The SignNow REST API empowers users to deliver a seamless eSignature experience for signers, preparers, and senders. Pre-fill documents, create embedded branded workflows for multiple signers, request payments, and track signature status in real-time. Ensure signing is simple, secure, and intuitive on any device.

What you can do with the SignNow API:

• Send documents and document groups for signature in a role-based order
• Create reusable templates from documents
• Pre-fill document fields with data
• Collect payments as part of the signing flow
• Embed the document sending, signing, or editing experience into your website, application, or any system of record
• Track signing progress and download the completed documents

SignNow MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that gives AI agents secure, structured access to SignNow eSignature workflows templates, embedded signing, invites, status tracking, and document downloads over STDIO or Streamable HTTP.

Table of contents

• Features

• Quick start

  • Prerequisites
  • Quick run (uvx)
  • 1. Setup Environment Variables
  • 2. Install and Run
  • Local/Remote (HTTP)
  • Docker
  • Docker Compose

• Configuration

  • Authentication options
  • SignNow & OAuth settings
  • Production key management

• Client setup

  • VS Code GitHub Copilot (Agent Mode) / Cursor
  • Claude Desktop
  • Glama (hosted MCP)
  • MCP Inspector (testing)

• Tools

• FAQ / tips

• Examples

• Useful resources

  • Sample apps
  • API documentation
  • GitHub Copilot extension

• License

Features

• Templates & groups

  • Browse all templates and template groups
  • Create documents or groups from templates (one-shot flows included)

• Invites & embedded UX

  • Email invites and ordered recipients
  • Embedded signing/sending/editor links for in-app experiences

• Status & retrieval

  • Check invite status and step details
  • Download final documents (single or merged)
  • Read normalized document/group structure for programmatic decisions

• Transports

  • STDIO (best for local clients)
  • Streamable HTTP (best for Docker/remote)

Quick start

Prerequisites

• Python 3.11+ installed on your system
• Environment variables configured

Quick run (uvx)

If you use uv, you can run the server without installing the package:

uvx --from signnow-mcp-server sn-mcp serve

1. Setup Environment Variables

# Create .env file with your SignNow credentials
# You can copy from env.example if you have the source code
# Or create .env file manually with required variables (see Environment Variables section below)

2. Install and Run

Option A: Install from PyPI (Recommended)

# Install the package from PyPI
pip install signnow-mcp-server

# Run MCP server in standalone mode
sn-mcp serve

Option B: Install from Source (Development)

# 1) Clone & configure
git clone https://github.com/signnow/sn-mcp-server.git
cd sn-mcp-server
cp .env.example .env
# fill in your values in .env

# 2) Install (editable for dev)
pip install -e .

# 3) Run as STDIO MCP server (recommended for local tools & Inspector)
sn-mcp serve

STDIO is ideal for desktop clients and local testing.

Local/Remote (HTTP)

# Start HTTP server on 127.0.0.1:8000
sn-mcp http

# Custom host/port
sn-mcp http --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000

# Dev reload
sn-mcp http --reload

By default, the Streamable HTTP MCP endpoint is served under /mcp. Example URL:

http://localhost:8000/mcp

Docker

# Build
docker build -t sn-mcp-server .

# Run HTTP mode (recommended for containers)
docker run --env-file .env -p 8000:8000 sn-mcp-server sn-mcp http --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000

STDIO inside containers is unreliable with many clients. Prefer HTTP when using Docker.

Docker Compose

# Only the MCP server
docker-compose up sn-mcp-server

# Both services (if defined)
docker-compose up

Configuration

Copy .env.example .env and fill in values. All settings are validated via pydantic-settings at startup.

Authentication options

1) Username / Password (recommended for desktop dev flows)

SIGNNOW_USER_EMAIL=<email>
SIGNNOW_PASSWORD=<password>
SIGNNOW_API_BASIC_TOKEN=<base64 basic token>

2) OAuth 2.0 (for hosted/advanced scenarios)

SIGNNOW_CLIENT_ID=<client_id>
SIGNNOW_CLIENT_SECRET=<client_secret>
# + OAuth server & RSA settings below

When running via some desktop clients, only user/password may be supported.

