Sitecore MCP — A case study by EXDST

The problem

AI agents
can't drive a CMS
they can't see

For marketers

Marketing teams have GPT-class agents writing copy and translating campaigns in seconds. Then those agents stop at the door of the CMS — copy-paste, manual workflow steps, no awareness of templates, fields, or datasources.

Sitecore is the engine. We needed to give the agents a steering wheel.

Multiple datasources

Shared content

Different components

Many fields

On the dev side

Coding agents
can't ship into
a black-box CMS

For developers

Developers move faster than ever with Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, Google Antigravity, and Cursor — until the project is Sitecore. The agents lose sight of available renderings, miss presentation details, and have no map of data sources or templates.

Same wall. Different side of the door.

Multiple renderings

Many rendering variants

Rendering parameters

Presentation details

What we built

One MCP server.
Every Sitecore tool.

A Node-based Model Context Protocol server that translates LLM tool calls into Sitecore APIs — Item Service, GraphQL, PowerShell. One install, ready for any MCP-aware client.

Clients

CL Claude Desktop

GP ChatGPT

CC Claude Code

CX OpenAI Codex

GA Google Antigravity

CR Cursor / Windsurf / VS Code

IN MCP Inspector

JSON-RPC stdio · http

Core

mcp-sitecore-server

100+ tools
across 10 categories

• search• query• create• read• update• delete• powershell• logs• security• presentation

Sitecore APIs

Sitecore surfaces

IS Item Service

GQ GraphQL Edge

PS Sitecore PowerShell

Capabilities

Things you can ask
your editor's agent to do.

Each capability is one or more MCP tools. Click a tab to see a real prompt and the call we send to Sitecore.

Prompt

"Translate the /home/about page from English to German and French. Create new item versions, set workflow state ready for review."

12 fields 6 items 2 languages 4 minutes

MCP tools used

item-service-get-item read
load source-language item
item-service-create-item create
create target-language version
item-service-edit-item update
write translated fields and workflow state
item-service-get-item-children read
list immediate children
item-service-get-item-descendants read
walk full /home/about subtree

Results

Developer work that used to take a sprint,
now takes an afternoon.

5 ×

Faster Figma → Sitecore

Renderings, datasources, content items scaffolded from a design link in one prompt — no manual wiring.

70 %

Fewer manual scaffolds

Coding agents now create items, set presentation, and wire parameters that used to be hand-clicked in Content Editor.

100 +

Tools, one install

Item Service, GraphQL, PowerShell — every Sitecore surface, one MCP endpoint.

"Claude Code opened the design, drafted the plan, scaffolded the rendering and its datasource template with every field wired, then spun up test pages in two languages across a handful of variants and walked through them in Chrome. The commit was staged and the PR was open before standup ended."

Bogdan D.

Senior Developer, EXDST

What's changing

We ship today's tool.
And tomorrow's, too.

We shipped our MCP server in May 2025 and introduced the Sitecore community to AI agents and the Model Context Protocol — at meetups, on stage at SUGCON, and in the open on GitHub.

The ecosystem hasn't stood still since. Sitecore is rolling out its own Marketer MCP. Native MCP is on the way for Sitecore PowerShell.

We stay open-minded, keep a hand on the pulse, and pick whatever fits the project best — including tools we didn't ship ourselves. Loyalty is to the outcome, not to the codebase.

How it ships

NPM.
Docker.
Source code.

Three ways to run the server — pick the one that fits how your team already ships. Run it locally on a developer's laptop, drop it in a container for a shared editor pool, or clone the source and tune it to your needs.

$ npx @antonytm/mcp-sitecore-server

$ docker run antonytm/mcp-sitecore-windows

$ git clone https://github.com/Antonytm/mcp-sitecore-server

Get started

Three steps.
Five minutes.

Hook it up to your Sitecore instance, drop the config in your MCP client, and start working. No SDK to install on the Sitecore side — works against existing APIs.

