Your assistant can make the book. You still approve it.

for developers and assistants

How to connect, the tools, and the protocol.

Parents can skip this. Fetch the current skill (every tool and action) as markdown at https://tinytaleslab.com/mcp/skill.md. Same file: /SKILL.md. Linked from /llms.txt.

Client config

Claude, ChatGPT, and Cursor:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tinytales": {
      "url": "https://tinytaleslab.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

• Claude Desktop: put this JSON in claude_desktop_config.json. macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/. Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\. Linux: ~/.config/Claude/. Open it from Settings → Developer → Edit Config.
• ChatGPT: Settings → Connectors. Add a connector and paste https://tinytaleslab.com/mcp.
• Cursor: put this JSON in ~/.cursor/mcp.json, or in .cursor/mcp.json inside a project. Cursor Settings → MCP writes that file.

The client runs OAuth with PKCE from that address. Dynamic client registration and Client ID Metadata Documents are both accepted.

If Muse’s connector setup asks for a Client ID, paste this: MmXDWeirFGYinSEZpguKpkHIlYygVOIW — then finish the email-code sign-in and approve the consent screen.

Endpoint

Send one JSON-RPC request per POST to https://tinytaleslab.com/mcp. Use Content-Type: application/json, MCP-Protocol-Version: 2026-07-28, and Mcp-Method set to the method name. Tool calls also send Mcp-Name. A call with no token comes back 401, with a WWW-Authenticate challenge that starts the sign-in.

tools/list returns a resource tool when the token holds any scope for it. Calling an action without that action’s scope returns 403 insufficient_scope. Longer how-to lives on this page; tool descriptions in the list stay short.

Hand-rolled clients must send a browser-like User-Agent. A library default such as Python urllib is rejected at the edge with HTTP 403 and no explanation.

Revision 2026-07-28 asks every request to include params._meta.io.modelcontextprotocol/protocolVersion and params._meta.io.modelcontextprotocol/clientCapabilities. TinyTales fills those from the MCP-Protocol-Version header when a client omits them, so a standard client still works.

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "tinytales_account",
    "arguments": { "action": "get" },
    "_meta": {
      "io.modelcontextprotocol/protocolVersion": "2026-07-28",
      "io.modelcontextprotocol/clientCapabilities": {}
    }
  }
}

Discovery

• Protected resource: https://tinytaleslab.com/.well-known/oauth-protected-resource/mcp
• Discovery document: https://tinytaleslab.com/api/auth/.well-known/openid-configuration
• Registration: https://tinytaleslab.com/api/auth/oauth2/register
• Redirect URIs at registration: web clients need https on public hosts (loopback is rejected). native clients may use RFC 8252 loopback redirects (http://127.0.0.1, http://localhost, or http://[::1] with a port) when the body sets application_type to native. Omitting application_type defaults to web, which is why loopback-only DCR can fail with “web clients require https redirect URIs on non-loopback hosts.”
• Authorize: https://tinytaleslab.com/api/auth/oauth2/authorize
• Token: https://tinytaleslab.com/api/auth/oauth2/token
• Scopes: account:read, books:read, books:write, books:manage, orders:read, checkout:write, profile:write. Consent is per-scope checkboxes (reads on, writes off). Grant is the intersection of checked boxes and the scopes the client requested.

• account:read — See your account, print pricing, and saved book notes. This does not charge a card.
• books:read — See your books, pages, images, and share links.
• books:write — Create and edit books, upload photos, and add pages.
• books:manage — Publish a book; delete a book, page, or photo; change or turn off a share link; or remove someone from a book.
• orders:read — See your print orders.
• checkout:write — Approve a preview and make a checkout or reprint link. Payment still happens in your browser.
• profile:write — Save kids’ names, how often you make a book, photo notes, and default copy count.

Recommended assistant flow

About three minutes for the pairing interview. Save answers with tinytales_profile action update. Assistants that skip this interview can still create books, approve a preview, and create a checkout link. Pay per book — there is no subscription. Do not brief remaining counts or limits.

Pairing interview

Ask only what the first book needs. Save as you go. Anything else waits until first checkout.

