Tutorial 7 of 7
Automate boards with the API and MCP
Advanced 8 min
Build, inspect and tidy Pageboard projects from scripts or AI agents with the three Pageboard tools, the JSON API and the MCP server.
Everything Pageboard does with project files is also available to scripts and AI agents. The Pageboard site offers four tools: the three Pageboard tools and the Accessibility Snapshot used by the review.
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
Reference Board Planner (pageboard-reference-planner) | Turns a list of references, one per line, into a board |
Reference Board Inspector (pageboard-board-inspector) | Validates a project, counts references, tags and moodboard cards, makes a standalone HTML sheet |
Reference Tag Organizer (pageboard-tag-organizer) | Merges tag spellings and adds or removes one tag on every reference |
Accessibility Snapshot (a11y-snapshot) | Static WCAG 2.2 check of a URL or pasted HTML |
Each tool also has its own page with a form, examples and a guide.
1. The JSON API
Send the tool's inputs as JSON to POST /api/v1/tools/<tool>/calculate on the Pageboard host:
curl -s https://pageboard.usefulweb.site/api/v1/tools/pageboard-reference-planner/calculate \
-H 'content-type: application/json' \
-d '{"name":"Studio website refresh","references":"Hero with one strong sentence | https://example.com/studio | Hero | Desktop | typography, minimal\nPricing with three plans | https://example.net/pricing | Pricing | Desktop | conversion"}'The answer starts with "summary": "Created a board with 2 references.". result.project is the board, result.report counts references, links, sections, platforms, tags and moodboard cards, result.projectFile links to a temporary download, and result.openInApp is a ready /app#project=… link (omitted for very large boards). GET /api/v1/tools/<tool> returns the input schema and examples; /openapi.json describes all four tools.
The API has the same rate limits as the rest of the site. If you get HTTP 429, wait for the time in the retry-after header.
2. MCP for AI agents
The MCP endpoint is /mcp on the Pageboard host. tools/list returns pageboard_reference_planner, pageboard_board_inspector, pageboard_tag_organizer and a11y_snapshot. A call such as pageboard_tag_organizer with {"action":"add","tag":"research"} answers "Updated tags on 4 references. The board has 4 references." together with the project and a download link. The main usefulweb.site MCP server offers the same Pageboard tools.
3. Build a project yourself
The project format is published at /project.schema.json: a pageboard-project with entries (references) and an optional moodboard with items. Screenshots are data: URIs of PNG, JPEG or WebP images under 300 KB. Let the inspector validate what your script produced, then open it in Pageboard via File → Open project file… or the #project= link.
A typical agent workflow: plan a board from a list of links, let a person add screenshots and notes in Pageboard, download the project, run the tag organizer, and inspect the result before sharing the HTML sheet.
4. Privacy
The tools see exactly the data you send them, including notes and embedded screenshots. Pageboard itself never sends your boards anywhere; only the Accessibility review sends a URL or pasted HTML when you start a scan.
Ready to try it?