Can I see a preview of the card before sending it?

Yes! Use the `preview_greeting_card` tool with your message and artwork ID. Your agent will return a preview URL (usually a PDF) so you can verify everything looks perfect.

How do I find the correct artwork ID for a design?

Simply ask the agent to `list_card_artwork`. It will retrieve all the available designs from your account, including their titles and unique IDs or slugs.

Does the integration support international shipping?

Yes. When using the `place_greeting_card_order` action, you can specify the country code (e.g., 'UK', 'AU', 'US'). Cardly handles the local printing and postage automatically.

Cardly MCP Server for Claude Desktop 9 tools — connect in under 2 minutes

Name: Cardly
Availability: InStock
Author: Vinkius

modelcontextprotocol.io/quickstart/user

Built by Vinkius GDPR 9 Tools IDE

Claude Desktop is Anthropic's native application for interacting with Claude AI models on macOS and Windows. It was the first consumer application to ship with built-in MCP support, making it the reference implementation for the Model Context Protocol standard.

Get MCP Server for AI Agents

ASK AI ABOUT THIS MCP SERVER

Open in ChatGPT Open in Claude Open in Perplexity

Vinkius supports streamable HTTP and SSE.

RecommendedModern Approach — Zero Configuration

Vinkius Desktop App

The modern way to manage MCP Servers — no config files, no terminal commands. Install Cardly and 2,500+ MCP Servers from a single visual interface.

Download Free Open SourceNo signup required

Classic Setup·json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cardly": {
      // Your Vinkius token. get it at cloud.vinkius.com
      "url": "https://edge.vinkius.com/[YOUR_TOKEN_HERE]/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Fully ManagedVinkius Servers

60%Token savings

High SecurityEnterprise-grade

IAMAccess control

EU AI ActCompliant

DLPData protection

V8 IsolateSandboxed

Ed25519Audit chain

<40msKill switch

Stream every event to Splunk, Datadog, or your own webhook in real-time

* Every MCP server runs on Vinkius-managed infrastructure inside AWS - a purpose-built runtime with per-request V8 isolates, Ed25519 signed audit chains, and sub-40ms cold starts optimized for native MCP execution. See our infrastructure

About Cardly MCP Server

Connect your Cardly account to any AI agent and orchestrate your personalized gifting, customer appreciation, and physical mail workflows through natural conversation.

Claude Desktop is the definitive way to connect Cardly to your AI workflow. Add Vinkius Edge URL to your config, restart the app, and Claude immediately exposes all 9 tools in the chat interface. ask a question, Claude calls the right tool, and you see the answer. Zero code, zero context switching.

What you can do

Order Management — Place real orders for physical greeting cards with custom messages and designs directly from your workspace.
Design Oversight — Browse your custom artwork library and retrieve detailed metadata for individual designs.
Order Preview — Generate a watermarked PDF preview of your card to verify content and layout before sending.
Contact Coordination — Access and manage your contact lists and add new recipients to your address book.
Global Shipping — Send cards to recipients in the US, Australia, UK, and worldwide with automatic address validation.
API Verification — Verify your connection and API key status instantly using the echo tool.

The Cardly MCP Server exposes 9 tools through the Vinkius. Connect it to Claude Desktop in under two minutes — no API keys to rotate, no infrastructure to provision, no vendor lock-in. Your configuration, your data, your control.

How to Connect Cardly to Claude Desktop via MCP

Follow these steps to integrate the Cardly MCP Server with Claude Desktop.

Open Claude Desktop Settings

Go to Settings → Developer → Edit Config to open claude_desktop_config.json

Add the MCP Server

Paste the configuration above into the mcpServers section

Restart Claude Desktop

Close and reopen Claude Desktop to load the new server

Start using Cardly

Look for the 🔌 icon in the chat. your 9 tools are now available

Why Use Claude Desktop with the Cardly MCP Server

Claude Desktop by Anthropic provides unique advantages when paired with Cardly through the Model Context Protocol.

