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Run Panel Live Server as an MCP Server

To use Panel Live Server with AI assistants, start it in MCP mode:

# stdio transport (default, for Claude Desktop, Claude Code, etc.)
pls mcp

# HTTP transport
pls mcp --transport http --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8001

# SSE transport
pls mcp --transport sse

The Panel server starts automatically in the background. You do not need to run pls serve separately.

For per-client setup instructions (VS Code, Cursor, Claude Desktop, Claude Code, claude.ai) see Installation → Connect to your MCP client.

Custom port via environment variable

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "panel-live-server": {
      "command": "/path/to/pls",
      "args": ["mcp"],
      "env": {
        "PANEL_LIVE_SERVER_PORT": "9999"
      }
    }
  }
}

External URL and Remote Environments

Panel Live Server needs to know its public URL when running behind a proxy or tunnel so that visualization URLs returned to clients are reachable from the browser.

The following environment variables are detected automatically (in priority order):

Variable(s) Environment
PANEL_LIVE_SERVER_EXTERNAL_URL Any, explicit port-inclusive override
JUPYTERHUB_HOST + JUPYTERHUB_SERVICE_PREFIX JupyterHub with jupyter-server-proxy
CODESPACE_NAME + GITHUB_CODESPACES_PORT_FORWARDING_DOMAIN GitHub Codespaces

claude.ai

claude.ai requires a public URL. Expose the Panel server via a tunnel (Cloudflare, ngrok, localhost.run, etc.) and set the URL before starting the MCP server:

cloudflared tunnel --url http://localhost:5077

Copy the printed URL and set it.

macOS / Linux:

export PANEL_LIVE_SERVER_EXTERNAL_URL=<url-from-above>

Windows (PowerShell):

$env:PANEL_LIVE_SERVER_EXTERNAL_URL="<url-from-above>"

Then start the MCP server:

pls mcp --transport http --port 8001

See the MCP server tutorial for the full three-terminal setup.

JupyterHub

JUPYTERHUB_SERVICE_PREFIX is set automatically by JupyterHub. However, JUPYTERHUB_HOST is only set automatically in subdomain-based routing mode. In the more common path-based routing mode, set it manually in your MCP configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "panel-live-server": {
      "command": "pls",
      "args": ["mcp"],
      "env": {
        "JUPYTERHUB_HOST": "https://your-hub.example.com"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or set the full URL explicitly.

macOS / Linux:

export PANEL_LIVE_SERVER_EXTERNAL_URL="https://your-hub/user/you/proxy/5077"

Windows (PowerShell):

$env:PANEL_LIVE_SERVER_EXTERNAL_URL="https://your-hub/user/you/proxy/5077"

pls mcp

GitHub Codespaces

URL detection is automatic, no configuration needed.

Next Steps