Encord MCP / Merlin

Merlin is Encord’s Model Context Protocol (MCP) server. It exposes Encord’s platform as a set of tools your AI assistant can call, so you can create projects, define ontologies, check analytics, and more, all through natural language, without leaving your AI tool.

What Merlin can do

Once connected, your AI assistant can take actions on your behalf across the Encord platform:

Category	What you can ask
Projects	List your Projects, create new annotation Projects with a chosen Ontology, Dataset, and Workflow
Ontologies	List Ontologies, create a label taxonomy with objects, classifications, and nested attributes
Datasets	Browse and search your Datasets
Workflows	List available Workflow templates (annotate → review, consensus, double review, pre-labelling)
Editor layouts	Configure custom annotation editor layouts for evaluation, rating, and scoring tasks
Analytics	Query task throughput, time spent, and collaborator performance for any Project

Prerequisites

An Encord account (cloud). Merlin uses OAuth via WorkOS and is not available on on-premises or air-gapped deployments.
A supported MCP client (see Connect your AI assistant below).

Connect your AI assistant

Claude Code
Claude Desktop
Cursor
Other

Run the following command in your terminal:

claude mcp add --transport http encord-merlin https://mcp.encord.com

The first time you call a Merlin tool, Claude Code opens a browser to sign in with your Encord account.

For Team/Enterprise plans:

An organization admin must first add the connector in Admin settings > Connectors with the URL https://mcp.encord.com.
Members then add the same connector under Settings > Connectors.
Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect.

For Free/Pro plans: Add the server to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "encord-merlin": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.encord.com"
    }
  }
}

Add the following to your Cursor MCP configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "encord-merlin": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.encord.com"
    }
  }
}

Merlin uses the standard MCP streamable-HTTP transport. Point any MCP-compatible client to:

https://mcp.encord.com

The client runs an OAuth authorization flow against WorkOS on first use. Every WorkOS-backed login method (SSO, email, etc.) is supported.

Authentication

Merlin authenticates using OAuth. When your AI assistant first calls a Merlin tool it opens a browser window and prompt you to sign in with your Encord credentials. The session is managed by WorkOS. Merlin itself never stores your credentials.

You must sign in as an Encord user whose account was created (or backfilled) after Merlin launched. If your sign-in succeeds but tool calls are rejected, contact your workspace admin.

Org-level MFA enforcement is not yet supported for Merlin. Requests from organizations with mandatory MFA will be rejected.

Merlin with Workspaces

If you belong to only one Encord Workspace, Merlin automatically uses that Workspace. No additional setup is required. If you belong to multiple Workspaces, Merlin needs to know which Workspace you want to work in before it can perform actions for you. The first time you use Merlin, your AI assistant may ask you to choose an active Workspace. Once selected, Merlin continues using that Workspace for future requests until you choose a different one. To switch Workspaces later, simply tell your AI assistant which Workspace you would like to use. Merlin lists your available Workspaces, asks you to confirm your selection, and then sets that Workspace as your active Workspace. Example: “Show me my available Workspaces.” “Switch my active Workspace to Data Operations.”

Example prompts

Once connected, you can talk to your AI assistant naturally. A few examples: Setting up a new project end-to-end:

“Create an ontology for vehicle detection with bounding box classes for car, truck, and motorcycle. Then create a project called ‘Vehicle QA’ using that ontology and my existing dataset ‘Street Footage’.”

Checking project health:

“How many tasks were completed in my ‘Pedestrian Detection’ project last month, and who were the top three annotators by output?”

Exploring what’s available:

“List all my projects that are currently active and show me which ones I’m an admin on.”

Configuring an evaluation workflow:

“Set up a custom editor layout on project ‘RLHF Round 3’ that shows the media and a preference rating question side by side.”

Available tools reference

Projects

Tool	Description
`create_project_tool`	Create an annotation project. Accepts a title, description, ontology, one or more datasets (or a storage folder), and an optional workflow template. Returns a direct link to the new project.
`list_projects_tool`	List your projects, most recently created first. Supports title search and pagination (50 per page).

Ontologies

Tool	Description
`create_ontology_tool`	Create a label taxonomy. Define objects (things to localise, with a shape) and classifications (frame-level questions). Attributes support radio, checklist, text, and numeric types, with radio options supporting up to three levels of nesting.
`list_ontologies_tool`	List your ontologies, most recently created first, with cursor-based pagination.

Datasets

Tool	Description
`list_datasets_tool`	List your datasets with optional title/description search and pagination.

Workflows

Tool	Description
`list_workflow_templates_tool`	List all workflow templates, including Encord’s built-in templates and your saved custom templates. Use this to find the right template UUID before creating a project that needs a non-default review process.

Editor layouts

Tool	Description
`get_project_layout_features_tool`	List the ontology classifications a custom editor layout can reference for a given project. Call this before `set_project_layout_tool` to get the valid `schema_feature_uuid` values.
`set_project_layout_tool`	Apply a custom annotation editor layout to a project. Useful for evaluation, preference rating, and rubric-scoring tasks where the editor functions as a structured form.

Analytics

Analytics tools are available to project admins and team managers only. Time windows default to the last 30 days and cannot exceed 90 days.

Tool	Description
`project_throughput_tool`	Count task actions (completions, approvals, rejections, skips) over a time window. Optional `group_by` splits results by user, day, or workflow stage.
`project_time_summary_tool`	Total time spent on a project, broken down by stage, user, or day.
`project_collaborator_performance_tool`	Rank collaborators by task counts, rejection rate, label activity, and time — for either the annotation or review stage.

Workspaces

Tool	Description
`list_workspaces_tool`	List all Encord Workspaces you have access to.
`set_active_workspace_tool`	Set the Workspace Merlin should use for future requests. Required only for users who belong to multiple Workspaces.

​What Merlin can do

​Prerequisites

​Connect your AI assistant

​Authentication

​Merlin with Workspaces

​Example prompts

​Available tools reference

What Merlin can do

Prerequisites

Connect your AI assistant

Authentication

Merlin with Workspaces

Example prompts

Available tools reference