FAQs and troubleshooting

Common questions and solutions for installing, configuring, and using the Webflow MCP server.

Installation and setup

After installing the MCP server, you may need to restart your AI client to see the new server. Additionally, check that your client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, or Windsurf) is updated to the latest version.

Troubleshooting steps:

  1. Restart your AI client completely
  2. Check for updates to your AI client
  3. Verify the MCP server configuration is correct in your config file
  4. Review the getting started guide for platform-specific instructions

To authenticate a different Webflow site, remove the existing authentication token and restart your AI client:

$rm -rf ~/.mcp-auth

After executing this command, restart your AI client. A new authentication screen will appear, allowing you to select different sites to authorize.

Limit the number of authorized sites for better security and performance.

Only site owners and admins can authorize the MCP server and MCP Bridge App. If you’re not a site owner or admin, you won’t be able to authorize those sites.

To resolve this:

  • Request owner or admin access from your site administrator
  • Or, have a site owner/admin authorize the MCP server for the site

A 500 error usually indicates an authentication or Node.js version issue.

Solution 1: Refresh OAuth token

Remove your authentication token and restart your AI client:

$rm -rf ~/.mcp-auth

Solution 2: Verify Node.js version

Check your Node.js version is 22.3.0 or higher:

$node --version

If your version is too old, see the Node.js compatibility section below.

Using the MCP server

To use Designer API tools, you must open the MCP Bridge App in the Webflow Designer:

Steps:

  1. Open your site in the Webflow Designer
  2. Press the E key to open the Apps panel
  3. Launch the “Webflow MCP Bridge App”
  4. Wait for the app to connect to the MCP server

The MCP Bridge app must remain open in the Webflow Designer for Designer API tools to work. You can minimize it after it connects.

If the MCP server times out or disconnects while using the Designer, your browser may be putting inactive tabs to sleep. Configure your browser to keep the Designer tab active:

Chrome:

  1. Go to chrome://settings/performance
  2. Scroll to “Always keep these sites active”
  3. Click “Add” and enter webflow.com

Firefox:

  1. Type about:config in the address bar
  2. Search for browser.tabs.unloadOnLowMemory
  3. Set to false
  4. Or keep the Designer tab pinned to prevent unloading

Safari:

  1. Safari doesn’t have a built-in setting for this
  2. Keep the Designer tab active and pinned
  3. Or use Chrome/Firefox for better MCP server stability

Pinning the Webflow Designer tab in any browser can also help prevent timeout issues.

The MCP server currently supports a focused set of Data and Designer API tools. Not all Webflow API endpoints are available through the MCP server.

Request new tools:

It depends on which tools you’re using:

Data API tools: No, Webflow doesn’t need to be open. You can manage content, collections, and site data from your AI client.

Designer API tools: Yes, you must have:

  • The Webflow Designer open in your browser
  • The Bridge App launched and connected

The MCP server has partial support for localization:

Supported:

  • Read and update static page/component content in secondary locales
  • Read and update default component properties in secondary locales
  • Read and update existing CMS items in secondary locales

Not supported:

  • Creating new localized CMS items

If you need additional localization features, please open an issue or contact developers@webflow.com.

Node.js compatibility

To connect to the MCP server with the mcp-remote NPM package, you must have Node.js version 22.3.0 or higher. If you can’t use this version as your default, use a version manager to switch Node.js versions per project.

After changing Node.js versions, restart your AI client for the changes to take effect.