-uploadthing.git
# Navigate to the project directory
cd mcp-uploadthing
# Install dependencies
npm install
Before running the server, you need to set up your UploadThing credentials and configure the server.
Create a .env
file in the root directory of the project with the following variables:
UPLOADTHING_SECRET=your_uploadthing_secret_key
UPLOADTHING_APP_ID=your_uploadthing_app_id
PORT=3000 # Optional, defaults to 3000
After configuration, you can start the MCP server:
npm start
The server will start listening on the port specified in your environment variables (default: 3000).
To upload a file through the MCP protocol, AI assistants can use the following endpoint:
POST http://localhost:3000/upload
Include the file in the body of the request with proper MCP formatting.
You can customize the upload behavior by modifying the configuration:
// Example configuration object
const config = {
allowedFileTypes: ['image/jpeg', 'image/png', 'application/pdf'],
maxFileSize: 10 * 1024 * 1024, // 10MB
uploadPath: '/custom/upload/path'
};
When integrating with AI assistants, ensure they're configured to use the MCP protocol with your server URL:
MCP_SERVER_URL=http://localhost:3000
.env
fileMonitor the server logs for detailed information about uploads and potential errors:
npm start -- --verbose
To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:
claude mcp add-json "uploadthing-mcp" '{"command":"npx","args":["-y","uploadthing-mcp"]}'
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": {
"uploadthing-mcp": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"uploadthing-mcp"
]
}
}
}
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": {
"uploadthing-mcp": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"uploadthing-mcp"
]
}
}
}
3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect