The full upstream README, mirrored here for reference. Install config, tool schemas, adoption signals, and an original overview live on the Rhylthyme listing page.
A Model Context Protocol server for schedules that a person executes: cooking several dishes so they finish together, running a bench protocol with overlapping incubations, calling an event, running a workout. An agent describes the process, the server validates and analyzes the resulting program, and publishes it as a live timeline on rhylthyme.com that the person follows on their phone.
This repository is the source of the server that runs at
mcp.rhylthyme.com. It is the same code as mcp-api/ in the
rhylthyme-server application, copied here with the static assets it
needs so it can be read, tested and self-hosted.
Connect the server (in Claude Code, /plugin marketplace add rhylthyme/rhylthyme-mcp
then /plugin install rhylthyme@rhylthyme; anywhere else, add
https://mcp.rhylthyme.com/gym/mcp as a connector), then say what you want in
plain words:
Two of us in a garage gym: one kettlebell, one pull-up bar, one jump rope. Thirty minutes, two rounds, and nobody stands around waiting for equipment. Make it a Rhylthyme timeline.
You write no JSON. The assistant does, and the server keeps it honest. With that prompt Claude made three tool calls:
| Call | What came back |
|---|---|
validate_program | ✅ Program is valid — 2 tracks, 20 steps, 30m makespan. |
analyze_schedule | Resource conflicts: none. Each station has capacity 1, so this is the proof that Alex and Sam never want the kettlebell at the same moment |
visualize_schedule | a link, gym.rhylthyme.com?share=4995ef1b88744e80, with rest timers and interval beeps, and a text chart for the chat: |
Ask "show me a picture" and preview_timeline returns an image in the chat.
For one coloured by station, which makes the rotation obvious, save the
program the assistant wrote (ours is examples/recipe/garage-circuit.json) and run:

Then push on it: "add a third person", "we only have 20 minutes", "swap the rope for burpees". The assistant edits the program and the server checks it again.
Two repositories do related things and are easy to confuse. This one is the server an AI assistant talks to. rhylthyme-cli-runner is the command a person types.
| rhylthyme-mcp | rhylthyme-cli-runner | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | The MCP server: the tools an AI assistant calls | A command-line program: the rhylthyme command |
| Who uses it | Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or any MCP client, on a person's behalf | A person at a terminal, a script, or CI |
| Where it runs | Hosted at mcp.rhylthyme.com; nothing to install | On your machine: pip install rhylthyme |
| Language | JavaScript (Node 20+) | Python 3.12+ |
| Input | A program the assistant builds in conversation | A program file on disk (JSON or YAML) |
| Validate a program | validate_program | rhylthyme validate (works offline) |
| Timing, conflicts, deadlines | analyze_schedule | rhylthyme analyze (asks the server) |
| Publish a live timeline | visualize_schedule | rhylthyme publish (asks the server) |
| Run a schedule with timers | no: it hands back a link to the web timeline | rhylthyme run, an interactive terminal runner |
| Recorded runs, calibration | reads runs saved to an account | records runs locally; rhylthyme runs, rhylthyme calibrate |
| Catalog search, imports, account library | yes | no |
| Also in the repository | the rhylthyme-mcp PyPI package (a stdio bridge to the hosted server), the Claude plugin marketplace | the Claude skill's source, the prompt-evaluation harness and its results, rhylthyme mcp-test |
How they fit together: the command-line tool is one of this server's clients.
rhylthyme analyze, publish, generate and mcp-test are MCP calls to
mcp.rhylthyme.com; rhylthyme validate, run, runs and calibrate never
touch the network. Each has its own validator for the same program schema
(JavaScript here, Python there), so a program is checked again when it is
published.
Use this repository to connect an assistant, to read or self-host the server, or to change a tool. Use rhylthyme-cli-runner if you have a program file and a terminal, want timers in the terminal, or keep run records.
