outline-mcp

Tree-structured knowledge base as an MCP server.

LLM sessions are ephemeral. outline-mcp gives them a persistent, editable knowledge tree — sections and content nodes that can be browsed (toc), annotated with properties, and evolved across sessions. Nodes with inject=true are automatically included in session context.

Quick Start

cargo install --path .

Claude Code (~/.claude.json)

#### Native binary (after cargo install)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "outline": {
      "command": "outline-mcp",
      "args": ["/path/to/your-book.json"]
    }
  }
}

#### Docker (no Rust toolchain required)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "outline": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run", "-i", "--rm",
        "-v", "/path/to/data:/data",
        "ghcr.io/ynishi/outline-mcp:latest",
        "/data/your-book.json"
      ]
    }
  }
}

If the path argument is omitted, defaults to outline-book.json in the current directory.

Workflow

shelf  →  select_book  →  toc  →  node_create / node_update / node_move
                                   node_batch_move / node_batch_update / node_query
                                   checklist / import / init / gen_routing
                                   snapshot_create / snapshot_list / snapshot_restore
                                   node_history / dump

1. `init` — Create a new empty book
2. `node_create` — Add sections and content nodes (with optional properties)
3. `toc` — View the table of contents with numbered IDs (e.g. 1, 2-3). Supports filter by properties
4. `select_book` — Select a book. Nodes with inject=true property have their body auto-appended (draft nodes excluded)
5. `checklist` — Export a section (or the whole book) as a Markdown checklist with checkboxes
6. `node_update` — Edit title, body, type, placeholder, properties, or status (active/draft) of a node
7. `node_move` — Relocate or delete nodes (with descendants)
8. `node_batch_move` — Move or delete multiple nodes in a single atomic call (requires UUID or UUID-prefix IDs)
9. `node_batch_update` — Update title/body/type/properties/status on multiple nodes atomically
10. `node_query` — Search nodes by property values, status (active/draft), or type (section/content); optionally include body in results
11. `import` — Import a book from a previously exported JSON file
12. `gen_routing` — Generate a Markdown routing table from nodes with routing property across all books
13. `snapshot_create` / `snapshot_list` / `snapshot_restore` — Full book versioning (create, list, restore)
14. `node_history` — View per-node change log with before/after diffs
15. `dump` — Export full book as JSON file

Node IDs

toc assigns human-friendly numbered IDs:

1. Coding Standards
  1-1. Naming Conventions
  1-2. Error Handling
2. Testing
  2-1. Unit Tests
  2-2. Integration Tests

These IDs (1, 1-2, 2-1, etc.) work in most tools. Full UUIDs and title substring matching are also supported as fallbacks.

Note: node_batch_move and node_batch_update require UUID or UUID-prefix IDs. Hierarchical toc IDs are intentionally rejected to prevent positional drift when the tree is modified mid-batch.

Node Properties

Nodes can have key-value properties for metadata:

node_create  title="My Rule"  properties={"inject": "true", "scope": "rust"}

• `inject=true` — Node body is automatically included in select_book output (context injection)
• `routing=<scene>` — Marks the node for gen_routing output. Use | to assign multiple scenes (e.g. routing="testing|TDD")
• `routing_ref=<text>` — Overrides the default §ID Title reference in the routing table (e.g. routing_ref="select_book で全体参照")
• Properties with value "true" appear as tags in toc: 1. My Rule [inject]
• toc supports filtering: filter={"inject": "true"} shows only matching nodes
• Properties are preserved in JSON export/import

Architecture

src/
├── domain/          # Core model (TemplateBook, TemplateNode, NodeId)
│   ├── model/       # Aggregate root + value objects
│   ├── error.rs     # Domain errors
│   └── repository.rs # BookRepository trait
├── application/     # Use cases
│   ├── service.rs   # BookService (CRUD)
│   └── eject.rs     # EjectService (Markdown/JSON export & import)
├── infra/           # Persistence
│   └── json_store.rs # JSON file repository (atomic write)
└── interface/       # Transport
    └── mcp.rs       # MCP server (rmcp, stdio)

Export Formats

Markdown (default)

# My Runbook

## Design

- [ ] Define requirements
  > requirements list: ___
- [ ] API design
  REST endpoints

JSON

Tree-structured format that can be re-imported:

{
  "title": "My Runbook",
  "max_depth": 4,
  "nodes": [
    {
      "title": "Design",
      "node_type": "section",
      "children": [...]
    }
  ]
}

License

Licensed under either of

• Apache License, Version 2.0
• MIT License

at your option.