Datawrapper MCP

A remote Model Context Protocol server for creating and managing Datawrapper visualizations.

What it does

The server exposes seven tools:

Tool	Purpose
list_charts	List charts with pagination
get_chart	Retrieve chart configuration and links
create_chart	Create a chart and optionally upload data
update_chart_data	Replace data using CSV or structured rows
update_chart_metadata	Update title, description, byline, source, and notes
publish_chart	Publish or republish a chart
duplicate_chart	Create an unpublished copy of a chart

No delete tool is included.

Architecture

• Next.js App Router
• Vercel mcp-handler
• Streamable HTTP transport
• Datawrapper API v3
• MCP endpoint: /api/mcp
• Health endpoint: /api/health

Environment variables

Copy .env.example to .env.local.

cp .env.example .env.local

Variable	Required	Purpose
DATAWRAPPER_API_TOKEN	Yes	Personal Datawrapper API token
MCP_ACCESS_TOKEN	No	Requires the same bearer token on MCP requests
DATAWRAPPER_API_BASE_URL	No	Defaults to https://api.datawrapper.de/v3

Create the Datawrapper token in the Datawrapper account settings. For the complete toolset, grant chart:read and chart:write. Grant folder permissions only when creating charts inside folders.

Never commit real tokens.

Local development

npm install
npm test
npm run typecheck
npm run dev

The MCP endpoint will be:

http://localhost:3000/api/mcp

The health check will be:

http://localhost:3000/api/health

Test the server using the MCP Inspector:

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector@latest

Select Streamable HTTP and connect to http://localhost:3000/api/mcp.

Deploy to Vercel

1. Import this GitHub repository into Vercel.
2. Add DATAWRAPPER_API_TOKEN to Production, Preview, and Development as needed.
3. Optionally add MCP_ACCESS_TOKEN.
4. Deploy.
5. Open /api/health.
6. Connect an MCP client to https://<deployment-domain>/api/mcp.

MCP client configuration

For clients that accept a Streamable HTTP URL:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "datawrapper": {
      "url": "https://<deployment-domain>/api/mcp"
    }
  }
}

When MCP_ACCESS_TOKEN is configured, the client must support sending:

Authorization: Bearer <MCP_ACCESS_TOKEN>

Some hosted chat clients require OAuth rather than a static header. In that case, add an OAuth authorization layer before using this server with sensitive production data.

Example requests

Create a chart from structured rows:

{
  "title": "Revenue by market",
  "type": "d3-bars",
  "rows": [
    { "Market": "UAE", "Revenue": 120 },
    { "Market": "UK", "Revenue": 85 }
  ]
}

Update attribution:

{
  "chartId": "abc12",
  "sourceName": "Company filings",
  "sourceUrl": "https://example.com/source",
  "byline": "Strategy team"
}

Security notes

• Datawrapper credentials remain server-side.
• Health checks disclose only whether variables are configured.
• Upstream errors are sanitized and never include the API token.
• Publishing is an explicit separate tool.
• New and duplicated charts remain unpublished until publish_chart is called.

License

MIT