Question 1

What is aura-components-mcp?

Accepted Answer

A free MCP server (v1.7.3, MIT) by swastiksingh-dev — not affiliated with Aura — that puts the whole free Aura catalogue inside your agent: 2,495 components, 193 skills, 30,688 assets and 725 design systems, through 35 exact tools.

Question 2

Is it really free?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The server is MIT-licensed and every tool returns free catalogue items only. Responses use slim rows by default so your context stays cheap; fetch full source only for finalists.

Question 3

How do I install it?

Accepted Answer

Needs Node 22+ on PATH. Run npx -y aura-components-mcp@latest, paste the config into your client (Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, Codex, Windsurf, Cline, Roo Code, OpenCode or any MCP client), restart, then call aura_status. Full per-client configs live on the Setup page.

Question 4

Which clients are supported?

Accepted Answer

Any MCP-compatible client — Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, Codex, Windsurf, Cline, Roo Code, OpenCode and more. If your client accepts a command + args config block, it works.

Question 5

What are the 35 tools?

Accepted Answer

Five groups. Find (aura_status, aura_search_components/skills/assets/design_systems, aura_search_all, aura_recommend, aura_categories, aura_related), Fetch (aura_get_component/skill/design_system, aura_bundle, aura_bulk_fetch), Install & Build (aura_install_component/skill/asset, aura_use_design_system, aura_prompt, aura_scaffold_page), Bridge (aura_inspo_* ×5, aura_docs_plan/check, aura_icon, aura_version) and Award intelligence (6 tools). See the Tools page for exact names.

Question 6

What are the award tools?

Accepted Answer

New in v1.7.2: aura_award_search ranks Awwwards-grade references with match reasons, aura_award_inspect extracts source-backed design DNA, aura_design_blueprint turns refs into a brief + tokens_css + next_calls mapped to free Aura components, and aura_visual_audit / aura_motion_study / aura_award_index handle captures, frame studies and the local corpus. No login, no keys.

Question 7

What do the award tools need to run?

Accepted Answer

The core loop (search, inspect, blueprint) needs nothing extra. Live captures and structure scans use Chrome if present (AURA_CHROME_PATH); bounded .webm frame studies use ffmpeg if present (AURA_FFMPEG_PATH). The corpus lives in ~/.aura-mcp/awards, fetches are polite (~1 req/s) and nothing auto-crawls.

Question 8

Can I use Aura components commercially?

Accepted Answer

The server code is MIT, but catalogue art is all-rights-reserved per Aura Terms §4. Prototype freely; before commercial ship, open the page_url every tool returns and get Aura permission.

Question 9

Why start with aura_status?

Accepted Answer

It reports catalogue health plus live free counts, so you know data is fresh before spending context on search. It's the cheapest call and the recommended first step in every session.

Question 10

How do themes and glass effects work?

Accepted Answer

Fetch a system with aura_get_design_system, apply tokens first with aura_use_design_system, then scaffold markup with aura_scaffold_page. The Showcase page demos four token sets on the same layout.

Asked, answered.