Heuresis

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that exposes a Heuresis workspace to any MCP-capable client (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, custom agents). The server logs into the user's Heuresis account, talks to the same Supabase project the webapp talks to, and respects the same RLS. Webapp and MCP are two front-ends to one cloud workspace.

Current version: 1.0.0-rc.13.

Install

npm install -g @heuresis/mcp
# or on demand without installing:
npx -y @heuresis/mcp

Package name vs. command name. The npm package is @heuresis/mcp; the command it installs is heuresis-mcp. A bare npx -y @heuresis/mcp (no subcommand) starts the MCP server fine, but npx @heuresis/mcp login can fail with heuresis-mcp: not found because npx derives the command name from the scope-stripped package name (mcp), which doesn't match. To run a subcommand reliably on every npm/OS, name the binary explicitly with -p:

npx -y -p @heuresis/mcp heuresis-mcp login

Quickstart

1. Link this machine to your Heuresis account

npx -y -p @heuresis/mcp heuresis-mcp login

The CLI prints a device code and a one-click URL of the form https://heuresis.app/device?code=XXXX-XXXX. Open it in your browser, sign in if you aren't already, and confirm the device. The CLI polls in the background and writes credentials to ~/.heuresis/credentials.json (chmod 600 on POSIX) the moment you confirm. Subsequent runs of the MCP are silent.

The login flow rides three Supabase Edge Functions: mcp-device-init, mcp-device-grant, and mcp-device-poll.

To unlink a machine: npx -y -p @heuresis/mcp heuresis-mcp logout, or open Settings ▸ Connected devices in the webapp to revoke remotely.

npx -y -p @heuresis/mcp heuresis-mcp whoami confirms which account a machine is currently linked to.

2. Point your MCP client at it

Claude Desktop. Edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS, or %APPDATA%/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on Windows:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "heuresis": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "@heuresis/mcp"] }
  }
}

Claude Code / Cursor / Windsurf. Drop a .mcp.json in the workspace root:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "heuresis": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "@heuresis/mcp"] }
  }
}

Restart the client. The Heuresis tools appear in the tool menu.

3. CLI subcommands

npx -y -p @heuresis/mcp heuresis-mcp whoami   # show the linked account + device
npx -y -p @heuresis/mcp heuresis-mcp logout   # delete the credentials file
npx -y -p @heuresis/mcp heuresis-mcp --help   # all options
npx -y @heuresis/mcp --no-realtime            # boot the server with live sync off (persisted)
npx -y @heuresis/mcp --realtime               # re-enable live sync

Headless mode (CI, cloud agents, disposable containers)

Device pairing writes a refresh token to disk. That works great on a personal machine, but it does not survive disposable/ephemeral environments (CI runners, cloud agent containers, "Claude Code on the web"): the filesystem is wiped between runs, and a Supabase refresh token is single-use under rotation — so a token baked into config dies after the first session.

For those environments, skip pairing and let the server sign in fresh on every boot from your account email + password (a password is not consumed on use, so it works forever with no re-pairing). Set three env vars:

[email protected]          # your Heuresis account email
HEURESIS_PASSWORD=your-account-password # secret — store it in a secrets manager
HEURESIS_ANON_KEY=sb_publishable_...    # project anon/publishable key (public, not a secret)
# optional: HEURESIS_SUPABASE_URL=...   # defaults to the production project

When HEURESIS_EMAIL + HEURESIS_PASSWORD are present they take precedence over any credentials.json, and the MCP server authenticates per boot — no device link required. Requirements:

• Email + password sign-in must be enabled for the Supabase project, and the account must have a password set (passwordless / magic-link-only accounts need a password added first).
• Treat HEURESIS_PASSWORD as a secret. Prefer a dedicated account if your environment can only expose env vars that are visible to its users.

Live sync

When the MCP boots in cloud mode it subscribes to the workspace over Supabase Realtime and notifies the client whenever a nodes, edges, projects, or ideas row changes. Edits made in the webapp show up in the agent's view without a manual refresh, and writes from one MCP-connected client reach any other connected client the same way. Pass --no-realtime to disable the subscription (useful if the chatter is noisy or the client logs every notification). The preference is saved to ~/.heuresis/config.json so the flag only needs to be passed once.

Tools

34 tools total: 31 data tools against the cloud workspace, plus 3 operator tools that drive the same ideation operators the webapp uses.

Reads (10). get_workspace_summary, list_projects, get_project_graph, list_concepts, list_edges, get_subtree, get_concept, search_concepts, find_concepts, list_recent_decisions. Most agent sessions start with get_workspace_summary or list_projects.

Writes (21). Concepts: add_concept, update_concept, bulk_add_concepts, set_parent, validate_concept, set_standing, archive_concept, unarchive_concept, star_concept, remove_concept. Edges: link_concepts, add_kref. Ideas: create_idea, rename_idea, recolor_idea, set_idea_members, add_to_idea, delete_idea. Projects: create_project, update_project, delete_project. Every write stamps a row in public.provenance with origin='mcp' so the webapp's session log shows which surface made the change.

Operator runs (3). run_operator (generate candidates with Branch / Matrix / ASIT / TRIZ / Combine / Free / Contradiction), run_operator_and_commit (same, plus commit the result in one round-trip), and expand_concept (recursive Branch, capped at depth × breadth ≤ 60).

Tool input shapes mirror their counterparts in the webapp's src/agent/tools.ts, so an agent that uses both surfaces sees a uniform contract.

Wave-shipping: find_in_files (in-browser embedding search) is in the webapp but not yet on the MCP.

Legacy snapshot mode (deprecated)

The original read-only snapshot reader still works as a fallback while users migrate to cloud auth. With no ~/.heuresis/credentials.json and the HEURESIS_SNAPSHOT env var set, the server reads a JSON export from disk and exposes the original read-only tool set (get_workspace_summary, list_projects, search_concepts, get_concept, get_subtree, get_project_graph, list_recent_decisions).

export HEURESIS_SNAPSHOT="/absolute/path/to/your-export.json"
npx @heuresis/mcp

This path is deprecated and will be removed in a later release. It is here so existing setups keep working through the migration to cloud auth.

License

AGPL-3.0-or-later.