Two names to keep apart: rhylthyme-mcp on PyPI is this server's stdio bridge
(command rhylthyme-mcp, source in python/); rhylthyme-cli-runner
on PyPI is the command-line tool (command rhylthyme). The program format
itself is defined in rhylthyme-spec,
with examples in rhylthyme-examples.
| URL | Server name | Adds |
|---|---|---|
https://mcp.rhylthyme.com/mcp | rhylthyme-mcp | generic scheduler |
https://mcp.rhylthyme.com/kitchen/mcp | rhylthyme-kitchen-mcp | cook_recipe, whats_for_dinner |
https://mcp.rhylthyme.com/lab/mcp | rhylthyme-lab-mcp | run_protocol, random_protocol, Benchling import |
https://mcp.rhylthyme.com/events/mcp | rhylthyme-events-mcp | plan_event, random_event_template |
https://mcp.rhylthyme.com/gym/mcp | rhylthyme-gym-mcp | start_workout, surprise_workout |
Transport: Streamable HTTP, stateless. No sign-in is needed for the public
catalog or the pure tools; account tools use the person's Rhylthyme account
through OAuth 2.1, or a pasted token from the login tool in clients without
OAuth. Server instructions describing the workflow are sent at
initialize.
The rhylthyme CLI can drive this server directly: describe what you
need in plain language and get back a live timeline URL, a program file,
or both.
login signs you in through the browser and hands the session back to a
one-shot listener on 127.0.0.1. It is stored in
~/.config/rhylthyme/credentials.json (mode 0600) and renews itself, so
you only log in once. generate then calls two tools on this server:
import_text on the endpoint for -e (/kitchen/mcp,
/lab/mcp, …) turns the request into a validated multi-track program.
It runs four model turns server-side, which is why it needs a sign-in;
it takes 20–60 seconds and is capped per day.visualize_schedule publishes that program and returns the
live-timeline URL on the matching subdomain.It prints the ASCII Gantt, the itinerary and the URL. More examples:
| Flag | Meaning |
|---|---|
-e, --env | generic (default), kitchen, lab, events or gym. Picks the endpoint and the timeline site. |
--by | When everything must be finished: 19:00, dinner at 7pm. |
--with | Equipment and people limits in your own words. |
-f, --file | Read the request or source text from a file, or - for stdin. |
-o, --output | Save the program JSON. |
--run | Run the program in the terminal runner afterwards. |
--open | Open the live timeline in a browser. |
--no-publish, --json, -q | Skip publishing; print JSON; print only the URL. |
To check a server (this one, or your own deployment) end to end:
rhylthyme whoami shows the stored sign-in; rhylthyme logout forgets it.
On a machine without a browser, set RHYLTHYME_TOKEN to an access token
from https://www.rhylthyme.com/mcp/auth (it lasts about an hour), or
run rhylthyme login --token <token>. RHYLTHYME_MCP_URL points the CLI
at a self-hosted server.
Claude Code
Claude Desktop / claude.ai: Settings → Connectors → Add custom
connector → paste one of the URLs above. Public tools work immediately;
run login only to save to your own account.
Claude Code plugin (the hosted server plus a skill that teaches Claude to author, validate and analyze schedules):
ChatGPT: Settings → Apps & Connectors → Advanced settings → turn on Developer mode, then Create a connector with one of the URLs above as the MCP server URL. Without a connector ChatGPT cannot call these tools and falls back to browsing the website.
Cursor (.cursor/mcp.json):
Claude API (MCP connector, one request):
Reviewing an import. review_program (an account tool) has a model read an
imported program against its source and return findings: wrong durations,
dropped steps, bad ordering, a total that disagrees with the source. Call it
after import_from_source or import_text, apply what it says, and validate
again.
Clients that can only launch a command: pip install rhylthyme-mcp gives a
rhylthyme-mcp command, a stdio bridge that passes every request through to
the hosted server (source in python/):
No MCP client at all (an agent with a shell, a script): the server is stateless, so one POST works with no handshake and no account.
visualize_schedule called the same way returns the live-timeline URL in
result.structuredContent.url. Or use the CLI in the quickstart above.
