MCP Integration
Purpose
Integrate AE through MCP (tools and typed payloads) instead of only the CLI, for editors and agents that speak MCP.
Prerequisites
- MCP client and AE adapter configured (see Agent track).
Summary
Use this page when integrating AE capabilities through MCP rather than direct CLI invocation. AE tools work with any project type — libraries, apps, games, servers, or protocol implementations.
MCP tools exposed by AE adapter
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|---|
ae_definition | Framework definition and capability matrix |
ae_instructions | Context-appropriate prompt documents (supports --know) |
ae_generate | Generate AE lifecycle files (supports --know) |
ae_registry | Fetch/submit to remote registry |
ae_verify | Verify implementation checklist |
ae_evaluate | Evaluate AE compliance |
ae_hub | Hub init, status, pull, push |
ae_know | Build, list, show, remove, update, diff knowledge packs |
Typed payload discipline
- Use typed object payloads.
- Do not send string-encoded JSON where object payloads are required.
- Validate required fields before call dispatch.
Recommended integration flow
- Call definition to verify adapter connectivity.
- Call instructions for task setup.
- Execute generation or registry operation.
- Run verify/evaluate as policy checks.
- Map any failure code to deterministic recovery.
Knowledge-aware generation flow
- Call
ae_hubwith operationinitto ensure hub exists. - Call
ae_knowwith operationbuildto extract domain knowledge. - Call
ae_generatewithknow_nameto produce domain-aware AE files. - Call
ae_verifyto validate generated files.
This flow produces higher-quality AE files because the inference engine has domain context.
Failure handling
- Treat MCP
tool_failedas envelope-level fallback. - Prefer tool-specific codes (
validation_error,registry_fetch_failed, etc.) for targeted recovery behavior. - Keep retries bounded and idempotent.
Verify
ae_definition returns metadata; follow Recommended integration flow with bounded retries and typed payloads.
If it fails
See Failure handling above, then Troubleshooting.