MCP Apps — Minimal Next.js Starter

A minimal Next.js starter for building MCP Apps — interactive UIs that MCP hosts render alongside tool calls.

How it works

The Next.js app serves two roles:

1. MCP server (app/mcp/route.ts) — registers tools and resources via mcp-handler and @modelcontextprotocol/ext-apps.
2. Widget UI (app/page.tsx) — a React page that MCP hosts render inside a sandboxed iframe. The MCP route self-fetches the rendered page HTML and serves it as an MCP resource.

The useMcpApp hook (app/hooks/use-mcp-app.ts) connects to the host via the App class from @modelcontextprotocol/ext-apps and provides tool input/result data as React state.

Getting started

1
pnpm install

Local development with a tunnel

MCP Apps need a public HTTPS URL. Use ngrok (or any tunnel):

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ngrok http 3000

Copy the HTTPS URL and set it in .env:

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BASE_URL=https://xxxx-xxx-xxx.ngrok-free.app

Then start the dev server:

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pnpm dev

Connect to a host

Add your MCP server URL to any MCP host that supports Apps:

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https://xxxx-xxx-xxx.ngrok-free.app/mcp

For example, in ChatGPT, Cursor, or Claude.ai: Settings > Apps > add the URL above.

Project structure

1
app/
2
  page.tsx              — Homepage (widget UI)
3
  about/page.tsx        — Example sub-page (navigation demo)
4
  counter/page.tsx      — Example sub-page (interactivity demo)
5
  mcp/route.ts          — MCP server endpoint
6
  hooks/use-mcp-app.ts  — React hook for the MCP Apps bridge
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  layout.tsx            — Root layout with iframe bootstrap patches
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baseUrl.ts              — Public URL resolver (tunnel / Vercel)
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middleware.ts           — CORS headers for cross-origin iframe access
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next.config.ts          — assetPrefix for iframe asset loading

Key files

• app/mcp/route.ts — Define your tools and resources here. The greet tool is a minimal example.
• app/page.tsx — Your widget UI. Edit this like any Next.js page. It receives tool data via useMcpApp().
• app/hooks/use-mcp-app.ts — Singleton App bridge with sessionStorage persistence. Provides toolInput, toolResult, and connected state.

Deploy

Deploy to Vercel — no additional configuration needed. The BASE_URL is automatically derived from Vercel's environment variables in production.

Once deployed, connect it to any MCP host using:

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https://your-app.vercel.app/mcp

For example, in ChatGPT, Cursor, or Claude.ai: Settings > Apps > add the URL above as a connector.

Learn more

• MCP Apps specification
• @modelcontextprotocol/ext-apps
• mcp-handler