Apple Doc MCP

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides seamless access to Apple's Developer Documentation directly within your AI coding assistant. Note: Hey guys, thanks for checking out this MCP! Since I've been working on it on a regular basis, and as such its getting really expensive to build it and improve it to work on different platforms, all while adding new features (tokens aint cheap ya'll).

if you find this MCP helpful, I'd really apperciate it if you clicked on the ❤️ Sponsor button up there, any contribution is apperciated! thanks.

📋 Changelog

Thank you to the Github team for gifting me a year subscription to Copilot Pro+ you guys rock! and thank you @billibala, @theoddbrick, @christopherbattlefrontlegal for sponsoring! you guys are amazing.

• Full release history lives in CHANGELOG.md.

• 1.9.6

  • MAJOR FIX: Simplified search_symbols to be more predictable for AI agents
  • Added exact symbol resolution inside search_symbols for queries like GridItem, View, and ButtonStyle
  • Changed search_symbols to return symbol-first results with articles and guides separated into their own section
  • Fixed wildcard behavior so fallback search respects * and ? patterns instead of degrading to plain substring matches
  • Removed misleading search messaging about background downloads and "comprehensive" indexing
  • Removed dead or unused search code paths that were adding confusion without improving results
  • Fixed first-search index initialization so cache-backed symbol search finishes building before results are used

• 1.9.1

  • Moved cached docs into .cache/ to keep the repo clean
  • Routed MCP logging to stderr so protocol stdout stays clean (this was breaking codex symbol search)

Installation

VS Code

1. Open Command Palette (Shift+Cmd+P).
2. Run MCP: Add Server.
3. When prompted for server type, choose npm.
4. Enter this package:

apple-doc-mcp-server

Claude Code:

claude mcp add apple-docs -- npx apple-doc-mcp-server@latest

OpenAI Codex:

codex mcp add apple-doc-mcp -- npx apple-doc-mcp-server@latest

Manual:

{
	"mcpServers": {
		"apple-docs": {
			"command": "npx",
			"args": ["apple-doc-mcp-server@latest"]
		}
	}
}

Local:

yarn install
yarn build

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apple-docs": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/apple-doc-mcp/dist/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Search Tips

• Use exact API names when you know them ("GridItem", "ButtonStyle", "View").
• Start broad (e.g. "tab", "animation", "gesture").
• Try synonyms ("sheet" vs "modal", "toolbar" vs "tabbar").
• Use wildcards ("Grid*", "*Item", "Lazy*") for flexible matching.
• Use multiple keywords ("tab view layout") to narrow results.
• If nothing turns up, re-run discover_technologies with a different keyword or pick another framework.
• search_symbols returns symbols first and lists matching articles separately.

Available Tools

• discover_technologies – browse/filter frameworks before selecting one.
• choose_technology – set the active framework; required before searching docs.
• current_technology – show the current selection and quick next steps.
• search_symbols – symbol-first search with exact-name resolution, wildcard support, and separate article results.
• get_documentation – open detailed docs for a known symbol or documentation path.
• get_version – get current MCP server version information.