zulip_add_reaction
Add an emoji reaction to a message
LABSCO SUMMARY
Topic-aware, which is what makes Zulip searchable in the first place.
Reading history by channel and topic rather than by channel alone means an assistant can pull one conversation instead of an interleaved firehose — the reason Zulip is organised that way. Posting works the same, so a reply lands in the thread it belongs to. The bot's own subscriptions are the boundary of what it can see, and there is a tool to change that, so a permission error usually means one missing subscription rather than a wrong key.
What it is
An MCP server over the Zulip API that runs as a bot in your organization. It covers Zulip's stream-and-topic model rather than flattening it: messages are posted into a named topic within a channel, and history is read the same way.
What you get
- Channels listed with their ids, with private and web-public streams included or excluded as you choose —
zulip_list_channels - The topics inside a channel, by channel id —
zulip_get_topics - Recent messages from a specific channel and topic, with a message count and an anchor to page backwards from —
zulip_get_channel_history - A message posted into a channel and topic, and direct messages sent to one or more people by email or user id —
zulip_post_message,zulip_send_direct_message - An emoji reaction added to a message by id —
zulip_add_reaction - The organization's users listed with their basic information —
zulip_get_users - The bot subscribed to a channel it needs to reach —
zulip_subscribe_to_channel
Requirements
A Zulip bot, created under Settings → Personal → Bots as a generic bot. That gives you the three values it needs: ZULIP_EMAIL for the bot's address, ZULIP_API_KEY for its key, and ZULIP_URL for the instance. The package is not on npm under its own name (@modelcontextprotocol/server-zulip), so npx runs it straight from the GitHub repository (github:Monadical-SAS/zulip-mcp); the mcp/zulip Docker image is one you build yourself from a clone. Bots start with limited permissions: subscribe the bot to every channel you expect it to read, or history calls will come back empty. Licensed Apache 2.0.
Setup effort
Add the configuration to your client
USE CASES
01
Catching up on one thread
List the topics in the channel, then pull the recent messages for the topic that matters, paging back with the anchor if you need more.
02
Posting an update where people will see it
Send the message into the right channel and topic rather than a general channel, so it threads with the discussion it belongs to.
03
Notifying specific people
Look up the users in the organization and send a direct message to the ones who need it, by email or user id.
04
Acknowledging without adding noise
React to a message with an emoji instead of posting a reply that pushes the thread down.
05
Giving the bot access to a new channel
Subscribe it from the conversation, then read history that was previously invisible to it.
8 tools
Counted once with only startup setup. Other versions, modes or optional credentials may expose a different list.
zulip_get_channel_history
Get recent messages from a channel (stream) and topic
zulip_get_topics
Get topics in a channel (stream)
zulip_get_users
Get list of users in the Zulip organization
zulip_list_channels
List available channels (streams) in the Zulip organization
zulip_post_message
Post a new message to a Zulip channel (stream)
zulip_send_direct_message
Send a direct message to one or more users
zulip_subscribe_to_channel
Subscribe the bot to a channel (stream)
BEFORE YOU INSTALL
What to know first
Tools you get
8 tools when we connected. Four write to your workspace, including zulip_post_message and zulip_send_direct_message. A Zulip generic bot only sees streams it is subscribed to, so zulip_list_channels and zulip_get_channel_history can return empty while working correctly.
Requires
- npx on PATH
- ZULIP_EMAIL in your environment
- ZULIP_API_KEY in your environment
- ZULIP_URL in your environment
CONTEXT COST
Light Standing cost
Rated by the size of the 8 tool definitions that ride along on every turn, not by how many there are
INSTALLATION
Connect your client
MCP Clients
Claude Desktop — npx
CLAUDE DESKTOP — NPX · JSON
{
"mcpServers": {
"zulip": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"github:Monadical-SAS/zulip-mcp"
],
"env": {
"ZULIP_EMAIL": "<YOUR_ZULIP_EMAIL>",
"ZULIP_API_KEY": "<YOUR_ZULIP_API_KEY>",
"ZULIP_URL": "https://example.zulipchat.com"
}
}
}
}Claude Desktop — Docker
CLAUDE DESKTOP — DOCKER · TERMINAL
git clone https://github.com/Monadical-SAS/zulip-mcp
cd zulip-mcp
docker build -t mcp/zulip .CLAUDE DESKTOP — DOCKER · JSON
{
"mcpServers": {
"zulip": {
"command": "docker",
"args": [
"run",
"-i",
"--rm",
"-e",
"ZULIP_EMAIL",
"-e",
"ZULIP_API_KEY",
"-e",
"ZULIP_URL",
"mcp/zulip"
],
"env": {
"ZULIP_EMAIL": "<YOUR_ZULIP_EMAIL>",
"ZULIP_API_KEY": "<YOUR_ZULIP_API_KEY>",
"ZULIP_URL": "https://example.zulipchat.com"
}
}
}
}