Claude Desktop is the reference MCP client. it was designed alongside the protocol itself, ensuring the most complete and stable MCP implementation available

Zero-code configuration: add a server URL to a JSON file and Claude instantly discovers and exposes all available tools in the chat interface

Claude's extended thinking capability lets it reason through multi-step tool usage, chaining multiple API calls to answer complex questions

Enterprise-grade security with local config storage. your tokens never leave your machine, and connections go directly to Vinkius Edge network

Cardly + Claude Desktop Use Cases

Practical scenarios where Claude Desktop combined with the Cardly MCP Server delivers measurable value.

Interactive data exploration: ask Claude to query DNS records, look up WHOIS data, and cross-reference results in a single conversation

Ad-hoc security audits: type a domain name and let Claude enumerate subdomains, check DNS history, and flag configuration anomalies. all through natural language

Executive briefings: generate comprehensive domain intelligence reports by asking Claude to compile findings into a formatted summary

Learning and training: new team members can explore API capabilities conversationally without needing to read documentation

Cardly MCP Tools for Claude Desktop (9)

These 9 tools become available when you connect Cardly to Claude Desktop via MCP:

add_contact_to_list

Add a new contact to a specific list

find_contact

Search for a contact in a list by email

get_account_info

Retrieve core account information

get_artwork_details

Get details of a specific piece of artwork

list_card_artwork

List available greeting card designs/artwork

list_contact_lists

List all contact lists in your account

place_greeting_card_order

Place a real order for a physical greeting card

preview_greeting_card

Generate a preview of a greeting card without placing a real order

verify_api_connection

Verify connectivity and API key validity

Example Prompts for Cardly in Claude Desktop

Ready-to-use prompts you can give your Claude Desktop agent to start working with Cardly immediately.

"List all the available greeting card designs in my account."

"Preview a card with artwork art_1 and message 'Happy Birthday John!'."

"Send a thank you card to Jane Smith in Australia."

Troubleshooting Cardly MCP Server with Claude Desktop

Common issues when connecting Cardly to Claude Desktop through the Vinkius, and how to resolve them.

Server not appearing after restart

Ensure the JSON is valid (no trailing commas). Check the file path: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\\Claude\\ (Windows).

Authentication error

Verify your Vinkius token is correct. Go to cloud.vinkius.com to regenerate it if needed.

Tools not showing in chat

Click the 🔌 icon at the bottom of the chat input. If it shows 0 tools, the server may still be connecting. wait a few seconds.

Cardly + Claude Desktop FAQ

Common questions about integrating Cardly MCP Server with Claude Desktop.

How does Claude Desktop discover MCP tools?

When Claude Desktop starts, it reads the claude_desktop_config.json file and connects to each configured MCP server. It calls the tools/list endpoint to fetch the schema for every available tool, then surfaces them as clickable options in the chat interface via the 🔌 icon.

What happens if the MCP server is temporarily unavailable?

Claude Desktop handles disconnections gracefully. if the server is unreachable at startup, the tools simply won't appear. Once the server becomes available again, restarting Claude Desktop will re-establish the connection. There is no timeout penalty or error loop.

Can I connect multiple MCP servers simultaneously?

Yes. You can add as many servers as you need in the mcpServers section of the config file. Each server appears as a separate tool provider, and Claude can use tools from multiple servers in a single conversation turn.

Is there a limit on the number of tools per server?

Claude Desktop can handle hundreds of tools per server. However, for optimal LLM performance, Vinkius servers are designed to expose focused, well-documented tool sets rather than overwhelming the model with too many options.

Does Claude Desktop support Streamable HTTP transport?

Yes. Claude Desktop supports both SSE (Server-Sent Events) and the newer Streamable HTTP transport that Vinkius uses. Simply provide the server URL. Claude auto-negotiates the transport protocol.