Grooper MCP

From Grooper Wiki

2026 BETA

This article covers new or changed functionality in the current or upcoming beta version of Grooper. Features are subject to change before version 2026's GA release. Configuration and functionality may differ from later beta builds and the final 2026 release.

Connecting a Grooper MCP Server to an AI client

Connecting Grooper MCP Servers to AI clients such as Claude Code or GitHub Copilot varies slightly from client to client. However, the broad strokes involve editing some kind of config file (either directly or indirectly) and entering a URL for the MCP Server.

The MCP Server's URL always takes the following form: 

http(s)://<GROOPER-HOST>/gws/mcp/<GROOPER-REPOSITORY-ID>/servers/<MCP-SERVER-NAME>
  • <GROOPER-HOST>: Replace this with the server host where the Grooper and GWS apps are installed.
  • <GROOPER-REPOSITORY-ID>: Replace this with the Grooper Repository's ID (You can grab this by going to the Design page, selecting the Root node and copying the GUID value from the "Repository ID" property).
  • <MCP-SERVER-NAME>: Replace this with whatever you named your MCP Server in Grooper.

The sections below walk through connecting a Grooper MCP Server to specific AI clients.

Claude Code/Claude Desktop

This guide will list the basic steps for hooking up a Grooper MCP Server to Claude Code. This will let you use Grooper tools from a Grooper MCP Server from:

  • A terminal window, by typing claude directly (the "Claude Code CLI").
  • The Code tab in Claude Desktop.


To get started:

  1. Open Windows PowerShell.
  2. Run the following command to install Claude Code. This may take a moment. Wait for the "Installation complete!" message at the end.
irm https://claude.ai/install.ps1 | iex
  2. Close the PowerShell window and open a brand new one.
  3. Run the following command to double-check Claude Code was installed. It should print a version number
claude --version
  2. Run this command to add the Grooper MCP Server connection.
claude mcp add --transport http --scope user <NAME-IN-CLAUDE> "https://<GROOPER-HOST>/gws/mcp/<GROOPER-REPOSITORY-ID>/servers/<MCP-SERVER-NAME>"
  • <NAME-IN-CLAUDE>: Replace this with whatever you want to name the MCP server, as seen in Claude, for example grooper or grooper-prod or grooper-dev.
  • <GROOPER-HOST>: Replace this with the server host where the Grooper and GWS apps are installed.
  • <GROOPER-REPOSITORY-ID>: Replace this with the Grooper Repository's ID (You can grab this by going to the Design page, selecting the Root node and copying the GUID value from the "Repository ID" property).
  • <MCP-SERVER-NAME>: Replace this with whatever you named your MCP Server in Grooper.
  • --scope user: This is recommended to make the server available everywhere for your account, not just locally to a single folder (--scope local).
  2. Run this command to verify you've registered the server and show its status.
claude mcp list
  2. If Claude Desktop is open, close and re-open it.
  3. Go to the Code tab, start a new session and enter "/mcp". You should see the MCP Server you just added in the list.
  4. Start prompting requests! The following are safe, read-only requests that will get you started.
    • List the Projects in my Grooper Repository and describe each Content Model.
    • Show me the steps in the list specific process name here Batch Process and what each Activity is configured to do.
    • List the most recent Production Batch and tell me what step it is on.
    • Read the Create Batch Process skill from the Grooper server and summarize the recommended step order for scanned paper documents.

VS Code (GitHub Copilot)

VS Code with the GitHub Copilot extension supports MCP servers in Agent mode. VS Code is a popular platform by itself, making it a good option for users who already have it installed and are familiar with it.

These instructions assume you already have VS Code installed with the GitHub Copilot extension, and that you're signed in to GitHub with an active Copilot license.

Note for Copilot Business/Enterprise orgs: The "MCP servers in Copilot" policy must be enabled by an admin before MCP servers will work. This is off by default. If the MCP commands below are missing entirely from the Command Palette (rather than just failing to connect), this is likely why.

MCP servers are added by editing a config file called mcp.json.

