diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish-mcp.yml b/.github/workflows/publish-mcp.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..80d41bab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish-mcp.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+name: Publish @classroomio/mcp to NPM
+
+on:
+  workflow_dispatch:
+
+jobs:
+  publish:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    permissions:
+      packages: write
+      contents: read
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
+        with:
+          node-version: 20.19.3
+          registry-url: 'https://registry.npmjs.org'
+
+      - uses: pnpm/action-setup@v4
+
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        run: pnpm install --no-frozen-lockfile
+
+      - name: Build publishable MCP package
+        run: pnpm --filter @classroomio/mcp build
+
+      - name: Publish package
+        run: pnpm --filter @classroomio/mcp publish --no-git-checks --access public
+        env:
+          NODE_AUTH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}
diff --git a/packages/mcp/README.md b/packages/mcp/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7319d54d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/mcp/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,204 @@
+# ClassroomIO MCP Server
+
+Thin stdio MCP server for ClassroomIO course-draft authoring.
+
+## Architecture
+
+```text
+Teacher
+  |
+  v
+Claude Desktop / Claude Code / other MCP client
+  |
+  | 1. Reads prompt or PDF content
+  | 2. Produces normalized course JSON
+  v
+ClassroomIO MCP Server (stdio)
+  |
+  | 3. Forwards validated tool calls
+  |    - Authorization: Bearer <cio_mcp_...>
+  v
+ClassroomIO API
+  |
+  | 4. Validates payload
+  | 5. Resolves org from the key
+  | 6. Stores draft or publishes course
+  v
+ClassroomIO DB
+```
+
+## How It Comes Together
+
+1. The agent owns reasoning and extraction.
+2. The MCP server does not parse PDFs or generate course structure.
+3. The MCP server only exposes tools and forwards structured payloads into ClassroomIO.
+4. ClassroomIO API remains the trust boundary for auth, validation, and persistence.
+5. Draft creation and publish are explicit separate steps.
+
+## Tool Surface
+
+- `create_course_draft`
+- `get_course_draft`
+- `update_course_draft`
+- `publish_course_draft`
+
+## Required Environment Variables
+
+- `CLASSROOMIO_API_URL`
+- `CLASSROOMIO_API_KEY`
+
+## Auth Model
+
+Current implementation uses an org-scoped automation key created in ClassroomIO under `Automation -> MCP`.
+
+The MCP server sends that key as a bearer token on every request.
+
+ClassroomIO API:
+
+1. hashes and verifies the key
+2. resolves the owning organization
+3. checks the key scopes
+4. persists the draft or publish request
+
+The MCP server does not decide permissions. ClassroomIO API remains the source of truth.
+
+## Run
+
+```bash
+pnpm --filter @classroomio/mcp build
+CLASSROOMIO_API_URL=http://localhost:3081 \
+CLASSROOMIO_API_KEY=<cio_mcp_key> \
+node packages/mcp/dist/index.js
+```
+
+## Claude Code Example
+
+```bash
+claude mcp add-json classroomio '{
+  "command": "npx",
+  "args": ["-y", "@classroomio/mcp"],
+  "env": {
+    "CLASSROOMIO_API_URL": "https://api.classroomio.com",
+    "CLASSROOMIO_API_KEY": "<cio_mcp_key>"
+  }
+}'
+```
+
+## Codex Example
+
+```bash
+codex mcp add classroomio \
+  --env CLASSROOMIO_API_URL=https://api.classroomio.com \
+  --env CLASSROOMIO_API_KEY=<cio_mcp_key> \
+  -- npx -y @classroomio/mcp
+```
+
+## Cursor Example
+
+```json
+{
+  "mcpServers": {
+    "classroomio": {
+      "command": "npx",
+      "args": ["-y", "@classroomio/mcp"],
+      "env": {
+        "CLASSROOMIO_API_URL": "https://api.classroomio.com",
+        "CLASSROOMIO_API_KEY": "<cio_mcp_key>"
+      }
+    }
+  }
+}
+```
+
+## User Flow Examples
+
+This package uses the same org-scoped automation key system that will later power the public API.
+
+Different integrations get different keys and scope presets. The infrastructure is shared, the secrets should not be.
+
+### Flow 1: Prompt to draft to publish
+
+User says:
+
+```text
+Create a complete course on exponential functions for high school students in ClassroomIO.
+```
+
+Expected agent behavior:
+
+1. Claude plans the course structure.
+2. Claude calls `create_course_draft` with:
+   - course title and description
+   - sections
+   - lessons
+   - lesson language content
+3. Claude reviews the returned draft ID and summary.
+4. User requests changes.
+5. Claude calls `update_course_draft`.
+6. When the user approves, Claude calls `publish_course_draft`.
+
+Result:
+
+- a real ClassroomIO course
+- sections created
+- lessons created
+- lesson language content inserted
+
+### Flow 2: PDF to draft
+
+User says:
+
+```text
+I have my course in a PDF. Extract it and turn it into a structured ClassroomIO course draft.
