ani-mcp

A smart MCP server for AniList that understands your anime and manga taste - not just raw API calls.

What makes this different

Most AniList integrations mirror the API 1:1. ani-mcp adds an intelligence layer on top:

- Taste profiling - builds a model of your preferences from your completed list
- Personalized picks - "what should I watch next?" based on your taste, mood, and seasonal lineup
- Compatibility - compare taste between two users
- Sequel alerts - find sequels airing this season for shows you've finished
- Watch order - franchise chain traversal for long-running series
- Session planning - "I have 90 minutes, what should I watch?" from your current list
- Year in review - your watching/reading stats wrapped up

Plus the essentials: search, details, trending, seasonal browsing, list management, social features, and community recommendations. All search and browse tools support pagination for browsing beyond the first page of results.

Install

Add to your MCP client config (e.g. mcp.json, claude_desktop_config.json, Cursor settings, etc.):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "anilist": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "ani-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "ANILIST_USERNAME": "your_username"
      }
    }
  }
}

Works with any MCP-compatible client.

Environment Variables

| Variable | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| ANILIST_USERNAME | No | Default username for list and stats tools. Can also pass per-call. |
| ANILIST_TOKEN | No | AniList OAuth token. Required for write operations and private lists. |
| ANILIST_TITLE_LANGUAGE | No | Title preference: english (default), romaji, or native. |
| ANILIST_SCORE_FORMAT | No | Override score display: POINT_100, POINT_10_DECIMAL, POINT_10, POINT_5, POINT_3. |
| ANILIST_NSFW | No | Set to true to include adult content in results. Default: false. |
| ANILIST_MOOD_CONFIG | No | JSON object to add or override mood keywords. See Mood config. |
| DEBUG | No | Set to true for debug logging to stderr. |
| MCP_TRANSPORT | No | Set to http for HTTP Stream transport. Default: stdio. |
| MCP_PORT | No | Port for HTTP transport. Default: 3000. |
| MCP_HOST | No | Host for HTTP transport. Default: localhost. |

Tools

Search & Discovery

| Tool | Description |
| --- | --- |
| anilist_search | Search anime/manga by title with genre, year, and format filters |
| anilist_details | Full details, relations, and recommendations for a title |
| anilist_seasonal | Browse a season's anime lineup |
| anilist_trending | What's trending on AniList right now |
| anilist_genres | Browse top titles in a genre with optional filters |
| anilist_genre_list | List all valid genres and content tags |
| anilist_recommendations | Community recommendations for a specific title |

Lists & Stats

| Tool | Description |
| --- | --- |
| anilist_list | A user's anime/manga list, filtered by status |
| anilist_stats | Watching/reading statistics, top genres, score distribution |

Intelligence

| Tool | Description |
| --- | --- |
| anilist_taste | Generate a taste profile from your completed list |
| anilist_pick | Personalized "what to watch next" from your backlog, seasonal lineup, or discovery pool |
| anilist_compare | Compare taste compatibility between two users |
| anilist_wrapped | Year-in-review summary |
| anilist_explain | "Why would I like this?" - score a title against your taste profile |
| anilist_similar | Find titles similar to a given anime or manga |
| anilist_sequels | Sequels airing this season for titles you've completed |
| anilist_watch_order | Viewing order for a franchise |
| anilist_session | Plan a viewing session within a time budget |

Info

| Tool | Description |
| --- | --- |
| anilist_staff | Staff credits and voice actors for a title |
| anilist_staff_search | Search for a person by name and see all their works |
| anilist_studio_search | Search for a studio and see their productions |
| anilist_schedule | Airing schedule and next episode countdown |
| anilist_characters | Search characters by name with appearances and VAs |
| anilist_whoami | Check authentication status and score format |

