Connecting MCP to an LLM

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is what makes WeOS AI-native. WeOS exposes an MCP server that any compatible LLM client can connect to — the LLM discovers available tools (resource types, resources, persons, organizations) and uses them to manage your site through natural language.

In this tutorial you’ll start the MCP server, connect it to Claude Desktop, and make your first AI-driven edit.

Prerequisites

• WeOS built (see Running WeOS)
• Some resource types installed (e.g., ./bin/weos resource-type preset install tasks)
• An MCP-compatible LLM client. This tutorial uses Claude Desktop, but the protocol works with any compatible client.

Step 1: Understand the MCP Server

WeOS’s MCP server uses stdio transport — it communicates via standard input/output. The LLM client launches the weos mcp process and communicates with it through stdin/stdout.

The server exposes four tool groups:

• person — create, get, list, update, delete persons
• organization — create, get, list, update, delete organizations
• resource-type — create, get, list, update, delete resource types; list and install presets
• resource — create, get, list, update, delete resources of any type

You can enable only specific tool groups:

# All tools (default)
./bin/weos mcp

# Only person and organization tools
./bin/weos mcp --services person --services organization

# Only resource management
./bin/weos mcp --services resource --services resource-type

Step 2: Configure Claude Desktop

Open your Claude Desktop configuration file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Add the WeOS MCP server:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "weos": {
      "command": "/path/to/weos",
      "args": ["mcp"],
      "env": {
        "DATABASE_DSN": "/path/to/your/weos.db"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace /path/to/weos with the absolute path to your built binary (e.g., /Users/you/weos/bin/weos).

The DATABASE_DSN environment variable tells the MCP server which database to use. Point it at the same database your weos serve instance uses.

Restart Claude Desktop after saving the configuration.

Step 3: Verify the Connection

In Claude Desktop, you should see a tools icon indicating MCP servers are connected. Click it to see the available tools from WeOS.

You should see tools like:

• resource_type_list — list resource types
• resource_type_preset_list — list available presets
• resource_type_preset_install — install a preset
• resource_create — create a resource
• resource_list — list resources
• person_create — create a person
• And more…

Step 4: Make Your First AI-Driven Edit

Try these natural language prompts in Claude Desktop:

List available content types

“What resource types are available in my WeOS site?”

Claude will call resource_type_list and show you the installed types.

Install a preset

“Install the website preset so I can manage web pages and blog posts.”

Claude will call resource_type_preset_install with name: "website".

Create content

“Create a blog post called ‘Getting Started with WeOS’ with a short introduction about how WeOS lets AI manage your website.”

Claude will call resource_create with type_slug: "blog-post" and appropriate data.

Manage people

“Add a person named Jane Smith with email jane@example.com.”

Claude will call person_create with the given details.

Organize content

“List all tasks and show me which ones are high priority.”

Claude will call resource_list with type_slug: "task" and present the results.

Step 5: Use With Other LLM Clients

WeOS’s MCP server works with any MCP-compatible client, not just Claude. The protocol is the same — stdio transport with JSON-RPC messages.

Generic MCP client configuration

Any MCP client that supports stdio transport can connect:

{
  "command": "/path/to/weos",
  "args": ["mcp"],
  "env": {
    "DATABASE_DSN": "weos.db"
  }
}

Selective tool exposure

For security or simplicity, you can limit which tools are available:

{
  "command": "/path/to/weos",
  "args": ["mcp", "--services", "resource", "--services", "resource-type"]
}

This exposes only resource and resource-type management tools, hiding person and organization tools.

You can also set this via the MCP_SERVICES environment variable:

{
  "command": "/path/to/weos",
  "args": ["mcp"],
  "env": {
    "MCP_SERVICES": "resource,resource-type"
  }
}

Available MCP Tools

Tool	Input	Description
person_create	given_name, family_name, email	Create a person
person_get	id	Get a person by ID
person_list	cursor?, limit?	List persons
person_update	id, given_name, family_name, email?, avatar_url?, status?	Update a person
person_delete	id	Delete a person
organization_create	name, slug	Create an organization
organization_get	id	Get an organization
organization_list	cursor?, limit?	List organizations
organization_update	id, name, slug?, description?, url?, logo_url?, status?	Update an organization
organization_delete	id	Delete an organization
resource_type_create	name, slug, description?, context?, schema?	Create a resource type
resource_type_get	id	Get a resource type
resource_type_list	cursor?, limit?, includeAll?	List resource types
resource_type_update	id, name, slug?, description?, context?, schema?, status?	Update a resource type
resource_type_delete	id	Delete a resource type
resource_type_preset_list	(none)	List available presets
resource_type_preset_install	name, update?	Install a preset
resource_create	type_slug, data	Create a resource
resource_get	id	Get a resource
resource_list	type_slug, cursor?, limit?, sort_by?, sort_order?	List resources
resource_update	id, data	Update a resource
resource_delete	id	Delete a resource

See MCP Tools Reference for complete input/output schemas.

What You’ve Learned

• How the MCP server uses stdio transport
• How to configure Claude Desktop to connect to WeOS
• How to make AI-driven edits through natural language
• How to limit tool exposure with --services
• How to use WeOS with any MCP-compatible LLM client

What’s Next

• MCP Protocol — understand how MCP works under the hood
• MCP Tools Reference — complete tool schemas
• CLI Commands — the weos mcp command reference