App Publish

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app-publish-mcp

[npm version]

A unified MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for App Store Connect and Google Play Console. Manage app listings, screenshots, releases, reviews and submissions — all from your AI assistant.

Publishing Boundary

You provide a release-ready, correctly signed Android .aab / .apk or Apple .ipa. The MCP handles supported store-side work from upload through metadata, testing, review submission, and release. It does not compile the app, own signing keys, or replace Xcode, Gradle, or CI.

The first release of a new app still requires manual setup in App Store Connect or Play Console, including developer enrollment, agreements, app records where required, API access, signing, tax and banking details, and policy, privacy, or content declarations. For an existing, fully configured Android app, a signed AAB is usually enough to let the MCP run the update workflow. A Google edit commit only commits the requested changes; store review, managed publishing, or a staged rollout can delay public availability.

When to Use

Use this MCP when you need to:

• "Update my app's App Store description and keywords" — modify version localizations, app info localizations
• "Upload new screenshots for iPhone 16 Pro" — upload to the Asset Library and place images on the version localization
• "Submit a new version for review" — create version, assign build, set review info, submit
• "Check the status of my app review" — list versions and check review state
• "Respond to a user review on Google Play" — list reviews and reply
• "Create a phased release on Google Play" — create edit, create release on a track, commit
• "Manage TestFlight beta testers" — create groups, invite testers, manage access
• "Set up in-app purchases" — create and manage IAPs and subscription groups on both platforms
• "Register a new device for development" — manage devices, certificates, and provisioning profiles

Features

Apple App Store Connect (135 tools)

apple_get_pricing follows all manual and automatic price pages. apple_set_price submits the complete manual price schedule, so include every current or future manual entry that must remain; omitted entries may be removed from the schedule.

Apple provisioning resources — Bundle IDs, capabilities, certificates, profiles, and devices — require a Team API key with suitable access. Individual API keys can be used for supported App Store Connect publishing operations, but not for those provisioning resources. TestFlight internal testers are members of your App Store Connect team, not Apple employees.

Google Play Console (53 tools)

¹ The Reviews API returns only production-app reviews with comments created or modified within the last 7 days. Ratings without comments and alpha/beta feedback are excluded. pageToken does not extend that window; export CSV from Play Console for older history. Check Reply to reviews permission when troubleshooting, but an empty result alone does not prove a permission problem.

² One-time Products (monetization.onetimeproducts) is Google Play's newer purchase model for buy/rent items, distinct from the older inappproducts API. Inspect each returned purchase-option state and use the dedicated activate/deactivate tools to change it.

³ Vitals use the Play Developer Reporting API. Enable it in the service account's Cloud project and grant the account View app information in Play Console. Saved OAuth tokens created before this scope was added need app-publish-mcp auth google again.

Prompts (2)

Resources (2)

Setup

1. Install

npm installnpm run build

2. Apple Credentials

1. Go to App Store Connect > Keys
2. Create an API Key with App Manager role (reports need a second key, see Keys and roles)
3. Download the .p8 file
4. Note the Key ID and, for team keys, the Issuer ID. For an individual key, set APPLE_KEY_TYPE=INDIVIDUAL and omit the issuer ID.
5. Use a Team API key with suitable access for Bundle ID, certificate, profile, capability, or device tools.

3. Google Credentials

Enable the Google Play Android Developer API, then choose one authentication method:

• Service account: Create one in Google Cloud Console, download its JSON key, then invite its email and grant the needed app permissions in Play Console under Users and permissions.
• OAuth: Create a Desktop OAuth client, then run:

app-publish-mcp auth google --client-id=YOUR_ID --client-secret=YOUR_SECRET

The OAuth command stores the refresh token in ~/.app-publish-mcp/google.json; the server loads it automatically. You can instead set GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID, GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET, and GOOGLE_REFRESH_TOKEN explicitly.