+```
+
+Expected agent behavior:
+
+1. Claude reads the PDF itself.
+2. Claude extracts and restructures the material into normalized course JSON.
+3. Claude calls `create_course_draft`.
+4. Claude returns a summary of:
+   - detected sections
+   - detected lessons
+   - warnings or ambiguous splits
+5. User asks for revisions.
+6. Claude calls `update_course_draft`.
+7. User approves publish.
+8. Claude calls `publish_course_draft`.
+
+Important:
+
+- the PDF never needs to be uploaded to the MCP server
+- the MCP server only receives structured JSON
+
+### Flow 3: Human-in-the-loop revision
+
+User says:
+
+```text
+Move logarithmic review before growth models and shorten lesson 2.
+```
+
+Expected agent behavior:
+
+1. Claude calls `get_course_draft`.
+2. Claude computes the revised structure.
+3. Claude calls `update_course_draft` with the modified payload.
+4. Claude summarizes what changed before publish.
+
+## Normalized Payload Shape
+
+The core payload sent through the MCP server is:
+
+```text
+draft
+  course
+  sections[]
+  lessons[]
+  lessonLanguages[]
+  warnings[]
+  sourceReferences[] optional
+  exercises[] optional
+```
+
+This keeps prompt-based creation and PDF-based extraction on the same ingestion path.
diff --git a/packages/mcp/package.json b/packages/mcp/package.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0a2adbdc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/mcp/package.json
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+{
+  "name": "@classroomio/mcp",
+  "version": "0.0.1",
+  "private": false,
+  "type": "module",
+  "main": "./dist/index.js",
+  "exports": {
+    ".": "./dist/index.js"
+  },
+  "files": [
+    "dist"
+  ],
+  "bin": {
+    "classroomio-mcp": "./dist/index.js"
+  },
+  "scripts": {
+    "build": "pnpm -C ../utils build && tsc --noEmit && rm -rf dist tsconfig.tsbuildinfo && node ./scripts/build.mjs",
+    "dev": "tsx src/index.ts",
+    "start": "node dist/index.js"
+  },
+  "repository": {
+    "type": "git",
+    "url": "git+https://github.com/classroomio/classroomio.git"
+  },
+  "bugs": {
+    "url": "https://github.com/classroomio/classroomio/issues"
+  },
+  "homepage": "https://github.com/classroomio/classroomio/blob/main/packages/mcp#readme",
+  "author": "ClassroomIO <help@classroomio.com>",
+  "license": "MIT",
+  "publishConfig": {
+    "access": "public",
+    "registry": "https://registry.npmjs.org/"
+  },
+  "dependencies": {
+    "@modelcontextprotocol/sdk": "^1.27.1",
+    "zod": "^4.1.8"
+  },
+  "devDependencies": {
+    "@cio/tsconfig": "workspace:*",
+    "@cio/utils": "workspace:*",
+    "@types/node": "^24.10.1",
+    "esbuild": "^0.25.11",
+    "tsx": "^4.20.3",
+    "typescript": "^5.9.3"
+  }
+}
diff --git a/packages/mcp/scripts/build.mjs b/packages/mcp/scripts/build.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f11dcee6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/mcp/scripts/build.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+import { build } from 'esbuild';
+
+await build({
+  entryPoints: ['src/index.ts'],
+  outfile: 'dist/index.js',
+  bundle: true,
+  format: 'esm',
+  platform: 'node',
+  target: 'node20',
+  sourcemap: false,
+  external: ['@modelcontextprotocol/sdk', 'zod'],
+  banner: {
+    js: '#!/usr/bin/env node'
+  }
+});
diff --git a/packages/mcp/src/api-client.ts b/packages/mcp/src/api-client.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..95bed668
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/mcp/src/api-client.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+import type {
+  TCourseImportDraftCreate,
+  TCourseImportDraftPublish,
+  TCourseImportDraftUpdate
+} from '@cio/utils/validation/course-import';
+
+import type { McpServerConfig } from './config.js';
+
+type ApiSuccess<T> = {
+  success: true;
+  data: T;
+};
+
+type ApiFailure = {
+  success?: false;
+  error?: string;
+  message?: string;
+  code?: string;
+  field?: string;
+};
+
+export class ClassroomIoApiError extends Error {
+  constructor(
+    message: string,
+    public status: number,
+    public code?: string,
+    public field?: string
+  ) {
+    super(message);
+    this.name = 'ClassroomIoApiError';
+  }
+}
+
+export class ClassroomIoApiClient {
+  constructor(private readonly config: McpServerConfig) {}
+
+  async createCourseDraft(payload: TCourseImportDraftCreate) {
+    return this.request('/organization/course-import/drafts', {
+      method: 'POST',
+      body: payload
+    });
+  }
+
+  async getCourseDraft(draftId: string) {
+    return this.request(`/organization/course-import/drafts/${draftId}`, {
+      method: 'GET'
+    });
+  }
+
+  async updateCourseDraft(draftId: string, payload: TCourseImportDraftUpdate) {
