AskRefinedElement.Mcp 0.1.0-alpha

This is a prerelease version of AskRefinedElement.Mcp.

There is a newer version of this package available.
See the version list below for details.

{
  "inputs": [
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "ask_re_base_url",
      "description": "Base URL of the Ask Refined Element API. Defaults to https://refinedelement.com; set to a local host (e.g. http://localhost:23918) when developing against a local re-xbk app.",
      "password": false
    }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "AskRefinedElement.Mcp": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "dnx",
      "args": ["AskRefinedElement.Mcp@0.1.0-alpha", "--yes"],
      "env": {
        "ASK_RE_BASE_URL": "${input:ask_re_base_url}"
      }
    }
  }
}

This package contains an MCP Server. The server can be used in VS Code by copying the generated JSON to your VS Code workspace's .vscode/mcp.json settings file.

dotnet tool install --global AskRefinedElement.Mcp --version 0.1.0-alpha

This package contains a .NET tool you can call from the shell/command line.

dotnet new tool-manifest
                    

                            if you are setting up this repo

dotnet tool install --local AskRefinedElement.Mcp --version 0.1.0-alpha

This package contains a .NET tool you can call from the shell/command line.

#tool dotnet:?package=AskRefinedElement.Mcp&version=0.1.0-alpha&prerelease

The NuGet Team does not provide support for this client. Please contact its maintainers for support.

nuke :add-package AskRefinedElement.Mcp --version 0.1.0-alpha

The NuGet Team does not provide support for this client. Please contact its maintainers for support.

Part of Refined Element — an independent consultancy for Xperience by Kentico upgrades, AI-driven development, and agent-first marketing (GEO).

Ask Refined Element MCP Server (.NET)

An open-source MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that lets AI agents query Refined Element's knowledge pack: field-tested guidance on Xperience by Kentico upgrades, GEO (generative engine optimization), AI-driven development, Sentinel for Xperience by Kentico, and agent-ready CMS architecture.

The knowledge pack is authored once in Xperience by Kentico and served headless — to humans on the website, to AI crawlers via llms.txt, and to agents through this MCP server. This package is the .NET delivery surface: a NuGet-published dnx tool that stands up the same six tools as a stdio MCP server. (A TypeScript/npm sibling exists too — see Related Projects — so agents can reach the pack from either ecosystem.) It is also a working example of the agent-ready CMS pattern the pack itself describes.

Most of the pack is free. Two knowledge items are premium, gated behind a single L402 (Lightning) payment of 100 sats — a working demonstration of metered, pay-per-access content on the same content model. Everything else, including a priority-flagged consultation (request_consultation with priority: true), is free.

What It Does

Give your AI agent this server and it can:

Search the knowledge pack — ranked, answer-first summaries it can cite directly, across blog articles, FAQs, case studies, services, checklists, and premium playbooks on Kentico upgrades, GEO, AI development, Sentinel, and CMS architecture.
Fetch a full checklist — complete, ordered, actionable steps by slug (e.g. the GEO readiness checklist).
Read the blog — list recent Refined Element articles and read any one in full, with its HTML converted to clean text (headings, lists, and links preserved).
Request a consultation — send a message straight to Mike Rahel; set priority: true to flag it as urgent so Mike sees the urgency. Both are free.
Buy a premium playbook — retrieve an L402-gated item: the tool returns the Lightning invoice on the first call, then the full content once the agent has paid.

Tools

Tool	Paid	What you get
`search_refined_element_knowledge`	Free	Ranked matches with answer-first summaries across articles, FAQs, case studies, services, checklists, and playbooks. Article hits point at `get_article`; premium hits are flagged with their price and the slug to buy them.
`get_checklist`	Free	One full free checklist by slug — title, summary, topic, audience, and every ordered step.
`list_articles`	Free	Recent blog articles, newest first — title, publish date, one-line summary, url, and the slug to read each in full.
`get_article`	Free	One full blog article by slug — HTML converted to readable text (headings, lists, and links preserved), plus its canonical URL.
`request_consultation`	Free	Send a consultation request to Mike Rahel. `priority: true` flags it as urgent so Mike sees the urgency — also free, no payment required.
`get_paid_playbook`	100 sats (L402)	One premium item by slug. First call returns a Lightning invoice + macaroon; a second call with the paid credential returns the full content.

Premium items and their slugs are discovered through search_refined_element_knowledge (they are flagged [PREMIUM]) — the catalog is owned by the CMS, so it can grow without a package release. topic and audience filters accept any string and are matched exactly against each result; known topic values today (examples) are kentico-upgrades, geo, ai-development, sentinel, cms-architecture, and known audience values are developer, marketer, decision-maker, agent.

Requirements

.NET 10 SDK — it ships the dnx command used to run the server. If your client reports "The command dnx … was not found", install the .NET 10 SDK.
The Ask Refined Element API (/api/ask/*) must be live at the configured base URL. The default is the production site, https://refinedelement.com. If the API is not reachable there — for example while it is still being deployed, or when you run the site locally — point the server at the right host with the ASK_RE_BASE_URL environment variable (see Development). When the base URL answers with an HTML page instead of API JSON, the tools report that the API is not deployed/reachable there rather than pretending content does not exist.

