AI-Assisted Development

1

Install Claude Code

Install Claude Code — the AI assistant you’ll use to write and modify XanoScript locally.

2

Install the Xano CLI and pull your workspace

Open your terminal and install the Xano CLI globally using npm:Then authenticate and pull your workspace:This creates a my-workspace folder in your current directory and downloads your workspace into it. You can also pull into the current folder with xano workspace pull . Next, we recommend initializing a Git repository in your workspace folder so you can track and review the details of what changed before each push.See the CLI Get Started guide for full details.

3

Open the workspace in VS Code

Open the pulled workspace folder in VS Code, then install the XanoScript Language Server extension. This provides syntax highlighting, inline validation, and autocomplete for .xs files — without it, they appear as plain text with no error feedback.

Already using the full XanoScript extension? If you want to keep it for push/pull, that’s fine — but delete any agents.md or other .md artifact files it created in your workspace root, as these can conflict with the Developer MCP and confuse AI assistants. For the best experience, we recommend using the XanoScript Language Server extension alongside the CLI for push/pull.

4

Install the Developer MCP with Claude Code

The Developer MCP gives AI tools direct access to XanoScript documentation and real-time code validation, significantly improving AI-generated XanoScript quality.In the VS Code terminal, add the Developer MCP to your project:

Not using Claude Code? See the Developer MCP guide for setup instructions for Cursor, Windsurf, Codex, VS Code Copilot, and other AI tools.

5

Ask Claude Code to make a change

Launch Claude Code in VS Code and ask it to make a change. For example:

Add a step to the auth/signup endpoint that sends a welcome email after a successful registration.

Claude Code will read your existing XanoScript, plan the change, and write the updated code — with the Developer MCP providing documentation and validation along the way.

6

Review your changes

Before pushing, review what the AI changed against your local repository. Pay attention to any table schema changes — renamed or removed columns can affect existing data.The CLI is safe by default: objects deleted locally won’t be removed from your Xano workspace unless you explicitly use the --delete flag. If any changes would result in data loss — like dropping a column or deleting a table — the push preview will call them out as destructive operations before you confirm. See Push & Pull for a full breakdown of what each operation means.

Work on a development branch to keep your changes separate from the live branch, or use a secondary workspace as your development environment to keep your data schema isolated before promoting to production.

7

Sync to Xano

Once you’ve reviewed your changes, head back to your terminal and run the push yourself — we recommend not asking the AI agent to push for you, so you stay in control of what gets applied. See Using the CLI with AI Agents for tips on managing agent permissions and keeping pushes safe.Start with a dry run to preview what the push will do without applying anything:Review the output carefully, especially any destructive operations or schema changes. When you’re ready, run the actual push:The CLI shows the same preview again and prompts for confirmation before applying anything.

8

Call the modified API

Send a POST request to your auth/signup endpoint and review the results.

Copy

curl -X POST "https://your-xano-instance.xano.io/api:abcD123/auth/signup" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
  "name": "John Doe",
  "email": "john.doe@example.com",
  "password": "super_secure_password"
}'

You should receive a welcome email shortly after the request completes.

9

Visually validate the change in Xano

This step is optional, but you can quickly see the parity between your code and the visual representation.Head into Xano, and navigate to your auth/signup API by clicking API in the left-hand nav, choose the Authentication group, and click auth/signup.You should see the Send Email step at the end of the logic, right after the Create Authentication Token step.

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Using a different AI tool?

• Cursor — Add the MCP server via Settings > Tools & Integrations.
• Windsurf — Add the MCP server via Settings > Cascade > Manage Plugins.
• Codex — Add a .codex/mcp.json file to your project.
• VS Code Copilot — Add a .vscode/mcp.json file to your project.

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What’s next