Capacitor MCP Tools

Guide to using Model Context Protocol (MCP) for Ionic and Capacitor mobile development automation.

When to Use This Skill

User wants to automate Ionic/Capacitor development
User asks about MCP integration
User wants AI-assisted component/plugin discovery
User needs programmatic CLI command execution
User wants access to Ionic components and Capacitor plugins within AI chat

What is MCP?

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard for connecting AI models to external tools and data sources. For Capacitor development, MCP enables:

Access to Ionic component definitions and APIs
Capacitor plugin documentation lookup
Automated CLI command execution (build, sync, run, etc.)
Project configuration management
Real-time component demos and examples

Setting Up MCP for Capacitor

1. Install Awesome Ionic MCP Server

The awesome-ionic-mcp server is a comprehensive tool that provides access to:

Ionic Framework component APIs
Official Capacitor plugins
Capawesome plugins (free and insider)
Capacitor Community plugins
CapGo plugins
28 Ionic/Capacitor CLI commands

Claude Desktop

Add to claude_desktop_config.json (accessible via Claude > Settings > Developer):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "awesome-ionic-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "awesome-ionic-mcp@latest"]
    }
  }
}

Cline

Add to cline_mcp_settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "awesome-ionic-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "awesome-ionic-mcp@latest"],
      "disabled": false
    }
  }
}

Cursor

Add to .cursor/mcp.json (project-specific) or ~/.cursor/mcp.json (global):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "awesome-ionic-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "awesome-ionic-mcp@latest"]
    }
  }
}

2. Optional: GitHub Token for Rate Limiting

The server makes ~160+ GitHub API calls during initialization to fetch plugin data. Without authentication, GitHub limits you to 60 requests/hour. With a token, this increases to 5,000 requests/hour.

Add GITHUB_TOKEN to your MCP configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "awesome-ionic-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "awesome-ionic-mcp@latest"],
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_TOKEN": "ghp_your_token_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Get a token from GitHub Settings → Developer settings → Personal access tokens. No special permissions needed for public repos.

Available MCP Tools

Ionic Component Tools

// Get Ionic component definition
get_ionic_component_definition({ tag: "ion-button" })
// Returns TypeScript definition from @ionic/core

// List all Ionic components
get_all_ionic_components()
// Returns: ["ion-button", "ion-card", "ion-input", ...]

// Get component API documentation
get_component_api({ tag: "ion-button" })
// Returns API docs from ionicframework.com

// Get component demo code
get_component_demo({ tag: "ion-modal" })
// Returns demo code from docs-demo.ionic.io

Capacitor Plugin Tools

// Get official Capacitor plugin API
get_official_plugin_api({ plugin: "Camera" })
// Returns documentation from capacitorjs.com

// List all official plugins
get_all_official_plugins()
// Returns: ["Camera", "Filesystem", "Geolocation", ...]

// Search all available Capacitor plugins
get_all_capacitor_plugins()
// Returns superlist from all plugin publishers

// Get Capawesome plugin documentation
get_plugin_api({ plugin: "capacitor-firebase" })

// List Capawesome plugins
get_all_free_plugins() // Free plugins
get_all_insider_plugins() // Insider/paid plugins

// Get CapGo plugin documentation
get_capgo_plugin_api({ plugin: "native-biometric" })
get_all_capgo_plugins()

// Get Capacitor Community plugin docs
get_capacitor_community_plugin_api({ plugin: "http" })
get_all_capacitor_community_plugins()

Ionic CLI Commands

All commands accept a project_directory parameter (defaults to current directory).

Project Information

// Get comprehensive project info
ionic_info({ format: "json" })

// Get configuration value
ionic_config_get({ key: "name" })

// Set configuration value
ionic_config_set({ key: "name", value: "MyApp" })

// Unset configuration value
ionic_config_unset({ key: "telemetry" })

Project Setup

// Create new Ionic project
ionic_start({
  name: "MyApp",
  template: "tabs", // blank, list, sidemenu, tabs
  type: "react", // angular, react, vue
  capacitor: true
})

// List available templates
ionic_start_list()

// Initialize existing project
ionic_init({ name: "MyApp", type: "react" })

// Repair project dependencies
ionic_repair()

Build & Serve

// Build web assets
ionic_build({
  project_directory: "./my-app",
  prod: true,
  engine: "browser" // or "cordova"
})

