About MCP Server

MCP Server gives your SMF 2.1 forum a Model Context Protocol endpoint. Connect Claude Code, Claude Desktop, claude.ai, ChatGPT, Cursor or any other MCP client, and the assistant works on your forum as you: it summarizes reported posts, finds spam registrations, reads and searches topics, posts announcements, manages boards, members, bans and settings, and diagnoses why emails or scheduled tasks are not running. Everything goes through SMF's own permission system and lands in the admin log.

How It Works

• 1. Install the package through the SMF package manager. No core files are edited; one integration hook is added.
• 2. Generate a key in Admin → Configuration → MCP / AI Access. It is shown once and stored hashed.
• 3. Add the endpoint to your client. The admin page shows copy-and-paste instructions for Claude Code, Claude Desktop, claude.ai and Cursor.
• 4. Ask in plain English. "Summarize the open reports", "Which accounts registered from the same IP range this week?", "Post the maintenance announcement and pin it."

What the Assistant Can Do

Moderation

• List and read reported posts and reported members with every reporter comment
• Close, reopen or ignore reports and leave moderator notes
• Review and approve the post moderation queue
• Issue warnings with a reason and an optional message to the member, with the watch / moderate / mute thresholds applied automatically
• Remove posts and delete topics, honouring the recycle board
• See the watched-members list

Members and Spam Control

• Search members by name, email, IP address or range, registration date, post count and status
• Full member profiles with groups, custom fields, warning history and recent posts
• Every IP a member used and other accounts sharing them, for duplicate-account and ban-evasion checks
• Login history per member
• Approve or reject pending registrations, change member groups, list member groups
• Ban by member, IP range, email pattern or hostname, and remove bans
• Send personal messages to members

Content and Structure

• Read topics and posts as plain text, page through long threads
• Search posts by phrase, board, author or date
• Create topics and replies as the administrator, with BBC and @mentions
• Edit existing posts with an edit reason
• Lock, pin and move topics
• Create, update, reorder and delete boards and categories, including visibility per member group

Settings, Statistics and Diagnostics

• Read and change every setting that appears in the admin panel, with type and option checks
• Daily activity statistics with period-over-period comparison, top posters, boards and topics, who is online
• Admin log, moderation log and error log
• Scheduled task status with last and next run, and run a task on demand
• Mail queue status: transport, limits, waiting messages and age of the oldest
• Recount forum statistics

Built for Administrators, Safely

• Every call runs as the administrator who created the key, through SMF's normal permissions. Demote or deactivate that account and the key stops working.
• Writes and deletes are recorded in the admin log with the acting admin, the tool and the target. The MCP admin page shows recent activity.
• Deleting tools are advertised as destructive, so Claude and other clients ask you before calling them.
• Administrators cannot be banned, deleted, warned or demoted through the endpoint.
• Password hashes, salts, cookie and cache settings and the key itself are never returned.
• Rate limited per key (60 calls per minute, 3,000 per day, adjustable). Works with two-factor authentication enabled on the admin account.
• Stateless Streamable HTTP: no sessions, no server-sent events, no Node.js or extra services. One PHP file and a few Sources files.

Example Requests

• "Summarize the 14 open reports and group them by reporter."
• "Find members who registered in the last 48 hours from the same /24 with zero posts, and ban the obvious spam accounts."
• "How did last week compare to the previous four weeks?"
• "Why are members not receiving activation emails?"
• "Draft an announcement about Saturday's maintenance in the forum's voice, post it in News and pin it."
• "Move the old Windows XP boards under an Archive category."

Frequently Asked Questions

Which clients work?

Any client that speaks MCP over Streamable HTTP. Claude Code and Cursor send the key in a header; Claude Desktop, claude.ai and ChatGPT custom connectors use the key-in-URL form. Plain scripts can POST JSON-RPC directly.

Does it need a server or Node.js?

No. The endpoint is a single PHP file next to index.php, booted through SSI.php. If your forum runs, the endpoint runs.

Can moderators use it?

Version 1 issues one key per forum, minted by an administrator, and every call runs as that administrator. Moderator-scoped keys are planned.

Does SMF 2.0 work?

This package is for SMF 2.1.x. It is installed as a normal package and edits no core files.

What about PostgreSQL?

MySQL is supported and tested. PostgreSQL is untested.