Dev.to MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for interacting with the dev.to public API. Includes both read-only tools for browsing and authenticated write tools for creating, updating, and deleting articles.

Features

This MCP server provides access to the following dev.to API endpoints:

Challenge tools (no authentication required)

• get_challenges - List active and recent DEV.to challenges (fetches from @devteam + #devchallenge tag)
• get_challenge_detail - Get the full article content of a challenge: description, prizes, judging criteria, key dates
• plan_challenge_submissions - Generate a 3–4 article submission plan with draft templates, ready to pass to batch_create_articles

Read-only tools (no authentication required)

• get_articles - Get articles from dev.to with optional filters (username, tag, state, pagination)
• get_article - Get a specific article by ID or path
• get_user - Get user information by ID or username
• get_tags - Get popular tags from dev.to
• get_comments - Get comments for a specific article
• search_articles - Search articles using query parameters

Write tools (requires DEVTO_API_KEY)

• create_article - Create a new draft or published article
• update_article - Update an existing article (title, body, tags, series, etc.)
• delete_article - Unpublish an article
• publish_article - Publish a draft article by ID
• batch_create_articles - Create up to 20 articles in one call; returns per-item success/error
• batch_update_articles - Update up to 20 articles in one call; returns per-item success/error

My article tools (requires DEVTO_API_KEY)

• get_my_articles - List your own articles filtered by state: all, published, or unpublished
• get_draft_articles - List all your unpublished (draft) articles

Search tools

• search_articles - Full-text search using the DEV.to search API
• advanced_search_articles - Filter articles by tag, username, state, reading time range, and published date

Auth tools (requires DEVTO_API_KEY)

• validate_api_key - Check if your API key is valid and return your account profile

Installation

Using npm

If you want to install and build from source using npm:

npm install
npm run build

Usage

The server runs as a remote HTTP server on port 3000 (or the PORT environment variable) and can be used with any MCP-compatible client.

npm start

The server will be available at http://localhost:3000 for MCP connections.

Development

# Build the project
npm run build

# Watch mode for development
npm run dev

# Linting
npm run lint
npm run lint:fix

# Formatting
npm run format
npm run format:check

Docker

Using Pre-built Image

Pull and run the pre-built Docker image:

# Pull the image
docker pull docker.io/nickytonline/dev-to-mcp:latest

# Run it
docker run -d \
  --name dev-to-mcp \
  -e NODE_ENV=production \
  -e PORT=3000 \
  -p 3000:3000 \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  docker.io/nickytonline/dev-to-mcp:latest

Once it's up, check health status via:

curl -fsS http://127.0.0.1:3000/mcp

The server will be available at http://localhost:3000/mcp for MCP connections.

Building from Source

Build and run the MCP server using Docker:

# Build the Docker image
docker build -t dev-to-mcp .

# Run the container
docker run -p 3000:3000 dev-to-mcp

Docker Compose

Using the pre-built image with Docker Compose:

services:
  dev-to-mcp:
    image: docker.io/nickytonline/dev-to-mcp:latest
    container_name: dev-to-mcp
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      NODE_ENV: production
      PORT: 3000
    networks:
      - main
    healthcheck:
      # Uses $PORT at runtime; defaults to 3000 if not set
      test:
        [
          "CMD-SHELL",
          "curl -fsS http://127.0.0.1:${PORT:-3000}/mcp >/dev/null || exit 1",
        ]
      interval: 15s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5
      start_period: 30s

networks:
  main: {}

For development with a local build, you can also use Docker Compose:

# docker-compose.yml
version: "3.8"
services:
  dev-to-mcp:
    build: .
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    environment:
      - PORT=3000

docker-compose up --build

API Endpoints

All endpoints use the public dev.to API (https://dev.to/api) and do not require authentication.

get_articles

Get articles with optional filtering:

• username - Filter by author username
• tag - Filter by tag
• top - Top articles (1, 7, 30, or infinity days)
• page - Pagination page (default: 1)
• per_page - Articles per page (default: 30, max: 1000)
• state - Filter by state (fresh, rising, all)

get_article

Get a specific article:

• id - Article ID
• path - Article path (e.g., "username/article-slug")

get_user

Get user information:

• id - User ID
• username - Username

get_tags

Get popular tags:

• page - Pagination page (default: 1)
• per_page - Tags per page (default: 10, max: 1000)

get_comments

Get comments for an article:

• article_id - Article ID (required)

search_articles

Search articles:

