Rive MCP: How to Connect Claude Code, Cursor and Codex to Rive

About this guide

ExodeUI is not affiliated with Rive or Anthropic. This guide is based on Rive's own documentation as of October 2026. Rive's AI features change quickly, so check the official MCP page if a step does not match what you see. We make ExodeUI, which has its own MCP server, and we compare the two at the end.

What the Rive MCP server can do

Rive says the first tools are aimed at repetitive work, such as building view models or state machines with hundreds of states and layers. According to Rive's docs, a connected AI tool can:

• Create and manage files: add, rename, resize, arrange and focus artboards
• Inspect and edit the scene: query the hierarchy, select objects, update properties, duplicate, reorder, reparent or delete elements
• Build designs: shapes, paths, layouts, component instances and lists
• Create animation and interaction: linear animations, state machines, states, transitions, conditions, keyframes and interpolation
• Work with data binding: view models, properties, instances and bindings
• Edit Luau scripts and WGSL shaders: update code, run diagnostics, recompile, test and read console output

How to set up Rive MCP with Claude Code

MCP only works with the desktop editor, not the browser version. Open Rive first, then connect your AI tool.

How to set up Rive MCP with Cursor and Codex

In Cursor, open Settings, go to Tools & MCPs, choose Add Custom MCP, and add a server named rive with the URL http://127.0.0.1:9791/mcp, then turn the connection on. Rive documents Claude Code and Cursor. Because the server is a local HTTP MCP server, other clients that support HTTP MCP servers, such as Codex, can connect with the same URL.

Rive MCP vs Rive's built-in AI Agent

Rive also has an AI Agent inside the editor. Both can edit your file. The difference is who pays and what else the agent can see.

• The built-in Agent runs on Rive's plans: limited on Free and Cadet, with advanced models, top-up credits and your own API key on Voyager
• With MCP, you use the AI subscription you already pay for, such as Claude or Cursor
• An external agent can also read your app code, notes and docs, so it can edit the Rive file and wire it into your app in the same session
• The built-in Agent needs no setup and works in the browser editor

Rive MCP vs the Rive CLI

Rive's newer CLI is a different route. Instead of driving the open editor, your coding agent writes the scene as text in Rive Markup Language (RML), and the CLI builds .riv files for your app or .rev files that open in the editor. It shows a local preview, can render frames and run tests without a window, and keeps the project as a folder of text, so it can live in version control. Use MCP to work with a designer in the editor; use the CLI when an agent builds or edits Rive graphics from code.

Limits to know before you start

Rive's MCP integration is young, and it has some practical limits.

• Desktop editor only, on macOS and Windows, and Rive must be open with your file
• The AI works on the file that is open, so check the result on screen before you trust it
• Publishing .riv files without the Rive splash screen still needs a paid plan, from Cadet at $9 per seat per month billed yearly
• Prompts that describe the result you want work better than prompts that describe code

An alternative: ExodeUI's MCP server

ExodeUI is a browser and desktop tool for interactive UI and animation. It also has an MCP server, so Claude Code, Cursor and other AI coding tools can create and edit animations from plain-language prompts. The result is one open .exode JSON file with state machines, spring physics, and inputs and events your code controls, played by runtimes for React, Vue, Svelte, Angular, Solid, React Native, SwiftUI and Flutter. It suits interactive product UI more than character animation. If you already work in Rive, its MCP server is the simpler choice.