Knot

ProjAnvil

AI-powered API documentation hub with MCP integration. Built by AI, designed for AI - enabling Claude and other AI assistants to seamlessly discover, understand, and interact with your APIs through the Model Context Protocol.

#api #bun #claude #claude-code #golang #mcp #model-context-protocol #svelte #typescript

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Knot

A modern, lightweight API documentation management system with AI assistant integration.

Features • Quick Start • Documentation • Development • Contributing

中文文档 | English

Overview

Knot is a comprehensive API documentation platform that helps teams organize, document, and share their API specifications. Built with Go and Svelte 5, it offers a fast, intuitive interface with native AI assistant support through Model Context Protocol (MCP).

Key Features

📚 Organized API Management - Group and categorize API endpoints with hierarchical structure
🔍 Fuzzy Search - Quickly find APIs across all groups with intelligent search
📝 Rich Documentation - Document APIs with markdown, request/response schemas, and examples
🎨 Syntax Highlighting - Beautiful JSON syntax highlighting with dark mode support
🔄 Drag & Drop Interface - Intuitive API reordering and organization
🌐 Multilingual - Built-in support for English and Chinese
🗄️ Flexible Database - Choose between SQLite, PostgreSQL, or MySQL
🤖 AI Integration - Native MCP server for Claude and other AI assistants
⚡ High Performance - Go-powered backend with minimal resource usage
🚀 Zero Dependencies - Single binary deployment with embedded frontend

Quick Start

Installation

Download the latest release for your platform:

# macOS (Apple Silicon)
curl -LO https://github.com/ProjAnvil/knot/releases/latest/download/knot-macos-arm64
chmod +x knot-macos-arm64
sudo mv knot-macos-arm64 /usr/local/bin/knot

# macOS (Intel)
curl -LO https://github.com/ProjAnvil/knot/releases/latest/download/knot-macos-amd64
chmod +x knot-macos-amd64
sudo mv knot-macos-amd64 /usr/local/bin/knot

# Linux (AMD64)
curl -LO https://github.com/ProjAnvil/knot/releases/latest/download/knot-linux
chmod +x knot-linux
sudo mv knot-linux /usr/local/bin/knot

# Windows (AMD64)
# Download knot-windows.exe from releases page

Usage

# Initialize configuration
knot setup

# Start the server (runs in background)
knot start

# Check server status
knot status

# Stop the server
knot stop

# View configuration
knot config

# Get help
knot help

The web interface will be available at http://localhost:3000

Documentation

Configuration

Knot stores its configuration at:

Linux/macOS: ~/.knot/config.json
Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\knot\config.json

Example configuration:

{
  "databaseType": "sqlite",
  "sqlitePath": "/Users/username/.knot/knot.db",
  "port": 3000,
  "host": "localhost",
  "enableLogging": false
}

Database Options

Database	Use Case	Configuration
SQLite (default)	Personal use, development	`sqlitePath: "/path/to/knot.db"`
PostgreSQL	Production, teams	`postgresUrl: "postgresql://..."`
MySQL	Enterprise	`mysqlUrl: "user:pass@tcp(...)/"`

Development

Knot consists of three independent components:

Prerequisites

Go 1.21 or later
Bun or npm (for frontend)
Make (optional, for build commands)

Project Structure

knot/
├── frontend/          # Svelte 5 web application
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── lib/      # Reusable components
│   │   └── messages/ # i18n translations
│   └── package.json
├── backend/           # Go API server
│   ├── cmd/          # Entry points (CLI & server)
│   ├── internal/     # Core logic
│   └── Makefile
├── mcp-server/        # MCP server for AI integration
│   ├── main.go
│   └── Makefile
└── doc/              # Documentation

Frontend Development

cd frontend

# Install dependencies
bun install

# Start dev server with hot reload (port 5173)
bun dev

# Build for production
bun run build

The frontend runs independently and proxies API requests to the backend during development.