View on GitHub Talk to the engineers

claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sitecore": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://127.0.0.1:3001/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Avg startup: 320 ms
Tool count: 100+
Memory: ~ 90 MB
Transports: streamable-http · stdio · sse
License: Apache 2.0

Enable the Sitecore APIs

# enable all three for full coverage —
# or just the ones the tools you use need.
PowerShell Remoting
Item Service API
GraphQL

Set environment variables

TRANSPORT: streamable-http
GRAPHQL_ENDPOINT: http://cm/sitecore/api/graph/
GRAPHQL_SCHEMAS: edge
GRAPHQL_API_KEY: "{6D3F291E-66A5-4703-887A-D549AF83D859}"
GRAPHQL_HEADERS: ""
ITEM_SERVICE_DOMAIN: sitecore
ITEM_SERVICE_USERNAME: admin
ITEM_SERVICE_PASSWORD: b
ITEM_SERVICE_SERVER_URL: http://cm/
POWERSHELL_DOMAIN: sitecore
POWERSHELL_USERNAME: admin
POWERSHELL_PASSWORD: b
POWERSHELL_SERVER_URL: http://cm/

03
Start the MCP server
```
npx @antonytm/mcp-sitecore-server
```

Connect your MCP client

# point your client at the local server
http://localhost:3001

Build journal

Read every step.

Talk to us

Your AI-native
Sitecore partner,
on call.

Want this running on your stack next week? Send a note. We'll come back with a connection plan, scoped to your editorial and developer workflows.

We taught AI
to talk with Sitecore

AI agents
can't drive a CMS
they can't see

Coding agents
can't ship into
a black-box CMS

One MCP server.
Every Sitecore tool.

Things you can ask
your editor's agent to do.

Developer work that used to take a sprint,
now takes an afternoon.

We ship today's tool.
And tomorrow's, too.

NPM.
Docker.
Source code.

Three steps.
Five minutes.

Read every step.

Google Stitch and Sitecore

Claude Design and Sitecore

Video: Sitecore MCP in Action

Video: AI That Actually Works with Sitecore — Introducing the MCP Server

From Figma Design to Sitecore Rendering in a Few Minutes

Sitecore MCP Server: Release 1.0.0

Sitecore MCP Server: Tasks from Jira

Sitecore MCP Server: Contributing and Troubleshooting

Sitecore MCP Server: Connection to Any Sitecore Instance

Sitecore MCP Server: Secure Work with Remote Servers

Sitecore MCP Server: Running in Docker Container

Sitecore MCP Server: Logging Tool

Sitecore MCP Server: Search, First Iteration

Sitecore MCP Server: Help wanted!

Sitecore MCP Server: PowerShell and Security

Sitecore MCP Server: Try It by Yourself!

Sitecore MCP Server: LLM Page Translation in a Few Prompts!

Your AI-native
Sitecore partner,
on call.

Thank you!

We taught AI to talk with Sitecore

AI agents can't drive a CMS they can't see

Coding agents can't ship into a black-box CMS

Developer work that used to take a sprint,now takes an afternoon.

We ship today's tool. And tomorrow's, too.

NPM.Docker.Source code.

Three steps. Five minutes.

Google Stitch and Sitecore

Claude Design and Sitecore

Video: Sitecore MCP in Action

Video: AI That Actually Works with Sitecore — Introducing the MCP Server

From Figma Design to Sitecore Rendering in a Few Minutes

Sitecore MCP Server: Release 1.0.0

Sitecore MCP Server: Tasks from Jira

Sitecore MCP Server: Contributing and Troubleshooting

Sitecore MCP Server: Connection to Any Sitecore Instance

Sitecore MCP Server: Secure Work with Remote Servers

Sitecore MCP Server: Running in Docker Container

Sitecore MCP Server: Logging Tool

Sitecore MCP Server: Search, First Iteration

Sitecore MCP Server: Help wanted!

Sitecore MCP Server: PowerShell and Security

Sitecore MCP Server: Try It by Yourself!

Sitecore MCP Server: LLM Page Translation in a Few Prompts!

Your AI-native Sitecore partner,on call.

We taught AI
to talk with Sitecore

AI agents
can't drive a CMS
they can't see

Coding agents
can't ship into
a black-box CMS

Developer work that used to take a sprint,
now takes an afternoon.

We ship today's tool.
And tomorrow's, too.

NPM.
Docker.
Source code.

Three steps.
Five minutes.

Your AI-native
Sitecore partner,
on call.