• q - Search query (required)
• page - Pagination page (default: 1)
• per_page - Articles per page (default: 30, max: 1000)
• search_fields - Fields to search (title, body_text, tag_list)

Challenge Workflow

The recommended flow for participating in a DEV.to challenge:

1. get_challenges              → find an open challenge
2. get_challenge_detail        → read requirements, judging criteria, prizes
3. plan_challenge_submissions  → generate a 3-4 article plan with full draft templates
4. batch_create_articles       → create all drafts in one call (published: false)
5. update_article              → edit each draft as you build
6. publish_article             → publish each article when ready

get_challenges

List recent DEV.to challenges:

• per_page - Number of results (default: 10)
• page - Page number (default: 1)

Challenges are articles posted by the official @devteam account tagged #devchallenge. DEV.to has no dedicated /api/challenges endpoint.

get_challenge_detail

Fetch the full content of a challenge article:

• path - Article path from get_challenges, e.g. devteam/join-the-june-solstice-game-jam-1000-in-prizes-3jla

plan_challenge_submissions

Generate a ready-to-use multi-article submission plan:

• challenge_title - Name of the challenge (required)
• challenge_description - Short description of requirements (required)
• theme - The challenge theme, e.g. "light and darkness, passage of time" (required)
• your_angle - What you plan to build, e.g. "a puzzle game where daylight is your resource" (required)
• tags - Extra tags for every article (max 2; devchallenge is auto-added)
• count - Number of articles to plan: 3 or 4 (default: 3)

Returns a series_name, a submissions array with full body_markdown templates, and a note reminding you to pass it to batch_create_articles.

Write Operations

All write operations require the DEVTO_API_KEY environment variable to be set with a valid dev.to API key.

create_article

Create a new article:

• title - Article title (required)
• body_markdown - Article body in Markdown (required)
• published - Whether to publish immediately (default: false = draft)
• tags - Array of tag slugs, up to 4 (e.g., ["javascript", "webdev"])
• series - Series name to add the article to
• canonical_url - Canonical URL if published elsewhere
• description - Short description/subtitle for listings

update_article

Update an existing article:

• id - Article ID (required)
• title - New title
• body_markdown - New body in Markdown
• published - Set to true to publish, false to unpublish
• tags - Replacement tag list
• series - Series name
• canonical_url - Canonical URL
• description - Short description

Only provide the fields you want to change.

delete_article

Unpublish an article (the dev.to public API does not support hard-delete):

• id - Article ID (required)

This sets published: false on the article.

publish_article

Publish a draft article immediately:

• id - Article ID (required)

get_my_articles

List your own articles:

• state - published, unpublished, or all (default: all)
• page - Page number (default: 1)
• per_page - Articles per page (default: 30)

get_draft_articles

List your unpublished drafts (shorthand for get_my_articles with state: unpublished):

• page - Page number
• per_page - Drafts per page

advanced_search_articles

Search with rich filtering — all parameters are optional:

• tag - Filter by tag slug
• username - Filter by author username
• state - fresh, rising, or all
• top - Trending window in days (1, 7, 30)
• page / per_page - Pagination
• min_reading_time - Minimum reading time in minutes (client-side)
• max_reading_time - Maximum reading time in minutes (client-side)
• since - Only articles published on or after this date (ISO 8601, e.g. 2024-01-01)

validate_api_key

Validate the configured API key and return the authenticated user's profile. No parameters required — reads from the DEVTO_API_KEY environment variable.

batch_create_articles

Create multiple articles in one call:

• articles - Array of article objects (max 20), each with the same fields as create_article

Returns a summary (succeeded, failed, total) and a per-item result array — a single failure does not abort the rest.

batch_update_articles

Update multiple articles in one call:

• articles - Array of update objects (max 20), each with an id plus any fields from update_article

Returns a summary and per-item results — failures are isolated per article.

Error handling & reliability

All API requests include automatic retry logic:

• Rate limiting (429) — respects the Retry-After header
• Server errors (5xx) — exponential backoff: 500ms → 1s → 2s
• Network errors — retries up to 3 times with backoff
• Structured errors — every error includes the HTTP status code and the raw DEV.to error body for easier debugging

Configuration

Environment Variables

• DEVTO_API_KEY - Your dev.to API key (required for write operations)
• PORT - HTTP server port (default: 3000)
• NODE_ENV - Environment (default: development)
• LOG_LEVEL - Log level: error, warn, info, debug (default: info)

License

MIT