KaiBoard MCP

KaiBoard MCP Server

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Let MCP-capable AI agents draw on your own KaiBoard whiteboards.

KaiBoard is a free, open-source, local-first whiteboard: your boards live on your own device, never in the cloud. This repo is the bridge that lets an agent read and edit those boards — the agent runs wherever your MCP client runs, and the canvas stays on your machine.

It contains two independently usable packages:

Package	Role
@kaibuddy/kaiboard-mcp	MCP server (stdio JSON-RPC 2.0) exposing the kbfs_* tools
@kaibuddy/kaiboard-core	Storage-agnostic command core (executor, element model, snapshots, Mermaid conversion)

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What it does

@kaibuddy/kaiboard-mcp is a single package that serves two combinable modes through the same set of kbfs_* tools:

	--relay mode (recommended)	--dir mode
Backend	A running KaiBoard page	A local folder you choose
App must be open?	Yes (with "Agent co-draw" enabled in the app)	No
Typical use	The agent works on the user's live board, changes visible immediately	A workspace the agent owns offline
Data location	The user's own KaiBoard library	<folder>/kaiboard-data/

Both can be enabled at once:

kaiboard-mcp --relay --dir /path/to/workspace

Install

npm install -g @kaibuddy/kaiboard-mcp
# or run without installing
npx -y @kaibuddy/kaiboard-mcp

Requires Node.js >= 18.

Connect your MCP client

Recommended: --relay mode — drives the board you're looking at, with changes visible immediately. It needs a relay token, obtained from KaiBoard's "Agent co-draw" panel:

{
  "kaiboard": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["-y", "@kaibuddy/kaiboard-mcp", "--relay"],
    "env": { "KAIBOARD_TOKEN": "<your-token>" }
  }
}

--relay starts a built-in local relay on 127.0.0.1:8787 that talks to the KaiBoard page. The relay and the page must therefore be on the same machine, and the page has to stay open while the agent works.

--dir mode can also be used on its own (no app required — the agent works in a local folder):

{
  "kaiboard-mcp": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["-y", "@kaibuddy/kaiboard-mcp", "--dir", "/path/to/your/workspace"]
  }
}

Or combine them: "args": ["-y", "@kaibuddy/kaiboard-mcp", "--relay", "--dir", "/path/to/your/workspace"]

Restart your MCP client after changing the config so it picks up the new server.

Tools

tools/list returns 12 tools (11 commands + 1 capability declaration):

Tool	Purpose
kbfs_list_capabilities	Discover runtime capabilities (commands, storage modes, whether the page is connected)
kbfs_list_boards	List boards and folders
kbfs_get_board	Read a board's elements
kbfs_get_screenshot	Render a board to PNG so the agent can look at it (--relay; degrades gracefully under --dir)
kbfs_add_element	Add elements
kbfs_patch_element	Patch element properties by id
kbfs_delete_element	Delete elements by id
kbfs_replace_board	Replace a board's contents (auto-snapshot)
kbfs_create_board	Create a board
kbfs_delete_board	Delete a board (soft delete, restorable in the app)
kbfs_from_mermaid	Build native editable elements from a Mermaid diagram
kbfs_set_metadata	Write board metadata (status / version / history / comments)

CLI details, envelope format and error codes: see docs/PROTOCOL.md.

Elements and fill colors

Elements use the Excalidraw element format. fill is accepted as a shorthand for backgroundColor, and stroke for strokeColor:

{
  "type": "rectangle",
  "id": "r1",
  "x": 40, "y": 40, "width": 160, "height": 90,
  "fill": "#ffec99",
  "stroke": "#e8590c"
}

Data and privacy

• Board data is never uploaded to any server. In --relay mode the relay listens on 127.0.0.1 only, for same-machine communication; in --dir mode the server reads and writes the local folder you specify.
• No account, no sign-in.
• On-disk layout (--dir mode): kaiboard-data/boards/<id>.json plus kaiboard-data/tree.json — a format KaiBoard can open directly.

Development

npm install
npm run typecheck   # type check
npm run build       # build both packages into their dist/
npm run e2e         # end-to-end (core + fs adapter / real stdio server)
npm run smoke       # real MCP client smoke test (initialize -> tools/call)

Third-party notices

Third-party components are referenced as optional peer dependencies (the license text ships inside each package):

Component	License	Role
@excalidraw/excalidraw	MIT	element types / canvas rendering (provided by the host)
@excalidraw/mermaid-to-excalidraw	MIT	Mermaid → element conversion (optional)

Build-time only: typescript (Apache-2.0), @types/node (MIT).

No upstream source code is vendored — every component is used as an ordinary npm dependency.

Versioning

Currently 0.1.x — the API may still change between minor versions. 1.0.0 will mark the stability commitment.

License

MIT