4. Configure Environment

cp .env.example .env

Edit .env:

APPLE_KEY_ID=YOUR_KEY_IDAPPLE_KEY_TYPE=TEAMAPPLE_ISSUER_ID=YOUR_ISSUER_IDAPPLE_P8_PATH=/path/to/AuthKey.p8GOOGLE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_PATH=/path/to/service-account.json

Optional:

APPLE_VENDOR_NUMBER=YOUR_VENDOR_NUMBER   # sales and finance reportsAPPLE_REPORTS_KEY_ID=REPORTS_KEY_ID      # key for Sales/Finance/Analytics reportsAPPLE_REPORTS_P8_PATH=/path/to/AuthKey_REPORTS.p8APPLE_ADMIN_KEY_ID=ADMIN_KEY_ID          # analytics requests and finance/reporting fallbackAPPLE_ADMIN_P8_PATH=/path/to/AuthKey_ADMIN.p8APP_PUBLISH_READ_ONLY=true               # register only read tools (list/get/search/query/download, no Google edit creation or deletion)

See Keys and roles for the extra keys and Safety for read-only mode.

The server automatically loads .env from the package/project root. Environment variables supplied by the shell or MCP host take precedence. For OAuth variables, see .env.example.

5. Add to Claude Code

Add to ~/.claude/settings.local.json:

{  "mcpServers": {    "app-publish-mcp": {      "command": "node",      "args": ["/path/to/app-publish-mcp/dist/index.js"],      "env": {        "APPLE_KEY_ID": "YOUR_KEY_ID",        "APPLE_KEY_TYPE": "TEAM",        "APPLE_ISSUER_ID": "YOUR_ISSUER_ID",        "APPLE_P8_PATH": "/path/to/AuthKey.p8",        "GOOGLE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_PATH": "/path/to/service-account.json"      }    }  }}

Keys and roles

Apple decides what an API key may do by its role, so one key is often not enough. A key that can run the listing gets 403 on reports, and a reports key cannot change the listing.

Which Apple role does what

Apple documents the analytics and sales rows in Analytics Reports. Check the key role and app access before using a report endpoint.

Several keys on one server

Set the main key as usual and add optional keys. Each request picks its key by API; the server never retries a refused request with a stronger key.

APPLE_REPORTS_ISSUER_ID, APPLE_ADMIN_ISSUER_ID and the matching *_KEY_TYPE default to the main key's values. apple_get_sales_report and apple_get_finance_report also need APPLE_VENDOR_NUMBER (App Store Connect → Payments and Financial Reports).

Recipe: App Analytics without a permanent Admin key

1. Main key: App Manager.
2. Create a Sales and Reports key and set APPLE_REPORTS_KEY_ID / APPLE_REPORTS_P8_PATH.
3. Create a temporary Admin key, set APPLE_ADMIN_KEY_ID / APPLE_ADMIN_P8_PATH, restart the server and call apple_create_analytics_report_request once per app (ONGOING).
4. Revoke the Admin key in App Store Connect and remove the APPLE_ADMIN_* variables. The request keeps producing reports, and the Sales and Reports key reads them.

Apple generates the first report instances a day or two later and keeps each instance for 35 days. Download them with apple_list_analytics_reports → apple_list_analytics_report_instances → apple_download_analytics_report.

Google

One service account covers publishing and vitals. Enable the Google Play Android Developer API for publishing and the Google Play Developer Reporting API for vitals, and grant the account the needed app permissions in Play Console. Vitals need View app information.

Troubleshooting

Safety

Most tools change real store data. Know which ones before you let an assistant call them.