| Tool | Annotations | What it does |
|---|---|---|
validate_program | read-only, pure | Structural and scheduling checks (duplicate/missing ids, dangling references, cycles, within-track overlaps, tasks without a resource constraint, unparseable durations, choice references). Every finding carries a code, message and fix hint. Structured output. |
analyze_schedule | read-only, pure | Resolved start/end per step, makespan, the dependency chain that determines it, resource-conflict windows, per-track slack, peak concurrency vs. declared actors. Pass finishAt or startAt (ISO 8601) for wall-clock start times. Structured output. |
visualize_schedule | publishes | Validates (refuses invalid programs unless allowInvalid), creates a share record, returns a markdown preview (cover image, equipment, ingredients, ASCII Gantt, itinerary, schedule check), an inline PNG of the timeline and the live URL. Structured output. |
preview_timeline | publishes a share record | PNG of the timeline only, no prose. |
search_public_recipes | read-only | Keyword search over the public catalog; environment selects kitchen (default), laboratory, event or gym. Structured output. |
load_public_recipe | read-only | Full summary and live URL for one catalog entry. |
cook_recipe / run_protocol / plan_event / start_workout | read-only | One-shot on each vertical: top catalog match → live URL. |
whats_for_dinner / random_protocol / random_event_template / surprise_workout | read-only | Random catalog pick on each vertical. |
import_from_source | read-only | Spoonacular, TheMealDB, protocols.io, Cooklang, Opentrons Protocol API scripts, Benchling → validated program JSON. search needs no token; import and random need the user's token. |
create_environment | pure | Equipment limits and actor types → environment JSON. |
login | — | Returns the sign-in URL, then verifies a pasted token. |
list_my_programs, load_program, save_program | account | The user's own library; save_program validates first. |
get_renderer_source | read-only | Source of the Apache-2.0 timeline renderer, for HTML artifacts whose sandbox blocks external scripts. |
Annotations (readOnlyHint, destructiveHint, idempotentHint,
openWorldHint) are set on every tool; four tools also declare an
outputSchema and return structuredContent. Failures set isError
and say what to do next.
rhylthyme://schema/program: the program JSON Schema (0.3.0-alpha)rhylthyme://guide/authoring: one-page authoring rules, trigger vocabulary, how to make tracks finish together, repeated work (replicates, per-instance instances: "each" chains, "all" barriers and maxInFlight), choice branchingrhylthyme://guide/tools: the long form of every tool description. The tool list itself is kept to about 3,600 tokens so it is cheap to keep connectedrhylthyme://examples/{breakfast_schedule, lab_experiment, stir_fry_with_choice, hiit_cardio_workout, corporate_presentation, cookies_three_trays}: complete valid programs (cookies_three_trays is the 0.3.0-alpha per-instance / in-flight worked example)plan_schedule(goal, finishAt?, constraints?): walks the model through search → build → validate → analyze → visualize, and names replicates / instances / maxInFlight in its constraints stepSteps in one track run sequentially; parallel work goes in separate
tracks; every task needs a resource constraint; durations and offsets
take seconds or strings like "5m". Triggers: programStart,
programStartOffset, afterStep (end or event: "start", signed offset),
afterStepWithBuffer, manual, onAbort, or {logic: all|any, triggers}.
Durations: fixed, variable (ended early by the executor), indefinite
(ended by the executor).
Docker: docker build -t rhylthyme-mcp . && docker run -p 3000:3000 rhylthyme-mcp.
Vercel: vercel in the repository root; vercel.json rewrites the endpoint
paths to the function.
What self-hosting does and does not give you: validation, timing analysis,
the renderer, resources and prompts run in your process. Catalog search,
sharing (visualize_schedule), imports and account tools call the public
API at https://www.rhylthyme.com (API_BASE in mcp-api/index.js), so
those still depend on the hosted service. The PNG preview route
/api/og/timeline.png additionally needs SUPABASE_URL and
SUPABASE_ANON_KEY for read access to shared programs; nothing else does.
mcp-api/index.js: tool, resource and prompt registration; vertical detection; OG-image route; Vercel handlermcp-api/schedule.js: validator and analyzer (pure)static/js/timeline-render.js: timing engine and SVG Gantt (also published as @rhylthyme/timeline)static/schema/, static/examples/: the resourcessrc/index.js: standalone HTTP runnermcp-api/server.json: MCP registry manifest.claude-plugin/marketplace.json, plugins/rhylthyme/: the Claude plugin marketplace and plugin (claude plugin validate .); the skill in it is a checked copy of rhylthyme-cli-runner/skills/rhylthymepython/: the rhylthyme-mcp PyPI package, a stdio bridge to the hosted server (cd python && PYTHONPATH=src pytest tests)login hands the user a URL and expects a pasted, short-lived access token that then travels as a tool argument; it is outside MCP's OAuth 2.1 flow. Hosts that require OAuth for authenticated servers can still use every public tool.search_public_recipes searches one environment at a time; the generic endpoint defaults to kitchen.Apache-2.0, like the rest of Rhylthyme. (This repository was MIT until September 2026.)