• Kids. Names, with ages optional. Keep kid data minimal. Save as kids_json.
• Cadence. Monthly, occasions, or on demand. Save as cadence (monthly, occasions, on_demand).
• Photo source. Attach-in-chat is the agent photo path: the human drops JPEGs into the conversation and the assistant calls tinytales_images_write action upload. Save photo_source as attach_in_chat. There is no Google Photos MCP tool. The account page at https://tinytaleslab.com/app/account can still connect Google Photos for the in-app picker only.
• Taste check. Curate a first batch. The human corrects it. Save picked vs skipped with reasons (photo_ref / decision / reason).
• Buyer defaults. Ask quantity directly: one for the family or one per kid? Default is 1 (one shared copy). Save default_quantity and shipping_address_json with name, street1, city, postcode, and country_code. Optional: street2, state_code, phone_number.

  {
    "name": "Ada Lovelace",
    "street1": "1 Book St",
    "city": "Brooklyn",
    "postcode": "11201",
    "country_code": "US"
  }

Monthly loop

Pay per book. No subscription.

1. Remind them it’s book time. Load tinytales_profile action get.
2. Bulk pick with attach-in-chat. The Google Photos picker stays in the book screen; there is no Google Photos MCP tool.
3. The assistant curates with reasons. Write picked vs skipped to the profile.
4. Build: tinytales_books_write action create, upload with tinytales_images_write action upload, tinytales_books_write action process, poll tinytales_books action progress. Set the cover with tinytales_pages action set_cover if needed.
5. Full preview of every rendered page. Signed preview URLs expire in 15 minutes: download immediately, never hotlink.
6. Call tinytales_account action pricing and state the total before checkout. Approve with tinytales_checkout action approve once the human says the book and the amount look right. The approval response includes the price breakdown and total for the quantity.
7. Checkout link: tinytales_checkout action create for a first print, or tinytales_checkout action reprint for a past completed book. The checkout-link response includes the same price breakdown and total. Hand them the Polar URL. The human pays in the browser. Stop.

Notes

Checkout is a Polar link the human pays in the browser. No MCP tool can charge a card or submit a Lulu job. Checkout-link responses echo quantity and shipping_address so you can show them again. Polar still collects the paid shipping address on the checkout page. When quantity is omitted, checkout uses defaultQuantity from the profile, or 1 if no profile exists. Multi-copy orders use the same pricing as the dashboard checkout.

A curation profile is optional. If generation is temporarily unavailable, wait and retry.

Tools and fields

• tinytales_images_write action upload — rejected files return data.code undecodable, unsupported_type, dimensions, low_entropy, blank, or noise (magic bytes, dimensions 32–16384, payload entropy ≥ 1.5 bits/byte, luma/lag-1 or JPEG density). Tell the person which photo failed and ask for another one.
• tinytales_images action preview — returns signed_url and expires_at. Signed preview URLs expire in 15 minutes: download immediately, never hotlink. Do not embed those URLs in a page the human will open later.
• tinytales_account action pricing — optional quantity (profile default, then 1). Returns the current unit price (promo when active), list price, additional-copy price, promoActive, shippingIncluded, currency, and totalCents from the same Polar config checkout uses. State the total before checkout.
• tinytales_checkout action approve — records a fingerprint of pages + cover. Required before an MCP checkout link. Changing pages or the cover invalidates approval. Book reads include previewApproved, previewStale, allPagesRendered. The response includes the price breakdown and total for the quantity so the human approves the book and the amount together.
• tinytales_pages action set_cover — page_id, optional move_to_front (default true). Book reads return coverPageId, coverPageNumber, and pages[].isCover.
• tinytales_profile action get / tinytales_profile action update — optional notes. Photo decisions: preferences, entries_json, or one photo_ref + decision (picked|skipped) + reason. Interview fields: kids_json (names; ages optional), cadence, photo_source (attach_in_chat only). Buyer defaults: default_quantity (int, default 1 = one shared copy) and shipping_address_json (name, street1, city, postcode, country_code; optional street2, state_code, phone_number).
• tinytales_checkout action create / tinytales_checkout action reprint — Polar payment link. Optional quantity and shipping_address_json; omitted values fall back to the profile, then to quantity 1 and no shipping reference. The response includes the price breakdown and total. Reprint requires a prior paid (or later) order and the same preview gate.