SignNow & OAuth settings

# SignNow endpoints (defaults shown)
SIGNNOW_APP_BASE=https://app.signnow.com
SIGNNOW_API_BASE=https://api.signnow.com

# Optional direct API token (not required for normal use)
SIGNNOW_TOKEN=<access_token>

# OAuth server (if you enable OAuth mode)
OAUTH_ISSUER=<your_issuer_url>
ACCESS_TTL=3600
REFRESH_TTL=2592000
ALLOWED_REDIRECTS=<comma,separated,uris>

# RSA keys for OAuth (critical in production)
OAUTH_RSA_PRIVATE_PEM=<PEM content>
OAUTH_JWK_KID=<key id>

Production key management

If OAUTH_RSA_PRIVATE_PEM is missing in production, a new RSA key will be generated on each restart, invalidating all existing tokens. Always provide a persistent private key via secrets management in prod.

Client setup

VS Code GitHub Copilot (Agent Mode) / Cursor

Create .vscode/mcp.json / .cursor/mcp.json in your workspace:

STDIO (local):

{
  "servers": {
    "signnow": {
      "command": "sn-mcp",
      "args": ["serve"],
      "env": {
        "SIGNNOW_USER_EMAIL": "${env:SIGNNOW_USER_EMAIL}",
        "SIGNNOW_PASSWORD": "${env:SIGNNOW_PASSWORD}",
        "SIGNNOW_API_BASIC_TOKEN": "${env:SIGNNOW_API_BASIC_TOKEN}"
      }
    }
  }
}

STDIO (uvx no local install):

{
  "servers": {
    "signnow": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["--from", "signnow-mcp-server", "sn-mcp", "serve"],
      "env": {
        "SIGNNOW_USER_EMAIL": "${env:SIGNNOW_USER_EMAIL}",
        "SIGNNOW_PASSWORD": "${env:SIGNNOW_PASSWORD}",
        "SIGNNOW_API_BASIC_TOKEN": "${env:SIGNNOW_API_BASIC_TOKEN}"
      }
    }
  }
}

HTTP (remote or Docker):

{
  "servers": {
    "signnow": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://localhost:8000/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Then open Chat Agent mode, enable the signnow tools, and use them in prompts.

Note: The same configuration applies in Cursor add it under MCP settings (STDIO or HTTP). For STDIO, you can also use uvx as shown above.

Claude Desktop

Use Desktop Extensions or the manual MCP config (Developer Edit config).

Steps:

1. Open Claude Desktop Developer Edit config
2. Add a new server entry under mcpServers
3. Save and restart Claude Desktop

Examples:

STDIO (local install):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "signnow": {
      "command": "sn-mcp",
      "args": ["serve"],
      "env": {
        "SIGNNOW_USER_EMAIL": "${env:SIGNNOW_USER_EMAIL}",
        "SIGNNOW_PASSWORD": "${env:SIGNNOW_PASSWORD}",
        "SIGNNOW_API_BASIC_TOKEN": "${env:SIGNNOW_API_BASIC_TOKEN}"
      }
    }
  }
}

STDIO (uvx no local install):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "signnow": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["--from", "signnow-mcp-server", "sn-mcp", "serve"],
      "env": {
        "SIGNNOW_USER_EMAIL": "${env:SIGNNOW_USER_EMAIL}",
        "SIGNNOW_PASSWORD": "${env:SIGNNOW_PASSWORD}",
        "SIGNNOW_API_BASIC_TOKEN": "${env:SIGNNOW_API_BASIC_TOKEN}"
      }
    }
  }
}

HTTP (remote or Docker):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "signnow": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://localhost:8000/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Then enable the server in Claudes chat and start using the tools.