Social

| Tool | Description |
| --- | --- |
| anilist_profile | View a user's profile, bio, favourites, and stats |
| anilist_feed | Recent activity from a user's feed |
| anilist_reviews | Community reviews for a title |
| anilist_favourite | Toggle favourite on anime, manga, character, staff, or studio |
| anilist_activity | Post a text activity to your feed |

Write (requires ANILIST_TOKEN)

| Tool | Description |
| --- | --- |
| anilist_update_progress | Update episode or chapter progress |
| anilist_add_to_list | Add a title to your list with a status |
| anilist_rate | Score a title (0-10) |
| anilist_delete_from_list | Remove an entry from your list |

Resources

MCP resources provide context to your AI assistant without needing a tool call. Clients that support resources can automatically include this information in conversations.

| Resource | Description |
| --- | --- |
| anilist://profile | Your AniList profile with bio, stats, and favourites |
| anilist://taste/{type} | Taste profile (genre weights, themes, scoring patterns) for ANIME or MANGA |
| anilist://list/{type} | Currently watching/reading entries with progress and scores |

Prompts

Pre-built conversation starters that clients can offer as quick actions.

| Prompt | Description |
| --- | --- |
| seasonal_review | Review this season's anime against your taste profile |
| what_to_watch | Plan what to watch now with optional mood and time budget |
| roast_my_taste | Get a humorous roast of your anime taste |
| compare_us | Compare your taste with another user |
| year_in_review | Your anime/manga year in review |
| explain_title | Why would you like (or dislike) a specific title? |
| find_similar | Find titles similar to one you enjoyed |

Examples

Here are some things you can ask your AI assistant once ani-mcp is connected:

"What should I watch next?"
Uses anilist_pick to analyze your completed list, build a taste profile, and recommend titles from your Planning list ranked by how well they match your preferences.

"I want something dark and psychological"
Uses anilist_pick with mood filtering to boost titles matching that vibe and penalize mismatches.

"What's good this season?"
Uses anilist_pick with source: SEASONAL to rank currently airing anime against your taste profile.

"I have 90 minutes, what should I watch tonight?"
Uses anilist_session to pick from your currently watching list and fill a time budget with the best-matching episodes.

"Any sequels airing for stuff I've finished?"
Uses anilist_sequels to cross-reference your completed list with this season's lineup.

"What order do I watch Fate in?"
Uses anilist_watch_order to traverse the franchise relation graph and produce a numbered viewing order.

"Compare my taste with username123"
Uses anilist_compare to find shared titles, compute a compatibility score, and highlight biggest disagreements.

"Why would I like Vinland Saga?"
Uses anilist_explain to score a title against your taste profile, breaking down genre affinity and theme alignment.

"Show me my anime year in review"
Uses anilist_wrapped to summarize everything you watched in a given year.

Mood config

anilist_pick and anilist_session accept a freeform mood string. Built-in keywords include: dark, chill, hype, action, romantic, funny, brainy, sad, scary, epic, wholesome, intense, mystery, fantasy, scifi, trippy, nostalgic, artistic, competitive, cozy.

To add or override keywords, set ANILIST_MOOD_CONFIG as a JSON object:

{
  "ANILIST_MOOD_CONFIG": "{\"cozy\":{\"boost\":[\"Slice of Life\",\"Iyashikei\"],\"penalize\":[\"Horror\"]},\"mykeyword\":{\"boost\":[\"Romance\"],\"penalize\":[]}}"
}

Each key is a mood keyword mapping to { boost: string[], penalize: string[] } arrays of AniList genres and tags.

Privacy

See PRIVACY.md for details. In short: ani-mcp runs locally, sends requests only to the AniList API, stores nothing, and collects no analytics.

Docker

docker build -t ani-mcp .
docker run -e ANILIST_USERNAME=your_username ani-mcp

Runs on port 3000 with HTTP Stream transport by default.

Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/gavxm/ani-mcp.git
cd ani-mcp
npm install
npm run build
npm test

Support

Bug reports and feature requests: GitHub Issues

License

MIT