5eMCP

A complete D&D 5e reference and utility MCP server backed by live 5etools data.

Quick Start

Claude Desktop — One-Click Install (recommended)

1. Download 5eMCP.mcpb from the latest release
2. Open the file — Claude Desktop will prompt you to install it, or go to Settings → Extensions → Install Extension and select the file
3. Enter your GitHub personal access token when prompted (required — create a free one at github.com/settings/tokens with public_repo scope or read-only access to public repos)
4. Choose your default ruleset (2024 or 2014)
5. Restart Claude Desktop

Your token is stored securely in the OS keychain (macOS Keychain / Windows Credential Manager) — never in plain text.

---

Developers (Claude Code, Cursor, manual config)

Requirements: Node.js ≥ 24, optional GitHub personal access token (read-only, public repos)

git clone https://github.com/jazzsequence/5eMCP.git
cd 5eMCP
npm install
npm run build

Claude Code

Add to ~/.claude.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "5etools": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/5eMCP/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_TOKEN": "ghp_your_token_here",
        "DEFAULT_RULESET": "2024"
      }
    }
  }
}

Cursor

Add to .cursor/mcp.json in your project (or ~/.cursor/mcp.json globally):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "5etools": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/5eMCP/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_TOKEN": "ghp_your_token_here",
        "DEFAULT_RULESET": "2024"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop (manual config) {#claude-desktop-manual-config}

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "5etools": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/5eMCP/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_TOKEN": "ghp_your_token_here",
        "DEFAULT_RULESET": "2024"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace /path/to/5eMCP with the absolute path to your clone. DEFAULT_RULESET can be "2024" (default) or "2014" for legacy rules. GITHUB_TOKEN is optional but strongly recommended — unauthenticated requests are rate-limited to 60/hr.

How It Works

5e.tools is fully client-side. When spells.html loads, the browser fetches data/spells/spells-phb.json directly from GitHub and renders it in JavaScript. This server replicates that pattern server-side:

GitHub Contents API
  → manifest: { spells: [...], bestiary: [...], book: [...], ... }
  → SHA-keyed disk/Redis cache
  → raw.githubusercontent.com (fetch on miss)
  → translation layer (resolve {@tags}, merge fluff, normalize)
  → MCP tool response

The manifest is schema-agnostic and self-updating. When 5etools adds a new content type, the next manifest refresh picks it up automatically — no code change required. Unknown types run through the passthrough handler (tags resolved, internal fields stripped) and return clean JSON. Nothing is ever inaccessible.

Available Tools

Meta Tools

Tool	Description
manifest_status	Build time, file counts by type, unknown types discovered.
list_sources	All source abbreviations with content types.
fetch_content	Fetch and translate any file in the manifest by content type + file name. Universal fallback for any content type.

Search Tools (*_search)

All search tools accept query (name substring), ruleset ("2024" or "2014"), limit, fields (optional list of field names to include in each result — default is all fields, e.g. ["name","cr","source"]), and include_homebrew (boolean, default false — when true also searches TheGiddyLimit/homebrew alongside official results). Results match on name, source abbreviation, pantheon/setting, and any top-level array-of-strings field in the data (e.g. damageInflict, conditionInflict, environment, property tags like "Vst|EGW").

Selected tools support additional structured filter parameters:

Tool	Extra Parameters
spell_search	level (int 0–9), school (full name: evocation, necromancy, etc.)
monster_search	type (beast, humanoid, undead…), cr_max (max CR inclusive: "1/4", "1/2", "5"…), environment (habitat substring: "underdark", "forest", "nine hells"…)
item_search	rarity (common, uncommon, rare, very rare, legendary, artifact), type (weapon, armor, wondrous…)

Tool	Content
spell_search	Spells
monster_search	Monsters and creatures
item_search	Magic and mundane items
race_search	Playable species / races
background_search	Character backgrounds
feat_search	Feats
condition_search	Conditions and diseases
vehicle_search	Vehicles and vessels
object_search	Objects
trap_search	Traps and hazards
psionic_search	Psionic powers and disciplines
deck_search	Decks (e.g. Deck of Many Things)
reward_search	Supernatural gifts and boons
optfeature_search	Optional class features and invocations
table_search	Random tables
variantrule_search	Variant rules
deity_search	Deities and gods (searchable by pantheon/setting)
language_search	Languages
skill_search	Skills
sense_search	Senses (darkvision, tremorsense, etc.)
book_search	Sourcebooks (name, ID, source, publication date)
adventure_search	Published adventures
class_search	Character classes (official + homebrew)
subclass_search	Subclasses and archetypes

Get Tools (*_get)

Exact lookup by name with full fluff/description merged in. Accept name, optional source, and ruleset.

