GitBook Published Docs MCP Server for Claude

Content

GitBook automatically exposes an MCP server for every published GitBook documentation site. The server lets Claude and other MCP-capable clients search published docs, retrieve pages, and answer questions from the current published knowledge base.

This is a read-only documentation connection. It is not the GitBook editor, GitBook Agent, or a content-publishing workflow. The MCP server mirrors the published site: public docs are reachable publicly, authenticated docs require the same access boundary as the site, and drafts or unpublished changes remain private until they are published.

GitBook documents a simple URL convention: take the published docs site URL and append /~gitbook/mcp. For example, GitBook's own docs are published at https://gitbook.com/docs, so the MCP endpoint is:

https://gitbook.com/docs/~gitbook/mcp

Features

• Automatically generated MCP server for each published GitBook site.
• Read-only access to published documentation content.
• Documentation search for AI assistants and IDE agents.
• Page retrieval so Claude can answer from current published docs.
• HTTP transport endpoint at the published site URL plus /~gitbook/mcp.
• Visibility-aware access: public docs are public, authenticated docs require authentication.
• Latest-published-content boundary: drafts and unpublished changes stay out of the MCP surface.
• Optional GitBook page action that lets site visitors copy the MCP server link from the published docs UI.

Use Cases

• Give Claude access to a product's published GitBook docs before asking integration, setup, or troubleshooting questions.
• Connect an internal authenticated GitBook knowledge base to an approved MCP client for support or engineering workflows.
• Let users ask an AI assistant questions against your public documentation without maintaining a separate custom MCP server.
• Compare current published docs against implementation plans or support answers without exposing drafts.
• Provide Cursor, VS Code, Claude Desktop, or Claude Code with docs context for a GitBook-hosted SDK, API, or product guide.

Installation

Claude Code

1. Confirm the GitBook site is published.
2. Build the MCP endpoint by appending /~gitbook/mcp to the published site URL.
3. Add the endpoint with HTTP transport:

claude mcp add --transport http gitbook https://gitbook.com/docs/~gitbook/mcp

1. Replace the example URL with your own GitBook site endpoint.
2. Restart or refresh the MCP client session.

Claude Desktop

1. Open the Claude Desktop MCP configuration file.
2. Add the gitbook server configuration shown below.
3. Replace the example URL with the target GitBook site's MCP endpoint.
4. Restart Claude Desktop and ask a narrow question from the docs.

Configuration

{
  "gitbook": {
    "url": "https://gitbook.com/docs/~gitbook/mcp",
    "transport": "http"
  }
}

For your own docs, replace the URL with:

https://your-gitbook-site.example/~gitbook/mcp

Examples

Search published docs

Ask Claude to answer only from the connected GitBook site.

Search the connected GitBook docs for installation prerequisites and summarize the current setup flow.

Retrieve a specific page

Use the MCP server to pull the current published version of a known page.

Retrieve the authentication page from the GitBook docs and list the required environment variables.

Check public documentation before answering

Use the docs as source material for a support answer.

Use the GitBook MCP docs source to answer this customer question and include the relevant page links.

Validate an internal runbook

For authenticated docs, keep the request scoped to an approved knowledge base.

Search the internal GitBook runbook for the current incident escalation steps and summarize only the published guidance.

Security

• Connect only GitBook sites that the operator and AI client are authorized to read.
• Remember that public GitBook docs are public through the MCP endpoint too. Do not publish secrets or private content just because the MCP access is read-only.
• Treat documentation content as untrusted input when it contains copied shell commands, external links, code snippets, or contributor-editable text.
• Verify potentially destructive commands or production instructions against a trusted operator before acting on them.
• Use private/authenticated GitBook visibility settings when docs are intended for internal users only.

Troubleshooting

Claude cannot connect

Confirm the GitBook site is published and accessible. Then verify the MCP URL matches the published site URL with /~gitbook/mcp appended.

The browser shows an error at the MCP URL

GitBook notes that visiting the MCP endpoint in a normal browser can show an error. Test it through an MCP-capable client that supports HTTP transport.

Draft changes are missing

The MCP server exposes only the latest published content. Publish the changes first if they should be available to the MCP client.

Private docs are inaccessible

Check the GitBook site's visibility and authentication settings. The MCP server respects the same access boundary as the published site.

The MCP client requires stdio or SSE

GitBook's published-docs MCP server uses HTTP transport only. Use a client that supports HTTP MCP endpoints.