Connect Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Claude.ai or Claude desktop to DS Manager over MCP, so your coding agent can edit, import, sync and install your shadcn design system.
DS Manager is an MCP server. When you connect a coding agent to it, the agent can read and change your design systems, bring in a project's theme or a Figma design system, sync the shadcndesign Figma kit and install a published system into your project. Every change shows in the editor, and the things you decide on, such as reviews and publishing, stay with you in DS Manager.
The design agent runs inside DS Manager. The MCP server is for an agent that runs somewhere else, such as Claude Code in your project.
The MCP server is part of Pro and Lifetime. A Free account can try it with 50 edits and 500 reads, once. The MCP tab shows how many are left, and your agent gets a note when 10 edits or 50 reads remain. When either runs out, your agent stays connected and is told MCP is part of Pro. DS Manager checks your plan on every call, so after an upgrade the agent carries on without signing in again. See Plans and limits.
The agent runs on your own Claude, Cursor or Codex plan. MCP calls don't use the AI usage that comes with DS Manager.
Free accounts get 50 edits and 500 reads to try it. Pro and Lifetime accounts get the full daily limits.
Add this address to your agent:
https://manager.shadcndesign.com/api/mcp
The server uses streamable HTTP and signs you in with OAuth. In your agent's config the server is named ds-manager, and it reports its name as DS Manager.
The setup lives in DS Manager. Open the account menu, choose Settings… and go to the MCP tab, between API keys and Plans. The tab has five sections:
There is a guide for five clients: Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Claude.ai and Claude desktop. Each one ends the same way: DS Manager opens in your browser and you approve the agent on the Allow screen. You never paste a token.
Run this command:
claude mcp add --transport http ds-manager https://manager.shadcndesign.com/api/mcp
In Claude Code, run /mcp, choose ds-manager and then Authenticate.
Approve the agent in the browser.
mcp.json entry from the Cursor guide in Settings, MCP.mcp.json.Run this command:
codex mcp add ds-manager --url https://manager.shadcndesign.com/api/mcp
Then sign in:
codex mcp login ds-manager
Approve the agent in the browser.
The Claude.ai and Claude desktop guides have the same steps.
Other MCP clients that sign in with OAuth may work, but DS Manager has no guide for them. MCP clients that run inside a web page can't connect. Claude's own connectors are the exception.
When your agent connects, DS Manager opens a page that asks whether to let the agent in, for example "Allow Claude Code to use DS Manager?". The browser tab's title names the agent too. The page lists what the agent will be able to do. Check the name, then click Allow, or Cancel to stop.
Connected agents in the MCP tab lists every agent you allowed, with what each one can do. Revoke all disconnects them.
An agent stays connected until you revoke it. An agent you leave unused for 30 days is disconnected on its own.
The server gives the agent 29 tools, listed here by job.
whoami confirms the connection and shows your name and plan.get_skill gives the agent DS Manager's steps for one job: build, import, convert, figma, install, locks or components.list_systems lists the systems in your account and whether each is published.read_system sums up one system: style, colors, radius, fonts, icons, edits, lint and whether it is published.create_system makes a new system with the default look. It counts toward your plan's system limit.read_tokens and read_theme read the full color table and the rest of the foundation.set_tokens sets light and dark colors and adds custom tokens, in oklch or hex.set_foundation changes fonts, radius, spacing, the type scale, control heights and focus.view_page describes a page as text, with contrast checks that list failing pairs first. The agent uses it to check its own work.Each change appears in the editor as the agent makes it. All the changes in one run show as one banner that names the agent and counts the values, such as "Claude Code changed 24 values", with an Undo button that takes back the whole run.
A system the agent creates appears without a reload. If no system is open, it opens on its own. Otherwise a toast offers Open.
list_components, read_rules and find_rules find and read component styles as Tailwind utilities.edit_rules restyles components by swapping, adding or removing utilities.reset_rules puts rules back to the style's default.variants adds, renames or removes a variant or size, such as a soft Button.create_component, update_component and read_component build custom components that the kit doesn't ship, in React and TypeScript. DS Manager checks each one before it saves it.list_blocks lists ProBlocks by group (Landing page, Application, E-commerce) and shows which are locked.read_locks tells the agent your system's Lint locks in plain words and how to add shadcn's linter to the project.read_lint_policy reads the published lint policy file.An agent can't change or remove a lock, and it can't delete a component. Only you can, in DS Manager.
import_project reads a shadcn/ui project and brings its theme into DS Manager. It reads:
components.jsonglobals.csscomponents/uiYour code is read, never run. The changes wait on a review page that you apply, into a new system or an existing one.
convert_figma brings in a design system from another Figma file, such as Untitled UI or your company's library. It is not for the shadcndesign kit. If you give it the kit file linked to your system, it refuses and points the agent to Figma kit sync.
Give the agent the Figma file's link. The agent reads the file with Figma's own MCP tools, so your agent needs those connected. DS Manager never opens the file, and the conversion changes nothing in it.
It brings in:
Components with no shadcn match are not brought in. They are listed as left out.
Converting into a new system creates it right away. Converting into an existing system opens a review page first.
figma_sync and figma_continue keep a system and its shadcndesign Figma kit file in step. There are three actions:
Sync works only with the shadcndesign Figma kit 3.0 or newer. Run it in the file that holds the kit's variables. A product file that only uses the kit as a library is refused. DS Manager is sold separately from the shadcndesign.com packages, and a kit license doesn't include DS Manager Pro.
The sync runs through your agent's own Figma MCP connection. DS Manager never talks to Figma.
Your Figma seat decides what the agent can do:
A push only edits variables that already exist in the kit. Tablet and Mobile values, added variants and custom components stay in DS Manager, and the review page lists them under "Not in the kit".
Each system links to one kit file. The Figma kit files section of the MCP tab shows the link, with Unlink to remove it.
install_commands gives the shadcn CLI commands for a published system and any ProBlocks, in the right order, for npm, pnpm and other package managers. Before it runs them, the agent lists the files they will overwrite and asks you. Afterwards it runs typecheck, lint and build. See Publish and install.
publish doesn't publish. It returns a link, and you press Publish in DS Manager.
These changes wait on a review page until you apply them:
review_status tells the agent whether you applied it, discarded it or still have it open.
Every account has these limits:
view_page): 100 a dayThe daily limits reset at midnight UTC.
A Free account also has a one-time allowance of 50 edits and 500 reads, never refilled. Calls that fail don't count. When either runs out, DS Manager refuses each call with a sentence that MCP is part of Pro.
One call can send at most 1 MB and get back at most 100 KB, and it must finish within 60 seconds.