mcp

The @verbadev/mcp-server is an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that exposes Verba translation capabilities to AI coding assistants. It connects your editor or assistant to your Verba account so you can manage translation keys, locales, and AI-powered translations directly from tools like Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code Copilot, OpenAI Codex, and other MCP clients. Once running, you can interact with the server to list projects, keys, and locales, add keys with automatic AI translations, set translations for specific locales, and translate existing keys to your target languages. The server acts as a centralized bridge between your coding environment and Verba, enabling seamless translation workflows within your development tools.

To use it from an MCP client, configure the client to point to the MCP server binary (the index.js file produced by the build) and provide your Verba API key via environment variables (VERBA_API_KEY) and optionally VERBA_API_URL if you self-host. Most clients follow the same pattern: specify the command as node, the path to the built MCP server script, and environmental variables to authorize requests. After configuration, you’ll be able to issue commands like list_projects, list_keys, add_key, set_translation, and translate through your editor or IDE plugin.

Prerequisites:

• Node.js and npm installed on your system
• Access to a Verba account with an API key

1. Install the MCP server package from npm:

npm install @verbadev/mcp-server

2. Build the server (produces the build/index.js you’ll reference in mcp_config):

npm run build

3. Run the MCP server (example that you would host locally or deploy in your environment):

# If you want to start the server directly with node
node /path/to/mcp-server/build/index.js

4. Create and configure your MCP client to use the server. Example environment setup (for clients expecting VERBA_API_KEY):

export VERBA_API_KEY=sk_your_key_here
export VERBA_API_URL=https://verba.dev

5. Add the server configuration to your MCP client as documented by the client (examples in the README show how to add under Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code Copilot, and OpenAI Codex CLI). Ensure the command is node and the argument points to the built index.js, with VERBA_API_KEY set in the environment.

6. Verify connectivity by listing projects or keys through the client tool to confirm that the MCP server can reach the Verba API.

Tips and notes:

• The VERBA_API_KEY must be kept secret and not committed in public repositories.
• If you self-host Verba (VERBA_API_URL), ensure the URL is reachable from the environment running the MCP server.
• The MCP server configuration uses a common format across clients: command: node, args: ["/path/to/mcp-server/build/index.js"], env: { VERBA_API_KEY, VERBA_API_URL }.
• When deploying, consider securing the server behind authentication and limiting access to trusted IDEs or environments.
• If you encounter connectivity issues, verify network access to Verba’s API and that the API key is valid.