MCP Dashboards

Your AI can talk about data. Now it can show it.

The problem

We use AI for everything - analysis, reports, strategy. But when it comes to actually seeing the story in your data, you're stuck copying numbers into a spreadsheet and building charts yourself. The conversation has the insight. The visualization is somewhere else.

The solution

MCP Dashboards renders interactive charts, dashboards, and KPI widgets directly inside your AI conversation. 31 tools covering 44+ chart subtypes (bar has stacked/drilldown, hero has 11 variants, etc.), 21 themes, live polling, PNG/PPT/A4 export - all from a single MCP server. No browser tabs, no copy-paste, no context switching.

Quick Start

Claude Desktop

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dashboard": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-dashboards", "--stdio"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code / VS Code

claude mcp add dashboard -- npx -y mcp-dashboards --stdio

Remote (Streamable HTTP)

npx mcp-dashboards
# Server starts on http://localhost:3001/mcp

Supported clients

Works in any MCP Apps-compatible client: Claude Desktop, Claude Web, VS Code (GitHub Copilot), Goose, Postman, MCPJam. ChatGPT support is rolling out.

Just ask

No API to learn. Describe what you want in plain English:

• "Compare Q1 vs Q2 revenue by region as a bar chart"
• "Show my portfolio allocation as a donut chart with the boardroom theme"
• "Build a dashboard with monthly sales KPIs and a trend line"
• "Visualize website traffic by country on a world map"
• "Track Bitcoin price live, updating every 30 seconds"
• "Show the conversion funnel from signup to purchase"
• "Rank the team by performance using a radar chart"

The AI picks the right tool, formats your data, and renders the chart inline. Click any data point to ask follow-up questions.

Interactive charts, not images

Every chart is interactive HTML rendered directly in your conversation:

• Explore in-chat - hover tooltips, click-to-select (feeds back to the AI), drill-down with breadcrumbs, scroll-zoom up to 12x on maps and heatmaps
• Live polling - real-time charts that auto-update from any API on a timer
• Export anywhere - PPT (16:9 slides), A4 (paginated with smart page breaks), PNG, CSV

Themes

21 built-in themes. Pass theme to any tool.

Mix-and-match with palette, typography (8 options: system, mono, professional, editorial, bold, techno, cyberpunk, luxury), and effects (5 presets: none, subtle, shimmer, neon, energetic).

Live Polling

Real-time charts that auto-update from any API. The live chart polls data via poll_http, which supports two modes:

Secure presets (authenticated APIs)

Configure presets via env vars. Credentials stay server-side and never appear in the conversation.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dashboard": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-dashboards", "--stdio"],
      "env": {
        "POLL_PRESET_T212_CASH_URL": "https://live.trading212.com/api/v0/equity/account/cash",
        "POLL_PRESET_T212_CASH_HEADERS": "{\"Authorization\": \"Bearer YOUR_API_KEY\"}"
      }
    }
  }
}

Then ask: "Monitor my portfolio total and P/L live" - the AI uses render_live_chart with pollArgs: { preset: "t212_cash" }.

Naming: POLL_PRESET_<NAME>_URL and POLL_PRESET_<NAME>_HEADERS (JSON object).

Public URLs (no auth needed)

For public APIs, use the URL directly:

"Show me Bitcoin price updating every 30 seconds" - uses pollArgs: { url: "https://api.coingecko.com/api/v3/simple/price?ids=bitcoin&vs_currencies=usd" }.

How It Works

Built on MCP Apps. You ask the AI to visualize data, it calls the right tool, and the chart renders inline in your conversation. Self-contained - zero CDN, zero external requests.

MCP Apps supported (inline rendering): Claude Desktop, VS Code Insiders + MCP Apps extension, Goose, Postman.

No MCP Apps support? No problem. When the server detects your client can't render inline, every chart response includes:

• A clickable http://localhost:XXXX/chart/{id} link - opens the full interactive dashboard in your default browser
• A standalone HTML file (file:///...chart-{id}.html) - self-contained, works offline, can be emailed or archived

Works in Claude Code, Cursor, older VS Code, and any other MCP client. Tool annotations (readOnlyHint, idempotentHint, openWorldHint) help clients reason about tool behavior.

Opt-out: set env var MCP_DASHBOARDS_DISABLE_PREVIEW=1 to skip the preview links entirely.

Requirements: Node.js 18+.

git clone https://github.com/KyuRish/mcp-dashboards.git
cd mcp-dashboards
npm install
npm run build
npm run serve   # http://localhost:3001
npm run dev     # watch mode

Support

If MCP Dashboards is useful to you:

Privacy

All processing happens locally. No data is collected, transmitted, or stored. External network calls are render_from_url and poll_http - both require you to explicitly provide the URL. Credentials in env var presets never leave your machine. The browser preview server binds only to 127.0.0.1 (localhost) and is not reachable from other devices.

License

FSL-1.1-MIT - Free to use for any purpose except building a competing commercial product. Each version converts to MIT two years after release. For commercial licensing, contact contact@kyuish.com.