MCP Server

Spectrum ships a local Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that exposes the Spectrum Integration API to AI agents as callable tools. Once connected, an assistant such as Claude Desktop, GitHub Copilot, or Cursor can submit order acknowledgements, check order status, look up availability, fetch assets, render images, and more — without you writing any integration code.

The server is generated from Spectrum’s OpenAPI spec, so its tools always match the documented API. User-administration endpoints are intentionally excluded.

How it works

Local by design. The server runs on your machine and talks to the AI client over stdio. Your API token never leaves your environment — it is sent only to the Spectrum API.
Tools = endpoints. Each curated Spectrum operation becomes one tool (orders, availability, saved & generated assets, rendering, web-to-print, and design share).
Authentication. The server injects your SPECTRUM_API_TOKEN header on every request.

This is a local/stdio server — nothing is hosted by Spectrum. You (or your client) run it via npx, and each user supplies their own token. That keeps setup simple and secrets local.

Requirements

Node.js 18+ (20+ recommended)
A Spectrum API token — ask your Spectrum account manager

Connect it to your AI client

Add the server to your client’s MCP configuration. For Claude Desktop, edit claude_desktop_config.json; other clients use an equivalent mcp.json.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "spectrum": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@spectrumcustomizer/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "SPECTRUM_API_TOKEN": "your-token-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart the client, and Spectrum’s tools appear in the agent’s tool list.

Target staging

Add a base-URL override to the env block to point at staging instead of production (see Environments):

"env": {
  "SPECTRUM_API_TOKEN": "your-token-here",
  "SPECTRUM_API_BASE_URL": "https://staging.spectrumcustomizer.com"
}

Configuration reference

Variable	Required	Description
`SPECTRUM_API_TOKEN`	Yes	Your Spectrum API token.
`SPECTRUM_API_BASE_URL`	No	Override the base URL. Defaults to the production server from the spec.
`SPECTRUM_OPENAPI_PATH`	No	Path to an alternate OpenAPI JSON file.

Run from source

The server source lives in the /mcp directory of the docs repository.

cd mcp
npm install        # builds via the prepare script
node dist/index.js # speaks MCP over stdio; logs readiness to stderr

Never commit or paste your SPECTRUM_API_TOKEN. Keep it in your MCP client’s env block or a secret manager. Some endpoints are rate limited per client.

Prefer to build your own client?

If you’d rather generate application code than run an MCP server, see Build with AI for AI prompts and codegen options that use the same OpenAPI spec.