Glama (hosted MCP)

Deploy and run this server on Glama with minimal setup:

Steps:

1. Open the server page on Glama: sn-mcp-server on Glama
2. Click the red "Deploy Server" button
3. In environment variables, provide:
   • SIGNNOW_USER_EMAIL
   • SIGNNOW_PASSWORD
   • SIGNNOW_API_BASIC_TOKEN
   • (other variables can be left as defaults)
4. Create an access token in Glama and copy the endpoint URL. It will look like:

https://glama.ai/endpoints/{someId}/mcp?token={glama-mcp-token}

Use this HTTP MCP URL in any client that supports HTTP transport (e.g., VS Code/Cursor JSON config or Claude Desktop HTTP example above).

MCP Inspector (testing)

Great for exploring tools & schemas visually.

# Start Inspector (opens UI on localhost)
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector

# Connect (STDIO): run your server locally and attach
sn-mcp serve

# Or connect (HTTP): use http://localhost:8000/mcp

You can list tools, call them with JSON args, and inspect responses.

Tools

Each tool is described concisely; use an MCP client (e.g., Inspector) to view exact JSON schemas.

• list_all_templates List templates & template groups with simplified metadata.
• list_document_groups Browse your document groups and statuses.
• create_from_template Make a document or a group from a template/group.
• send_invite Email invites (documents or groups), ordered recipients supported.
• create_embedded_invite Embedded signing session without email delivery.
• create_embedded_sending Embedded sending/management experience.
• create_embedded_editor Embedded editor link to place/adjust fields.
• send_invite_from_template One-shot: create from template and invite.
• create_embedded_sending_from_template One-shot: template embedded sending.
• create_embedded_editor_from_template One-shot: template embedded editor.
• create_embedded_invite_from_template One-shot: template embedded signing.
• get_invite_status Current invite status/steps for document or group.
• get_document_download_link Direct download link (merged output for groups).
• get_document Normalized document/group structure with field values.
• update_document_fields Prefill text fields in individual documents.

Tip: Start with list_all_templates create_from_template create_embedded_* / send_invite, then get_invite_status and get_document_download_link.

FAQ / tips

• STDIO vs Docker? Prefer STDIO for local dev; inside Docker, use HTTP.
• Sandbox vs production? Start with SignNows sandbox/dev credentials; production requires proper OAuth and persistent RSA private key.
• Where do I see exact tool schemas? Use MCP Inspector or your clients tool details view.
• Where are examples? See examples/ in this repo for starter integrations.

Examples

The examples/ directory contains working examples of how to integrate the SignNow MCP Server with popular AI agent frameworks:

• LangChain - Integration with LangChain agents using langchain-mcp-adapters
• LlamaIndex - Integration with LlamaIndex agents using llama-index-tools-mcp
• SmolAgents - Integration with SmolAgents framework using native MCP support

Each example demonstrates how to:

• Start the MCP server as a subprocess
• Convert MCP tools to framework-specific tool formats
• Create agents that can use SignNow functionality
• Handle environment variable configuration

To run an example:

# Make sure you have the required dependencies installed
pip install langchain-openai langchain-mcp-adapters  # for LangChain example
pip install llama-index-tools-mcp                   # for LlamaIndex example  
pip install smolagents                              # for SmolAgents example

# Set up your .env file with SignNow credentials and LLM configuration
# Then run the example
python examples/langchain/langchain_example.py
python examples/llamaindex/llamaindex_example.py
python examples/smolagents/stdio_demo.py

Useful resources

Sample apps

Explore ready-to-use sample apps to quickly test preparing, signing, and sending documents from your software using the SignNow API.

Try the sample apps.

API documentation

Find technical details on SignNow API requests, parameters, code examples, and possible errors. Learn more about the API functionality in detailed guides and use cases.

Read the API documentation.

GitHub Copilot extension

Develop eSignature integrations directly in GitHub using AI-powered code suggestions. Copilot recommends API calls and code snippets that align with SignNow API guidelines.

Get SignNow for GitHub Copilot.

License

MIT see LICENSE.md.

About
SignNow MCP Server maintained by the SignNow team. Issues and contributions welcome via GitHub pull requests.