GuideTools3 min read
MCP: working with an assistant
MCP lets an assistant use KEEL’s tools to inspect, plan, and prepare work you can review.
Select an underlined word to see what it means.
In this guide
- 01Discover
Understand your idea and the available tools
- 02Prepare
Analyze, build, preview, and plan
- 03Stage
Send the prepared work to the chosen Studio
- 04Approve
Review the account, action, and cost before signing
What does MCP add?
MCP means Model Context Protocol: a shared way for an assistant to discover tools and call them with structured inputs. KEEL’s MCP server connects the assistant to a selected project workspace and supported KEEL functions.
You describe the creative goal. The server supplies the current choices and tools. It can help identify missing decisions and prepare a result without giving the assistant a wallet’s signing authority.
Follow the work through the tools.
Discovery asks what exists. Preparation inspects or builds files. Staging sends selected files to OnKeel Studio. Wallet preparation produces review data. Each stage should tell you what it changed.
| What you want | What the assistant does |
|---|---|
| Understand the choices | Read the engine catalog and ask the project planner. |
| Check the work | Analyze files, build a preview, and verify outputs. |
| Reuse PartsReusable components included in a work, with their own identities and permissions.For exampleSeveral artworks can share the same verified drawing library.Full glossary entry → | Search the library and resolve the exact selected versions. |
| Continue in OnKeel Studio | Discover capabilities, edit a permitted draft, or stage selected files. |
| Review a release action | Prepare the appropriate chain-specific unsigned data. |
Technical detail: exact tool names
Request tools/list from your configured MCP server to see each tool’s available inputs and outputs.
| Stage | Tool names |
|---|---|
| Discover | keel-engine-catalog, keel-project-decisions, keel-contract-controls |
| Prepare | analyze, media-optimize, build, verify, cost, upload-plan |
| PartsReusable components included in a work, with their own identities and permissions.For exampleSeveral artworks can share the same verified drawing library.Full glossary entry → and shell | keel-library-search, module-resolve, module-lock, keel-shell-search |
| Studio | keel-studio-capabilities, keel-studio-draft, keel-studio-stage-project |
| EVM release preparation | keel-creator-collection-prepare, wallet-request-prepare, publish-plan |
| FRAYKEEL's auction contest between an individual bidder and a collective of patrons. The separate FRAY game project uses KEEL too.For exampleThe published auction rules decide whether a unique-work or edition outcome is issued.Full glossary entry → preparation | fray-auction-intake, fray-stage-project |
| Native Tezos shell | keel-tezos-shell-prepare |
Connect a built server to your project.
An MCP client is the application hosting the assistant. Configure it to start KEEL’s built server and point it at the project folder you intend to share.
First build the keel-sdk source checkout using the SDK guide. Replace both example paths below with your own absolute paths. The project path is the boundary for workspace-relative file operations.
Technical setup: MCP client configuration (replace both paths)
{
"mcpServers": {
"keel": {
"command": "node",
"args": [
"/path/to/keel-sdk/packages/mcp/dist/cli.js",
"--workspace",
"/path/to/your-project"
]
}
}
}Know when information leaves your machine.
File analysis and offline planning can stay local. A build may write output files. Staging uploads selected source files to OnKeel Studio’s temporary storage, and an authorized draft tool can edit a private draft.
Those are real actions even when no chain transaction occurs. The current KEEL tools prepare unsigned wallet data; signing, submission, and spending happen in the separate wallet workflow.
Technical detail: staging and Tezos boundaries
The scoped Studio credential is supplied through KEEL_STUDIO_AGENT_TOKEN in the server environment, not tool arguments. Draft edits check the expected revision. Normal collector staging omits viewer to select keel-verification-shell; viewer: "none" selects no shell. Native keel-tezos-shell-prepare supports registration, update, or freeze parameters and returns chainReady: false, signing: not-performed, and submission: not-performed. It does not implement a complete native Tezos publication flow.
Ask for something you can see.
“Read the collection supply, call it supply, and use it to set the number of rings. Show me the data and the preview before preparing a release.”
The supported chain-data tool can prepare the read and its init fragment. The agent can help wire that into the project. You still need to check that the chosen contract, network, and values describe the work you intend.
Tool detail: chain data
keel-onchain-data-prepare returns source plus inlineModuleDeclaration. Include the written source in keel-inline-prepare. This tool reads and prepares data; it never signs or submits a transaction.