apple-docs

Apple Docs MCP Server provides a local search gateway to Apple's extensive developer documentation. It exposes tools that let your AI assistant query the Apple docs, fetch full documents by ID, extract Swift code examples with explanations, and retrieve database statistics. Use the server to power natural-language questions like how to implement a specific UI pattern, how to use a WWDC framework, or how to locate design guidelines, while the AI can present results with source links and relevant code samples. The system is designed to run locally, so responses are fast and do not require external API calls for documentation content.

To use it, connect your MCP client (for example Cursor) to the configured mcp.json in your project. The client can invoke tools such as search_docs to perform a natural-language search across all Apple docs, get_doc to fetch full content for a specific document, get_code_examples to pull working Swift code examples with explanations, and get_stats to inspect the database. Ensure you have an OpenAI API key set in the environment as required by the server, and that Node.js 18+ is installed on your machine. With this setup, your AI assistant can provide precise, source-backed answers drawn directly from Apple documentation and guidelines.

Prerequisites:

• Node.js 18 or later
• npm (comes with Node.js)
• OpenAI API key (for the MCP server usage)

1. Install the MCP server package

   • Run in your project directory: npm install apple-docs-mcp-server

2. Ensure the documentation database downloads automatically during installation

   • The server will download the 260MB documentation database as part of setup.

3. Create the MCP configuration file

   • In your project root, create a file named .cursor/mcp.json with the following content (adjust the absolute path to your environment): { "schemaVersion": 1, "mcpServers": { "apple_docs": { "command": "/absolute/path/to/node_modules/apple-docs-mcp-server/run-mcp-safe.sh", "env": { "OPENAI_API_KEY": "your_openai_api_key_here" }, "autoStart": true, "alwaysAllow": ["search_docs", "get_doc", "get_code_examples", "get_stats"], "timeout": 30000 } } }

4. Start or restart your MCP client (e.g., Cursor) to connect to the server using the configured mcp.json.

Note: If you modify environment variables or paths, restart the MCP client to apply changes.

Tips and common issues:

• If Cursor shows "No tools", ensure you have the absolute path to run-mcp-safe.sh in mcp.json and that the script is executable (chmod +x run-mcp-safe.sh).
• Put your OpenAI API key in the env section of mcp.json to avoid API key errors.
• If you run into database errors, reinstall the package and verify node_modules/apple-docs-mcp-server/embeddings.db exists.
• The documentation database is sizeable (around 260MB) and downloads automatically during installation.
• This server requires Node.js 18+ and an OpenAI API key; ensure both are available in your environment.
• Available tools: search_docs, get_doc, get_code_examples, get_stats.