Stepshots Speaks MCP: Record and Manage Demos from Claude

The Short Answer

Stepshots now speaks the Model Context Protocol on both ends of the demo workflow. The open-source CLI ships a local MCP server (stepshots mcp) that lets an AI agent write your config, record demos headlessly, verify them against the live app, and publish them. The dashboard serves a hosted MCP endpoint at stepshots.com/mcp — connected via OAuth, no token pasting — for your demos, analytics, and guided tours. Both are free.

Why MCP, and why both ends

Stepshots demos are config-as-code: a JSON file describes the flow, and headless Chrome records it. That design was always agent-friendly — an AI can write JSON far more reliably than it can click through a screen recorder. MCP closes the loop: instead of an agent shelling out to CLI commands, the tools are typed, discoverable, and speak structured results.

Two servers because the workflow has two homes:

• Local (stepshots mcp): recording needs your machine — the repo's stepshots.config.json, a local browser, often a localhost dev app. Tools: get_schema, list_tutorials, record, verify, upload.
• Hosted (stepshots.com/mcp): everything after publishing. Tools: list_demos, get_demo, get_demo_analytics, get_workspace_analytics, set_demo_public, list_tours.

Connect it

Local, with Claude Code:

Hosted, from claude.ai or Claude desktop: add a custom connector with the URL https://stepshots.com/mcp. Claude discovers the OAuth endpoints, you approve once in the browser, done. From Claude Code:

Authorizing an MCP client issues its own access token — your CLI login stays valid. Full tool reference in the MCP guide.

What an agent can do with it

• "Record the new onboarding flow and publish it" — the agent writes the config from the schema, records, and uploads, end to end.
• "Did yesterday's release break any demos?" — verify replays every tutorial and reports exactly which selector drifted, with a repair hint per failure. The same gate runs in CI.
• "Where do viewers drop off in the pricing demo?" — per-step completion data comes back as structured JSON; the agent reads the funnel and tells you which step to cut.

The pricing part

Some demo platforms treat MCP as a paid feature — Navattic's MCP server starts on its paid Startup tier, billed annually. Stepshots' MCP is free on both ends: the CLI is open source, and the hosted endpoint works on every plan, including the free one.

Start with the CLI, or try Stepshots free — one hosted demo, unlimited local recording.