Tool	Content
spell_get	Full spell entry with description
monster_get	Full stat block with lore
item_get	Full item entry with description
race_get	Full race entry with traits and fluff
background_get	Full background entry with fluff
feat_get	Full feat entry
book_get	Sourcebook metadata by name
adventure_get	Adventure metadata by name
class_get	Full class entry by name
subclass_get	Full subclass entry by name

Sourcebook & Adventure Content

Tool	Description
book_content_get	Retrieve full prose from a sourcebook or adventure by source abbreviation (e.g. SCC, EGW, SCC-CK). Without section: returns a table of contents. With section: returns that section's text rendered as clean markdown. Supports deep nested section search (case-insensitive substring match).

Omnisearch

Tool	Description
omnisearch	Search all 24 content types at once. Returns results tagged with entityType. Accepts include_homebrew (default true — homebrew is included by default).

DM Calculator Tools

All calculators are purely local — no network calls, no API key needed.

Tool	Description
cr_calculate	Calculate a monster's Challenge Rating from its stats (HP, AC, DPR, attack bonus). Applies DMG Appendix B algorithm. Supports damage immunity (effective HP ×2), resistance (×1.5), and vulnerability (×0.5). Returns final CR, XP, and the defensive/offensive sub-CRs.
cr_scale	Look up the expected stat ranges (HP, AC, attack bonus, DPR, save DC, proficiency bonus) for a given CR from the DMG reference table. Useful for designing or adjusting homebrew monsters.
encounter_build	Evaluate encounter difficulty for a party vs a set of monsters. Supports both 2014 (easy/medium/hard/deadly, with monster-count XP multiplier) and 2024 (low/moderate/high, no multiplier) rulesets. Returns adjusted XP, difficulty label, and full threshold breakdown.
loot_generate	Generate individual treasure loot for a monster by CR, using the DMG individual treasure tables. Returns all possible outcomes for the CR bracket with probability percentages and average coin amounts.

Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Description
GITHUB_TOKEN	—	Read-only GitHub PAT. Strongly recommended.
DEFAULT_RULESET	"2024"	Which ruleset to use ("2024" or "2014").
MANIFEST_TTL_SECONDS	3600	How often to rebuild the manifest (seconds).
CACHE_DIR	~/.cache/5eMCP	Disk cache location (local stdio mode).
REDIS_URL	—	Redis connection URL (e.g. redis://localhost:6379). When set and reachable, Redis is used instead of disk cache. Falls back to disk on connection failure.

Ruleset Support

All tools accept ruleset: "2024" | "2014":

• "2024" → 5etools-mirror-3/5etools-src (current rules)
• "2014" → 5etools-mirror-3/5etools-2014-src (legacy rules)

Development

npm run dev          # Run without compile step (tsx)
npm run build        # Compile TypeScript
npm run typecheck    # Type-check without emitting
npm test             # Run tests (Vitest)
npm run lint         # ESLint

This project uses TDD. Tests are written before implementation. See AGENTS.md for the full workflow including mandatory reviewer agent approval before commits.

# First-time setup: install git hooks
./.githooks/install.sh

Architecture

flowchart TD
    Client["MCP Client\n(Claude Desktop / Claude Code / Cursor)"]
    Server["MCP Server (Node.js)"]
    Manifest["Manifest Layer\n1-hour TTL refresh"]
    Cache["Cache Layer\nSHA-keyed disk or Redis"]
    Translation["Translation Layer\ntag resolver · typed handlers · passthrough"]
    Calculators["Calculators\nCR · encounter · loot · scaling"]
    GH["GitHub Contents API"]
    Raw["raw.githubusercontent.com"]
    Redis[("Redis / Disk")]

    Client -->|stdio| Server
    Server --> Manifest
    Server --> Cache
    Server --> Translation
    Server --> Calculators
    Manifest -->|"index all files"| GH
    Cache -->|"fetch on miss"| Raw
    Cache <-->|"read / write"| Redis

Loading

Legal

5etools data is fetched live from public GitHub repositories. This server does not store or redistribute any content. The GitHub API rate limit applies. A GitHub token is required for sustained use.

Calculator logic is ported from 5etools' MIT-licensed JavaScript source.

Credits

D20 icon by Delapouite via game-icons.net, licensed CC BY 3.0.