BookStack MCP Server
AI-powered access to your BookStack knowledge base — for GitHub Copilot, Claude, and any MCP-compatible AI assistant.
What It Does
The BookStack MCP Server extension registers a Model Context Protocol server that gives your AI assistant direct access to your BookStack instance. Ask Copilot to search pages, list books, read chapters, or create content — all without leaving your editor.
Prerequisites
- VS Code 1.99 or later with GitHub Copilot (or another MCP-compatible AI assistant)
- A BookStack instance (self-hosted) or use the public demo at
https://demo.bookstackapp.com/
- A BookStack API token (generated in BookStack → Settings → API Tokens)
- No .NET installation required — the server binary is bundled inside the extension
Quick Start
- Install this extension from the VS Code Marketplace
- Open Settings (
Ctrl+,) and search for bookstack
- Set BookStack: URL — e.g.
https://demo.bookstackapp.com/ or your self-hosted URL
- Set BookStack: Token Id and BookStack: Token Secret from your BookStack API token
- Open GitHub Copilot Chat and try:
@workspace list all books in BookStack
Demo: Use https://demo.bookstackapp.com/ to try without a self-hosted instance. Log in at https://demo.bookstackapp.com/login, create an API token under your profile, and use those credentials above.
Configuration
| Setting |
Description |
bookstack.url |
Full URL of your BookStack instance, e.g. https://demo.bookstackapp.com/ |
bookstack.tokenId |
API token ID from BookStack → Settings → API Tokens |
bookstack.tokenSecret |
API token secret for the token ID above |
| Platform |
Status |
| Windows (x64) |
✅ Supported |
| Linux (x64) |
✅ Supported |
| macOS |
🔜 Planned |
Once configured, your AI assistant has access to:
- Books — list, create, read, update, delete, export
- Chapters — list, create, read, update, delete
- Pages — list, create, read, update, delete, export
- Shelves — list, create, read, update, delete
- Search — full-text search across your BookStack instance
Troubleshooting
Check the Output panel → select BookStack MCP Server for activation logs. For MCP protocol logs, check Output → MCP.
| Symptom |
Fix |
| Warning: settings required |
Set bookstack.url, bookstack.tokenId, and bookstack.tokenSecret in Settings |
| 401 Unauthorized |
Check token ID and secret are correct and not swapped |
| URL not found |
Ensure URL ends with / and points to your BookStack root |
| Platform not supported |
macOS support is planned — see #15 |
Log Levels
The server logs at Information level by default. To enable Debug logging, set the following environment variable before VS Code launches the server:
Logging__LogLevel__BookStack.Mcp.Server=Debug
On Linux/macOS, add it to your shell profile (e.g. ~/.bashrc) or set it in your .vscode/settings.json terminal env:
"terminal.integrated.env.linux": {
"Logging__LogLevel__BookStack.Mcp.Server": "Debug"
}
You can also scope debug logging to a specific layer:
| Environment variable |
Effect |
Logging__LogLevel__BookStack.Mcp.Server=Debug |
All server logs |
Logging__LogLevel__BookStack.Mcp.Server.Api=Debug |
API client only |
Logging__LogLevel__Microsoft=Warning |
Suppress framework noise |
Privacy
This extension sends requests only to the BookStack instance URL you configure. No data is collected by the extension author. Your API token is stored in VS Code settings on your local machine.
Contributing / Bug Reports
