🎨 Connect an AI assistant
Paint Rack speaks the Model Context Protocol (MCP). Point Claude or another MCP-capable assistant at your shelf and it can answer things like "can I paint this scheme with what I own?", "what's the closest thing I have to Mephiston Red?", or "which Army Painter set fills the most gaps?"
…/mcp
Claude.ai and Claude Desktop
- Open Settings → Connectors and choose Add custom connector.
- Paste the MCP server URL above. Leave the OAuth client fields blank — the connector registers itself.
- Claude will send you to Paint Rack to sign in (same GitHub or Google account you use here) and click Allow.
That's it. Start a chat and ask about your paints. You can disconnect at any time from the Connectors page.
Claude Code
Either sign in through the browser:
claude mcp add --transport http paint-rack …/mcp
Then run /mcp inside Claude Code and choose Authenticate for paint-rack. Or create a personal token from your profile (click your name in the header) and use it directly:
claude mcp add --transport http paint-rack …/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer prk_…"
Other MCP clients
Any client that supports the streamable HTTP transport works. Authenticate with OAuth 2.1 (dynamic client registration and PKCE are supported, discovery at /.well-known/oauth-authorization-server) or send a personal token as a bearer token in the Authorization header.
What the assistant can do
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
get_collection_overview | Totals by brand, type and range, favourites, shopping-list size |
list_owned_paints | Your paints with quantities, notes and favourites, filterable |
search_catalog | Search all ~4,500 catalog paints, showing which you own |
get_paint | One paint in detail, including the closest paints you own |
find_alternatives | "What can I use instead of X?" ranked by colour distance |
match_colour | Closest owned and catalog paints to a hex colour |
check_recipe | Paste a painting guide's paint list and see what you own and what to substitute |
list_paint_sets / get_paint_set | Official boxed sets and ranges, with how complete yours are |
get_shopping_list | Paints you've flagged to buy |
update_shopping_list | Add, remove, or mark paints as bought (write) |
update_inventory | Add or remove bottles (write) |
set_paint_note / set_favourite | Notes like "nearly empty" and favourite stars (write) |
Read-only personal tokens block the write tools. OAuth connections get read and write access to your own collection only; the shared catalog is never modified.