MCP server overview

The Asomium MCP server is a companion binary that exposes every action you can take in the Mac app as an MCP tool. That lets you drive the full release workflow from inside any MCP-aware client — Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf — without context-switching to a GUI.

Currently 42 tools spanning discovery, metadata editing, translation, keyword tracking, snapshots, app info, reviews, build & ship (Mac App Store + direct-distribution), TestFlight beta submission, release control, screenshots, monetization, analytics, visualization, async job tracking, and account. See Tool reference for the full live list (auto-generated from the running server).

Why MCP and not a CLI

A CLI works fine for scripted tasks (“run this on every commit”), but the release workflow is dialogical: you pull a piece of metadata, look at it, decide what to translate, push back, check the result. An LLM driving an MCP server is the natural shape for that flow — and you already have an LLM open in another window anyway.

The dashboard tool (asomium_dashboard) is the clearest payoff: one call fans out 4–6 ASC reads in parallel and returns a structured payload your AI client can render as a single interactive dashboard artifact (in Claude.ai / Desktop) or paraphrase in markdown (in Claude Code).

Architecture

┌────────────────┐     stdio      ┌──────────────────┐
│  Claude / IDE  │ ◄─────────────► │  asomium-mcp     │
└────────────────┘                 │  (companion bin) │
                                   └────────┬─────────┘
                                            │ reads handoff JSON
                                            ▼
                                   ┌────────────────────┐
                                   │  Application       │
                                   │  Support /         │
                                   │  ReleaseKit/       │
                                   │  (workspace id +   │
                                   │   build configs +  │
                                   │   keyword tracking)│
                                   └────────┬───────────┘
                                            │
                                            ▼
                                   ┌────────────────────┐
                                   │  App Store Connect │
                                   │  + iTunes Search   │
                                   │  + AsoAI proxy     │
                                   └────────────────────┘

The MCP binary is stateless across runs — it reads the workspace identifier from a tiny handoff JSON the Mac app writes, then pulls ASC credentials from the per-workspace Keychain entry. Both the GUI and MCP processes share the same Keychain access via plain POSIX file permissions (they run as the same user) — no entitlement gymnastics required.

The MCP server keeps a small amount of its own on-disk state under ~/Library/Application Support/ReleaseKit/com.mariopek.releasekit/:

• mcp-build-configs.json — per-app Xcode project / scheme / platform
• keyword-tracking.json — tracked keywords + rank-snapshot history
• snapshots/<bundleId>/*.json — saved metadata snapshots for diffing
• usage-ledger.json — current-month translate-call counter (stat only)

Does it cost extra

The MCP server is included with both tiers — Pro Monthly (€14.99/mo) and Pro Annual (€119/yr). AI-driven tools (translate_field, asomium_audit_listing, asomium_expand_english, asomium_discover_keywords, revenue analysis) run on Asomium’s AsoAI infrastructure — no separate AI key or per-call billing on your side.

Every non-AI tool (push_metadata, build_and_ship, submit_for_review, list_builds, screenshots, ASO rank tracking, dashboard, render_chart) just hits Apple’s APIs or local state, so there’s no LLM cost there either. The single bill is your Asomium subscription.

What clients work

Client	Status	Notes
Claude Code	✅	Full support, artifacts not available (chart tool returns SVG you can save + open)
Claude Desktop	✅	Full support, React/SVG artifacts render inline
Claude.ai (web)	✅	Via the MCP connector — chart payloads become recharts artifacts
Cursor	✅	Full support, no artifact rendering
Windsurf	✅	Full support, no artifact rendering

See Install the Mac app for the one-time setup and Auth & local state for the credentials story.