  1. Press Ctrl+Shift+P to open the Command Palette.
  2. Type and select MCP: Open User Configuration. This opens (or creates) your global mcp.json file.
  3. If no "servers" block exists in the JSON config, add the following entry (before the ending } in the JSON):
  "servers": {
    "<NAME-IN-COPILOT>": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http(s)://<GROOPER-HOST>/gws/mcp/<GROOPER-REPOSITORY-ID>/servers/<MCP-SERVER-NAME>"
    }
  }
  • <NAME-IN-COPILOT>: Replace this with whatever you want to name the MCP server, as seen in Copilot, for example grooper or grooper-prod or grooper-dev.
  • <GROOPER-HOST>: Replace this with the server host where the Grooper and GWS apps are installed.
  • <GROOPER-REPOSITORY-ID>: Replace this with the Grooper Repository's ID (You can grab this by going to the Design page, selecting the Root node and copying the GUID value from the "Repository ID" property).
  • <MCP-SERVER-NAME>: Replace this with whatever you named your MCP Server in Grooper.
  2. If there are other servers already listed in the "servers" block, do not delete any existing entries. Simply add yours as a new entry in the object.
  4. Important: The root key must be "servers", not "mcpServers". VS Code silently ignores the wrong key with no error message, so this is the single most common mistake when setting this up.
  6. Save the file. Look for a "Start" link above your server's entry in the file (VS Code adds this automatically) and click it.
  7. Open Copilot Chat and switch the mode dropdown from Ask to Agent. MCP tools are not available in Ask or Edit mode.
  8. Click the tools icon in the chat box and confirm your server appears in the list.
  9. Start prompting requests! The following are safe, read-only requests that will get you started.
    • List the Projects in my Grooper Repository and describe each Content Model.
    • Show me the steps in the list specific process name here Batch Process and what each Activity is configured to do.
    • List the most recent Production Batch and tell me what step it is on.
    • Read the Create Batch Process skill from the Grooper server and summarize the recommended step order for scanned paper documents.

OpenCode

OpenCode is an open source AI coding agent available as a terminal-based interface or a desktop app. It's an effective and cost effective way to get connected to a Grooper MCP Server. OpenCode uses the AI SDK and Models.dev to support 75+ LLM providers and supports running local models on-premises.

These instructions assume you already have OpenCode installed and connected to a model provider.

MCP servers are added by editing the OpenCode config file on your machine.

  1. Open Windows File explorer and go to C:\Users\<YOUR-USER-NAME>\.config\opencode
  2. Open opencode.json in a text editor.
  3. If no such "mcp" block in the JSON config exists, add the following entry to the bottom (before the ending } in the JSON):
  "mcp": {
    "<NAME-IN-OPENCODE>": {
      "type": "remote",
      "url": "https://<GROOPER-HOST>/gws/mcp/<GROOPER-REPOSITORY-ID>/servers/<MCP-SERVER-NAME>",
      "enabled": true
    }
  }
  • <NAME-IN-OPENCODE>: Replace this with whatever you want to name the MCP server, as seen in OpenCode, for example grooper or grooper-prod or grooper-dev.
  • <GROOPER-HOST>: Replace this with the server host where the Grooper and GWS apps are installed.
  • <GROOPER-REPOSITORY-ID>: Replace this with the Grooper Repository's ID (You can grab this by going to the Design page, selecting the Root node and copying the GUID value from the "Repository ID" property).
  • <MCP-SERVER-NAME>: Replace this with whatever you named your MCP Server in Grooper.
  2. If there are other MCP servers listed in the "mcp" block, do not delete any entries in the block. Simply add your server (<NAME-IN-OPENCODE>": {...}) in the object.
  3. Fully quit and reopen OpenCode for the changes to take effect.
  4. In the desktop app, if you have "Server status" enabled in the Settings (General > Advanced), you can verify your MCP Server is connected by pressing the "Status" button in the top tool bar.
  5. Start prompting requests! The following are safe, read-only requests that will get you started.
    • List the Projects in my Grooper Repository and describe each Content Model.
    • Show me the steps in the list specific process name here Batch Process and what each Activity is configured to do.
    • List the most recent Production Batch and tell me what step it is on.
    • Read the Create Batch Process skill from the Grooper server and summarize the recommended step order for scanned paper documents.
Retrieved from "https://wiki.grooper.com/index.php?title=Grooper_MCP&oldid=33336"