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First session (10 minutes)

This tutorial gets you to a first successful tool call quickly, so you can trust your setup before diving into kerning/spacing workflows.

You will accomplish​

  • Install the Glyphs MCP plug-in
  • Connect a client (Codex CLI or Claude Code) to the local MCP server
  • Run one tool call (list_open_fonts) and interpret the result

Prerequisites​

  • macOS + Glyphs 3
  • Python 3.11–3.13 (the installer blocks Python 3.14+ until tested)

Step 1 — Install​

From the repo root:

python3 install.py

What you should see:

  • The installer asks you to pick a Python environment (Glyphs’ Python or an external Python).
  • It installs dependencies and places the plug-in in the Glyphs plug-ins folder.

If you hit issues, jump to Troubleshooting.

Step 2 — Start the server​

  1. Launch Glyphs
  2. Menu: Edit → Start Glyphs MCP Server
  3. Open Edit → Glyphs MCP Server Status… and confirm it’s running

Expected endpoint:

http://127.0.0.1:9680/mcp/

Step 3 — Connect a client​

Option A: Codex CLI​

Add the MCP server:

codex mcp add glyphs-mcp-server --url http://127.0.0.1:9680/mcp/
codex mcp list

Option B: Claude Code (VS Code)​

If you have Claude Code’s CLI (claude) installed, you can add this MCP server in one line:

claude mcp add --scope user --transport http glyphs-mcp http://127.0.0.1:9680/mcp/

Then, in Claude Code:

  1. Reload VS Code.
  2. Run /mcp and confirm glyphs-mcp is listed.

Step 4 — First successful tool call (copy/paste prompt)​

In your client (Codex or Claude Code), paste this prompt:

Connect to my Glyphs MCP server and run a quick health check.

1) Call the tool that lists open fonts (list_open_fonts).
2) Tell me:
   - how many fonts are open
   - the familyName/filePath for each
   - which font_index I should use next

If you get any error, quote it verbatim and tell me what to do next.

Note: tool name prefixes can vary by client, but in Codex the tool should be discoverable from the connected MCP server.

If it fails, jump here​