MCP tools¶

anchor-mcp exposes ANCHOR over MCP stdio for local agent harnesses. The tools available at runtime include canvas operations and bundled extension tools; optional FMU behavior depends on installed/runtime configuration.

Connect an agent harness¶

One MCP server serves one environment (a named profile = the data zone), selected by name. Projects inside it are addressed by a per-call project argument.

anchor install claude-code              # writes the MCP entry + skill (default env)
anchor install claude-desktop --env work
anchor install cursor --env work

Each writes an entry that runs anchor-mcp --env <name>:

anchor-mcp --env work

Project-scoped tools take an optional project; omit it for the default project. list_projects enumerates the environment's projects, create_project makes one, and a missing/unknown project returns a self-correcting error. A second environment is a second named server (Claude Desktop supports --name); the agent cannot cross from one environment into another.

See Environments and projects and Agent configuration for Codex, OpenCode, and generic stdio client examples.

Tool families¶

Family	Representative operations
Status	`anchor_status`
Environment / projects	`list_projects`, `create_project`, `update_project`, `open_project`, `create_environment`
Canvas	`canvas_list_workspaces`, `canvas_get_state`, `canvas_add_node`, `canvas_update_node`, `canvas_add_edge`, `canvas_node_types`, `canvas_snapshot`
References	`canvas_create_reference`, `canvas_list_references`, `canvas_remove_reference`, `canvas_update_reference`, `canvas_attach_reference` - author a citation into a source document, keep a per-canvas bibliography, rename or delete an entry, and attach a reference to a node or spec row (HTTP `/api/workspaces/{slug}/references`, CLI `anchor canvas reference create\\|list\\|remove\\|update\\|attach`)
Documents	`ingest_pdf`, `list_documents`, `get_document_index`, `get_gold_regions`, `search_documents`, `get_crop`
Harness ingestion	`ingest_begin`, `ingest_get_page`, `ingest_submit_page`, `ingest_status`, `ingest_finalize`, `ingest_abort` - the agent performs polish + region grouping page by page (provider `harness`, no API key); CLI parity via `anchor ingest-session`
CAD	`inspect`, `list_models`, `set_parameter`
SysML	`sysml_render`, `sysml_export`
FMU	Inspection and simulation tools when enabled by the bundled FMU extension.

Status check¶

Use anchor_status when an MCP client appears connected but sees the wrong documents or an empty canvas list. It reports the resolved environment, the active project's data directory, and document / embedding / workspace counts.

If it shows the wrong project, pass the right project argument (see list_projects). To use a different environment, add a second named server (anchor-mcp --env <name>); the agent cannot switch environments on its own.

Source-grounded workflow¶

Call canvas_list_placeholders for a workspace.
Find relevant material through search_documents or get_gold_regions.
Update the target node with placeholder: false and a source_ref.
Use canvas_organize_subtree or alignment helpers if the result needs layout cleanup.

For snapshots, keep anchor serve running and call canvas_snapshot with format="inline" when your MCP client supports displayed images.

Transport boundary¶

The packaged MCP server is stdio-based. anchor serve exposes the browser UI, HTTP API and SSE updates; it does not provide a hosted authenticated MCP HTTP endpoint.