Identity Forge MCP is a design and branding workflow tool for coding agents, providing design system, brand naming, and domain research capabilities through the MCP protocol and CLI.
Purpose
It lets coding agents obtain a complete visual system before they start building. Users can choose a design kit, or let the agent rank the catalog based on product type and desired mood. Each kit includes typography, semantic color tokens, layout, patterns, cautions, and a DESIGN.md that the agent can build from.
Main capabilities
- Browse and select design kits: list_themes browses catalog summaries, supports ranking by use-case swimlane (such as data-dashboard, saas-marketing, ecommerce-store, and 12 others), and uses q for synonym-aware ranked search; search_themes returns the full catalog without ranking; similar_themes finds similar kits based on palette, tags, and audience; match_palette ranks kits by perceptual color distance based on existing brand colors.
- Kit export and application: get_design_md retrieves a kit's DESIGN.md; get_tokens supports six formats: dtcg, css, tailwind-v3, tailwind-v4, shadcn-registry, json; apply_theme writes DESIGN.md, tokens files, and the identityforge.json stamp into the project, by default refusing to overwrite files it did not write, and on conflict writes no files and exits with a non-zero status.
- Font selection: search_fonts browses the Google Fonts catalog by name or category, or passes like to find similar fonts; suggest_font_pairings provides a curated pairing table of heading/body/monospace fonts.
- Brand projects: create_brand_project, list_brand_projects serve as containers for brand variations and client sharing; add_brand_variation attaches a proposal to a project; update_brand_variation modifies a proposal in place; remove_brand_variation permanently deletes a proposal; revoke_brand_share permanentlyrevokes a client link; reorder_brand_variations sets the order clients see.
- Auxiliary collections: list_image_directions/get_image_direction selects and exports the presentation style for project imagery; list_interface_styles/get_interface_style selects and exports neutral rendering syntax; list_page_recipes/get_page_recipe selects and exports the page argumentation approach. These answer questions that kits cannot answer, but do not replace kits.
- Authoring kits and brands (requires kits:write permission): create_theme creates a private kit from scratch or derives one from a catalog kit; remix_theme copies a kit and applies overrides; update_theme edits a saved kit in place; delete_theme permanently deletes a kit, returning 409 kit_in_use if it is referenced by a brand project.
How to use
Install the local MCP server into the client you use: supports claude-code, cursor-vscode, codex, etc., as well as gemini, opencode, pi. Run the same local stdio server via npx -y identityforge@latest mcp; installation merges into the existing configuration rather than replacing it. After installation, use identityforge doctor --client <name> to check whether the client points to the rolling package and initializes the MCP server. The repository also bundles an Agent Skill and plugin. Once connected, the agent can use 63 tools. Free kits can be browsed without a key; persistent projects, saving work, authentication quotas, or Pro access require login, and after registering in the browser the CLI automatically obtains a key.
Suitable scenarios
Suitable for development teams that need to quickly establish a complete visual system for a product, especially when building with coding agents; also suitable for workflows involving brand naming, domain research, client proposal sharing, and brand updates.
Limitations
- 69 design kits are available for free, and Pro unlocks an additional 10 plus 1000 AI generations per month.
- apply_theme by default refuses to overwrite files not recorded by the stamp; --force is destructive and irreversible.
- Each use caseText descriptions for lanes are currently disabled across the entire directory, and ranking scores do not include explanatory sentences.
- Image orientation, interface style, and page recipes provide briefs; Identity Forge does not render images. If the current agent cannot perform reference-guided editing, the source image and export direction must be handed off to the product image workflow.
- Operations such as deleting brand variants and revoking shares cannot be undone.