Reach users or start Apple review

• apple_submit_for_review, apple_release_version, apple_create_phased_release / apple_update_phased_release
• apple_update_experiment with started=true starts a product page test that real visitors see
• google_commit_edit publishes everything in the edit; google_create_release, google_promote_release and google_halt_release take effect on commit

Money and availability

• apple_set_price (replaces the whole manual price schedule), apple_create_availability, apple_update_territory_availability
• Creating, changing, activating or deactivating in-app purchases, subscriptions, base plans, one-time products and offer codes

Public text

• apple_respond_to_review and google_reply_to_review post replies everyone can read

Cannot be undone

• Every apple_delete_* tool, google_delete_listing, google_delete_all_images, google_delete_iap, google_delete_one_time_product
• apple_revoke_certificate: builds signed with that certificate stop installing

Recommendations

• Run a separate read-only server for monitoring and reports: APP_PUBLISH_READ_ONLY=true. It registers store-read tools, asset polling and Google edit validation. It excludes Google edit creation and deletion: creating a new edit can invalidate that user's existing release draft. For edit-scoped reads supply an existing editId explicitly; the server never creates or cleans it up in this mode. Any value except empty, 0, false, no or off turns it on. Report tools that take outputPath still write that local file, never over an existing one unless overwrite=true.
• Give each key the smallest role that does the job, and revoke temporary Admin keys after use.
• On Google Play, change things inside an edit, check them with google_validate_edit, then commit; google_delete_edit discards the edit.
• Keep your MCP client's tool approval on for write tools.

Tested against mocks only: the write tools for custom product pages and product page optimization follow Apple's OpenAPI 4.5.1 schema and are covered by tests, but have not yet been run against a live account. Try them on a test app first.

Usage Examples

Submit assets, custom pages or product page tests

Use apple_create_review_submission to create a draft (or apple_list_review_submissions to find one), then apple_add_review_submission_item for an image/video, custom product page version, or v2 experiment. Inspect apple_get_review_submission, then pass its complete review item IDs to apple_submit_review_submission. Adding items does not submit them; only the last step starts App Review. An interrupted call preserves the submission ID for inspection/retry. Apple controls review eligibility: a first app release needs an app version in the submission; assets assigned to a submitted page/test/version are reviewed with that item. Existing apple_submit_for_review still handles app-version releases.

Report downloads are limited to 32 MiB per response and 64 MiB of decompressed/merged text. Analytics segments are checked against Apple's MD5 when provided; signed URLs are never returned in failures. Saved reports use exclusive creation unless overwrite=true.

Build uploads use a supported MD5 transfer checksum and retain the optional local expectedSha256 artifact-integrity check. This does not imply that Apple's documented SHA-256 checksum algorithm is unsupported.

Upload and arrange Apple screenshots or preview videos

1. apple_get_asset_library(appId) returns the app's library ID. Use apple_get_asset_specs to select the current spec, compatible placement type and placement group; do not guess device dimensions or group identifiers.
2. apple_upload_asset takes assetLibraryId, mediaType (IMAGE or VIDEO), filePath, and expectedSpecId. It validates the file extension/size against Apple's specs, uploads all parts, commits, and waits for processing by default. Videos also accept previewFrameTimeCode.
3. If processing times out or fails, retain the returned asset ID and inspect it with apple_get_asset / apple_wait_for_asset. Do not blindly upload a duplicate. waitForProcessing=false returns sooner, but a ready asset is required for placement.
4. apple_create_placement links the asset to a localizationId using the selected placementType and placementGroup. The default targetType is appStoreVersionLocalizations; custom product pages, experiment treatments, and in-app events are also supported. Repeating the same placement reuses it.
5. Read apple_list_placements, then pass all placement IDs in the desired group order to apple_reorder_placements. In-app events do not support this ordering endpoint.
6. apple_delete_placement removes a placement only. apple_list_asset_placements shows everywhere an asset is used; apple_delete_asset refuses to delete an asset still in use.

Apple deprecated the legacy screenshot endpoints in App Store Connect API 4.5.1. The four existing screenshot tools remain for compatibility; Apple has not announced their shutdown date. Use the Asset Library workflow for new work. Korea age-rating overrides now also support ALL and TWELVE_PLUS.

