> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://forest-docs-cli-reference-headless-commands.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# AI & MCP

> Drive Forest Admin with AI — build and operate your back-office from Claude, and expose it to your own agents over MCP.

# AI & MCP

Forest Admin is drivable by AI, in two complementary ways:

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Claude Code — the forest plugin" icon="wand-magic-sparkles" href="/ai/claude-code">
    Describe what you want in plain language; Claude runs the Forest CLI to build it — onboarding, UI/layout, workflows, and administration. **Vibe-code your back-office.**
  </Card>

  <Card title="MCP — the Forest MCP server" icon="plug" href="/ai/mcp">
    Expose your Forest project's data and actions to any MCP-compatible agent — query records, create/update/delete, run Smart Actions, inspect the schema.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Which one do I use?

| You want to…                                                                                                 | Use                                                      |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Build or configure** Forest (create a project, lay out a workspace, author a workflow, manage roles/teams) | **Claude Code** — the [`forest` plugin](/ai/claude-code) |
| **Operate on your data** from an agent (read/write records, run actions)                                     | **MCP** — the [Forest MCP server](/ai/mcp)               |

Both talk to Forest through interfaces you already have — the plugin orchestrates the [CLI](/reference/cli/overview); MCP speaks the Model Context Protocol. No UI required.

## The idea

Everything you do in the Forest UI can be done **headlessly** — and therefore **driven by an AI**:

* **Layout as code** — collections display, workspaces (master→detail), dashboards, folders.
* **Workflows as code** — author a process from a declarative `steps` spec; it compiles to BPMN.
* **Administration as code** — roles (RBAC as CSV), users, teams, environments, deploy.

Claude composes these from natural language; you review the result in the app. Because it all maps to CLI commands and JSON, it's **versionable, reviewable, and reproducible**.

<Info>
  These capabilities are rolling out. The `forest` Claude Code plugin ships onboarding today, with layout, workflows and management skills in the same plugin.
</Info>