Quick Install

Run it with no install (dnx is the .NET analogue of npx; it downloads the tool from NuGet and runs it):

dnx AskRefinedElement.Mcp@0.1.0-alpha --yes

Claude Code

claude mcp add ask-refined-element -- dnx AskRefinedElement.Mcp@0.1.0-alpha --yes

Or add it to .mcp.json in your project:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ask-refined-element": {
      "command": "dnx",
      "args": ["AskRefinedElement.Mcp@0.1.0-alpha", "--yes"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ask-refined-element": {
      "command": "dnx",
      "args": ["AskRefinedElement.Mcp@0.1.0-alpha", "--yes"]
    }
  }
}

Config file locations:

Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Linux: ~/.config/claude/claude_desktop_config.json

No API key, wallet, or secret is needed to install or run this server — it calls only public endpoints. A Lightning wallet is needed only to unlock the two premium items (see below).

The L402 Payment Flow

Two knowledge items are premium and gated with L402 — the HTTP 402 "Payment Required" standard for pay-per-access over Lightning. get_paid_playbook handles both halves of the exchange:

Ask for the item. Call get_paid_playbook with only the slug. The endpoint answers 402 Payment Required with a Lightning invoice (100 sats) and a macaroon. The tool returns these as structured payment instructions — it does not error.
Pay the invoice. Pay the Lightning invoice with any wallet that returns a payment preimage. The easiest path for an agent is the free Lightning Enable MCP server and its pay_invoice tool — connect a wallet via NWC or Strike (docs.lightningenable.com) and it pays, tracks, and budgets automatically.
Unlock the content. Call get_paid_playbook again with the same slug plus the macaroon from step 1 and the preimage from step 2. The tool sends Authorization: L402 <macaroon>:<preimage> and returns the full item.

If a credential fails to verify, the tool returns a fresh challenge with the same guidance, so the agent can retry cleanly. A credential you already paid for stays valid — on any transient hiccup, retry with the same macaroon and preimage; you never pay twice. Run both the Lightning Enable MCP and this server together and an agent can discover, pay for, and read a premium playbook end to end without a human in the loop.

Development

Clone, build, and run the tests:

git clone https://github.com/refined-element/ask-refined-element-dotnet.git
cd ask-refined-element-dotnet
dotnet build -c Release
dotnet test  -c Release   # xUnit — stubs HttpClient, asserts each tool + the 402 flow

Run against a local Ask Refined Element API instead of production with the ASK_RE_BASE_URL environment variable:

# Default is https://refinedelement.com
ASK_RE_BASE_URL=http://localhost:23918 dnx AskRefinedElement.Mcp@0.1.0-alpha --yes

# Or run straight from source (no packaging step)
ASK_RE_BASE_URL=http://localhost:23917 dotnet run --project src/AskRefinedElement.Mcp

In a client config, set it under env:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ask-refined-element": {
      "command": "dnx",
      "args": ["AskRefinedElement.Mcp@0.1.0-alpha", "--yes"],
      "env": { "ASK_RE_BASE_URL": "http://localhost:23918" }
    }
  }
}

To package the NuGet tool locally:

dotnet pack -c Release   # → src/AskRefinedElement.Mcp/bin/Release/AskRefinedElement.Mcp.0.1.0-alpha.nupkg

Project structure

ask-refined-element-dotnet/
├── src/AskRefinedElement.Mcp/
│   ├── Program.cs                  # stdio host entry point (logs to stderr)
│   ├── AskRefinedElementTools.cs   # [McpServerToolType] — the six tools + descriptions
│   ├── AskTools.cs                 # tool logic + response formatting (transport-free)
│   ├── AskReClient.cs              # public HTTP client (10s timeout covers the body read)
│   ├── HttpOutcome.cs              # discriminated request outcome (never throws)
│   ├── ApiTypes.cs                 # API response shapes
│   └── .mcp/server.json            # MCP server manifest (NuGet reads this)
├── tests/AskRefinedElement.Mcp.Tests/
│   └── *.cs                        # xUnit
├── README.md
└── LICENSE

Ask Refined Element (npm) — the TypeScript/Node sibling of this server; identical tools, for the npm/npx ecosystem.
Lightning Enable MCP — give your agent a Lightning wallet; pays L402 challenges (including this server's premium items) automatically.
Lightning Enable — infrastructure for agent commerce over Lightning.
Lightning Enable Docs — wallet setup (NWC, Strike) and the full L402 guide.

License

Product	Compatible and additional computed target framework versions.
.NET	net10.0 is compatible. net10.0-android was computed. net10.0-browser was computed. net10.0-ios was computed. net10.0-maccatalyst was computed. net10.0-macos was computed. net10.0-tvos was computed. net10.0-windows was computed.

Compatible target framework(s)

Included target framework(s) (in package)

Learn more about Target Frameworks and .NET Standard.

This package has no dependencies.

Version	Downloads	Last Updated
0.2.0	103	9/14/2026
0.1.0-alpha	129	7/11/2026