Header and search visuals, custom product pages, A/B tests

The App Store product page header and the search results visual are Asset Library placements (PRODUCT_PAGE_HEADER_ASSET, APP_STORE_SEARCH_RESULTS_ASSET). Pick the spec with apple_get_asset_specs(placementType=...), upload with apple_upload_asset, then apple_create_placement. The same placements work on custom product page localizations (apple_create_custom_product_page → apple_list_custom_product_page_localizations) and on test treatments (apple_create_experiment → apple_create_experiment_treatment → apple_create_treatment_localization).

Store analytics

apple_create_analytics_report_request asks Apple to start generating App Analytics reports; the first instances appear after 1–2 days. Then apple_list_analytics_reports → apple_list_analytics_report_instances → apple_download_analytics_report (pass outputPath to keep the full file). apple_get_sales_report returns daily units and proceeds. On Android, google_query_vitals returns crash/ANR rates for the latest 28 days by default.

Submit an iOS app update

1. apple_list_apps → get the app ID2. apple_create_version / apple_update_version and localization tools → prepare version 1.1.0, release settings, and metadata3. apple_upload_build → upload the signed IPA and wait for import   (or resume with apple_get_build_upload / apple_wait_for_build_upload)   If an ambiguous commit error retains a buildUploadId, inspect it with apple_get_build_upload; when it is AWAITING_UPLOAD or FAILED, delete it with apple_delete_build_upload before uploading again.4. apple_set_build_encryption → answer export-compliance encryption for the imported build   (`true` can still require a manual encryption declaration, supporting documents, and appEncryptionDeclaration linkage in App Store Connect.)5. apple_assign_build → attach the imported build to the version6. apple_update_review_detail and apple_get_age_rating → verify review metadata7. apple_submit_for_review → submit for App Review8. For an update (not a first version), optionally configure a seven-day phased release before release.9. After approval, use apple_release_version only for PENDING_DEVELOPER_RELEASE; then monitor or manage any phased release.

Release an Android app

1. google_create_edit → start an edit (or google_get_edit to verify a resumed edit)2. google_list_bundles / google_list_apks → reuse an artifact already in the edit when possible3. google_upload_bundle / google_upload_apk → upload only when the artifact is missing4. Listing tools and google_update_data_safety → apply reviewed store changes as needed5. google_create_release → create the target-track release with the exact versionCodes set6. google_validate_edit → check for errors7. google_commit_edit → commit changes for Play processing8. google_list_release_statuses → inspect review and publishing state after commit

Committing an edit does not guarantee immediate public availability. Google Play review, managed publishing, and staged rollout settings still apply.

Manage Google Play in-app products

1. google_list_iap → list all products2. google_create_iap → create a new managed product3. google_update_iap → update price or description4. google_delete_iap → remove a product

Create a Google Play subscription

1. google_create_subscription → create the subscription with listings and a   base plan (billing period, grace period, regional pricing in micros).   The base plan is created in DRAFT state.2. google_activate_subscription_base_plan → flip the base plan to ACTIVE so   it becomes purchasable in the Play Store.3. google_deactivate_subscription_base_plan → pause sales without deleting   the plan.4. There is no supported subscription archive operation. Keep all base plans   deactivated when retiring a previously published subscription.

Example arguments for google_create_subscription:

{  "packageName": "com.example.app",  "productId": "com.example.app.pro_monthly",  "listings": [    {      "languageCode": "en-US",      "title": "Pro Monthly",      "description": "Unlock all premium features.",      "benefits": ["Ad-free", "Cloud sync", "Priority support"]    }  ],  "basePlans": [    {      "basePlanId": "pro-monthly",      "autoRenewing": {        "billingPeriodDuration": "P1M",        "gracePeriodDuration": "P3D",        "accountHoldDuration": "P30D"      },      "regionalConfigs": [        { "regionCode": "US", "priceMicros": "3990000", "currency": "USD" },        { "regionCode": "TR", "priceMicros": "99000000", "currency": "TRY" }      ]    }  ]}

Prices are given in micros (1 USD = 1,000,000 micros) and converted to the Play API's Money shape (units + nanos) internally. regionsVersion defaults to 2022/02, which the Play API currently requires when regional pricing is supplied.

License

MIT