Backend Development

cd backend

# Install Go dependencies
go mod download

# Run in development mode
make run

# Build CLI binary
make build

# Build for all platforms
make build-all

# Package with embedded frontend
make package

Available commands:

make run - Run server in development mode
make build - Build CLI binary for current platform
make build-all - Build for all platforms (Linux, macOS, Windows)
make package - Build complete package with embedded frontend
make clean - Clean build artifacts

MCP Server Development

cd mcp-server

# Install dependencies
go mod download

# Build MCP server
make build

# Build for all platforms
make build-all

Running Tests

# Backend tests
cd backend
go test ./...

# Frontend tests (if available)
cd frontend
bun test

MCP Integration

Knot includes a Model Context Protocol server that enables AI assistants like Claude to query your API documentation naturally.

Features

List all API groups
Search APIs by name or endpoint
Get detailed API documentation
Generate JSON request/response examples
Fuzzy matching on group and API names

Setup

Build the MCP server:
```
cd mcp-server
make build
```
Configure Claude Desktop to use Knot MCP server. See MCP Usage Guide for detailed instructions.

Start querying your APIs:

"Show me all APIs in the user-service group"
"Find APIs related to authentication"
"Generate an example request for the login API"

Architecture

Technology Stack

Frontend:

Svelte 5 (Latest reactivity model)
TypeScript
Vite (Build tool)
Tailwind CSS
shadcn-svelte (UI components)
svelte-i18n (Internationalization)

Backend:

Go 1.21+
Chi (HTTP router)
GORM (ORM with multi-database support)
Cobra (CLI framework)
Viper (Configuration management)

MCP Server:

Go with MCP SDK
Stdio transport
RESTful API integration

Database Schema

groups
  ├── id (primary key)
  ├── name
  └── apis (has many)

apis
  ├── id (primary key)
  ├── group_id (foreign key)
  ├── name
  ├── endpoint
  ├── method (GET/POST/etc)
  ├── type (HTTP/RPC)
  ├── note (markdown)
  └── parameters (has many)

parameters
  ├── id (primary key)
  ├── api_id (foreign key)
  ├── parent_id (self-referencing for nested)
  ├── name
  ├── type (string/number/boolean/array/object)
  ├── param_type (request/response)
  ├── required
  └── description

Building from Source

Build Complete Package

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/ProjAnvil/knot.git
cd knot

# Build frontend
cd frontend
bun install
bun run build
cd ..

# Build backend with embedded frontend
cd backend
make package

# Build MCP server
cd ../mcp-server
make build

Binaries will be in:

Backend CLI: backend/bin/knot
Backend server: backend/bin/knot-server
MCP server: mcp-server/bin/knot-mcp

Cross-Platform Builds

# Build for all platforms
cd backend
make package-all

cd ../mcp-server
make build-all

This creates binaries for:

Linux (AMD64)
macOS (AMD64 and ARM64)
Windows (AMD64)

Contributing

We welcome contributions! Here's how you can help:

Reporting Issues

Use the issue tracker
Include detailed steps to reproduce
Provide system information (OS, Go version, etc.)

Pull Requests

Fork the repository
Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
Make your changes
Run tests and ensure code quality
Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
Push to your fork (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
Open a Pull Request

Development Guidelines

Follow Go best practices and conventions
Write tests for new features
Update documentation for user-facing changes
Keep commits atomic and well-described
Ensure all tests pass before submitting PR

Roadmap

OpenAPI/Swagger import/export
API versioning support
Team collaboration features
API testing interface
GraphQL support
Docker deployment
Cloud hosting option
Plugin system

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

Author

Howe Chen

Email: yuhao.howe.chen@gmail.com
GitHub: @ProjAnvil

Acknowledgments

Model Context Protocol for AI integration standard
Svelte for the amazing frontend framework
GORM for the powerful ORM
shadcn-svelte for beautiful UI components

Made with ❤️ by the Knot team

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Knot

Knot

Overview

Key Features

Quick Start

Installation

Usage

Documentation

Configuration

Database Options

Development

Prerequisites

Project Structure

Frontend Development

Backend Development

MCP Server Development

Running Tests

MCP Integration

Features

Setup

Architecture

Technology Stack

Database Schema

Building from Source

Build Complete Package

Cross-Platform Builds

Contributing

Reporting Issues

Pull Requests

Development Guidelines

Roadmap

License

Author

Links

Acknowledgments

Top categories