angular.courses

How to use the Angular MCP server before v20, at your own risk!

Heard about the Angular MCP server released in v20, but you're still on a previous version? You can still use it, at your own risk! This article will guide you through the process.

The Angular MCP server is a feature exposed by the Angular CLI and runs just as another CLI command, as npx @angular/cli mcp. By providing this command to an MCP client, it will know which available tools it can use to improve your developer experience when using Angular.

Discover how to add it to your MCP client here.

The default configuration is:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "angular-cli": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@angular/cli", "mcp"]
    }
  }
}

The npx @angular/cli mcp command means it'll use your local Angular version. So, below Angular 20, your local CLI version won't include the MCP server features yet.

You can override it by targeting a version with the command:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "angular-cli": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@angular/cli@latest", "mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Your project will still use its proper version, but you will unlock the MCP server features!

Be careful: the MCP server features content is based on the target CLI version; it might guide you with content not yet available in your project version.

You can track available MCP server features here

How to use the Angular MCP server before v20