// Start development server (manual launch recommended)
// Note: Server runs in foreground, manual launch preferred
ionic_serve({
  project_directory: "./my-app",
  port: 8100,
  lab: false
})

Code Generation

// Generate page
ionic_generate({
  type: "page",
  name: "home",
  project_directory: "./my-app"
})

// Generate component
ionic_generate({
  type: "component",
  name: "user-card"
})

// Generate service
ionic_generate({
  type: "service",
  name: "auth"
})

// Other types: directive, guard, pipe, class, interface, module

Integrations

// List available integrations
integrations_list()

// Enable integration (e.g., Capacitor)
integrations_enable({ integration: "capacitor" })

// Disable integration
integrations_disable({ integration: "cordova" })

Capacitor CLI Commands

Project Management

// Check Capacitor setup
capacitor_doctor({ platform: "ios" })

// List installed plugins
capacitor_list_plugins()

// Initialize Capacitor
capacitor_init({
  name: "MyApp",
  id: "com.example.app",
  web_dir: "dist"
})

// Add platform
capacitor_add({ platform: "ios" })
capacitor_add({ platform: "android" })

// Migrate to latest version
capacitor_migrate()

Build & Sync

// Sync web assets and dependencies
capacitor_sync({ platform: "ios" })

// Copy web assets only
capacitor_copy({ platform: "android" })

// Update native dependencies
capacitor_update({ platform: "ios" })

// Build native release
capacitor_build({
  platform: "ios",
  scheme: "App",
  configuration: "Release"
})

Run & Deploy

// Run on device/emulator
capacitor_run({
  platform: "ios",
  target: "iPhone 15 Pro"
})

// Open native IDE
capacitor_open({ platform: "ios" }) // Opens Xcode
capacitor_open({ platform: "android" }) // Opens Android Studio

Common Workflows

Create New Project

// 1. Create Ionic project
ionic_start({
  name: "MyApp",
  template: "tabs",
  type: "react",
  capacitor: true
})

// 2. Add iOS platform
capacitor_add({
  project_directory: "./MyApp",
  platform: "ios"
})

// 3. Build and sync
ionic_build({
  project_directory: "./MyApp",
  prod: true
})
capacitor_sync({
  project_directory: "./MyApp",
  platform: "ios"
})

Check Project Health

// Get system info
ionic_info({ format: "json" })

// Check Capacitor setup
capacitor_doctor({ platform: "ios" })

// List installed plugins
capacitor_list_plugins()

Generate Code

// Generate page with routing
ionic_generate({ type: "page", name: "profile" })

// Generate reusable component
ionic_generate({ type: "component", name: "user-avatar" })

// Generate service
ionic_generate({ type: "service", name: "data" })

AI-Assisted Development Benefits

With awesome-ionic-mcp, AI assistants can:

Discover Components: Ask "What Ionic components can I use for forms?" and get accurate API docs
Find Plugins: Ask "Is there a Capacitor plugin for biometric authentication?" and get relevant results
Execute Commands: Request "Build the iOS app" and the CLI command runs automatically
Generate Code: Get component examples with proper TypeScript definitions
Troubleshoot: Look up plugin APIs and configuration without leaving the chat

Example Queries

With the MCP server installed, you can ask your AI assistant:

"Show me the API for ion-modal component"
"List all available Capacitor Camera plugin methods"
"Generate a new page called settings"
"What Capawesome plugins are available for Firebase?"
"Build my app for iOS"
"Sync my Capacitor project"
"What are all the free CapGo plugins?"

Technical Details

Data Sources

The awesome-ionic-mcp server aggregates data from:

@ionic/core package (TypeScript definitions)
ionicframework.com (component API docs)
docs-demo.ionic.io (component demos)
capacitorjs.com (official plugins)
capawesome.io (Capawesome plugins)
capacitor-community (community plugins)
capgo.app (CapGo plugins)

Requirements

Node.js (for npx command)
Optional: GitHub token for avoiding API rate limits
Ionic/Capacitor project (for CLI commands)

Browser Automation

The server uses Puppeteer to fetch some documentation. You may see a browser window spawn and close during initialization - this is normal.

Resources

awesome-ionic-mcp: https://github.com/Tommertom/awesome-ionic-mcp
MCP Specification: https://modelcontextprotocol.io
MCP SDK: https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/sdk
Ionic Framework: https://ionicframework.com
Capacitor: https://capacitorjs.com
Capawesome Plugins: https://capawesome.io
CapGo Plugins: https://capgo.app

capacitor-mcp