+    return this.request(`/organization/course-import/drafts/${draftId}`, {
+      method: 'PUT',
+      body: payload
+    });
+  }
+
+  async publishCourseDraft(draftId: string, payload: TCourseImportDraftPublish) {
+    return this.request(`/organization/course-import/drafts/${draftId}/publish`, {
+      method: 'POST',
+      body: payload
+    });
+  }
+
+  private async request<TResponse>(
+    path: string,
+    options: {
+      method: 'GET' | 'POST' | 'PUT';
+      body?: unknown;
+    }
+  ): Promise<TResponse> {
+    const response = await fetch(new URL(path, this.config.CLASSROOMIO_API_URL), {
+      method: options.method,
+      headers: {
+        Authorization: `Bearer ${this.config.CLASSROOMIO_API_KEY}`,
+        'content-type': 'application/json',
+        'user-agent': this.config.CLASSROOMIO_USER_AGENT
+      },
+      body: options.body ? JSON.stringify(options.body) : undefined
+    });
+
+    const json = (await response.json().catch(() => null)) as ApiSuccess<TResponse> | ApiFailure | null;
+
+    if (!response.ok) {
+      const errorPayload = json as ApiFailure | null;
+      throw new ClassroomIoApiError(
+        errorPayload?.error ?? errorPayload?.message ?? `ClassroomIO request failed with status ${response.status}`,
+        response.status,
+        errorPayload?.code,
+        errorPayload?.field
+      );
+    }
+
+    if (!json || typeof json !== 'object' || !('success' in json) || !json.success) {
+      throw new ClassroomIoApiError('ClassroomIO returned an invalid response payload', response.status);
+    }
+
+    return json.data;
+  }
+}
diff --git a/packages/mcp/src/config.ts b/packages/mcp/src/config.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0c69fd0f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/mcp/src/config.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+import { z } from 'zod';
+
+const ZConfig = z.object({
+  CLASSROOMIO_API_URL: z.string().url(),
+  CLASSROOMIO_API_KEY: z.string().min(1),
+  CLASSROOMIO_USER_AGENT: z.string().min(1).default('classroomio-mcp/0.0.1')
+});
+
+export type McpServerConfig = z.infer<typeof ZConfig>;
+
+export function getConfig(env: NodeJS.ProcessEnv = process.env): McpServerConfig {
+  return ZConfig.parse(env);
+}
diff --git a/packages/mcp/src/index.ts b/packages/mcp/src/index.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a4ae94b5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/mcp/src/index.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+import { McpServer } from '@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/server/mcp.js';
+import { StdioServerTransport } from '@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/server/stdio.js';
+
+import { ClassroomIoApiClient, ClassroomIoApiError } from './api-client.js';
+import { getConfig } from './config.js';
+import { registerCourseDraftTools } from './tools/course-drafts.js';
+
+async function main() {
+  const config = getConfig();
+  const apiClient = new ClassroomIoApiClient(config);
+  const server = new McpServer({
+    name: 'classroomio-course-authoring',
+    version: '0.0.1'
+  });
+
+  registerCourseDraftTools(server, apiClient);
+
+  const transport = new StdioServerTransport();
+  await server.connect(transport);
+
+  process.stdin.on('close', () => {
+    void server.close();
+  });
+}
+
+main().catch((error: unknown) => {
+  if (error instanceof ClassroomIoApiError) {
+    console.error(
+      JSON.stringify({
+        error: error.message,
+        status: error.status,
+        code: error.code,
+        field: error.field
+      })
+    );
+    process.exit(1);
+  }
+
+  console.error(error);
+  process.exit(1);
+});
diff --git a/packages/mcp/src/tools/course-drafts.ts b/packages/mcp/src/tools/course-drafts.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d4b2faae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/mcp/src/tools/course-drafts.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+import {
+  ZCourseImportDraftCreate,
+  ZCourseImportDraftGetParam,
+  ZCourseImportDraftPublish,
+  ZCourseImportDraftUpdate
+} from '@cio/utils/validation/course-import';
+import type { McpServer } from '@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/server/mcp.js';
+import type { ZodRawShapeCompat } from '@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/server/zod-compat.js';
+
+import type { ClassroomIoApiClient } from '../api-client.js';
+
+export const ZUpdateCourseDraftToolInput = ZCourseImportDraftUpdate.extend({
+  draftId: ZCourseImportDraftGetParam.shape.draftId
+});
+
+export const ZPublishCourseDraftToolInput = ZCourseImportDraftPublish.extend({
+  draftId: ZCourseImportDraftGetParam.shape.draftId
+});
+
+const createCourseDraftShape = ZCourseImportDraftCreate.shape as unknown as ZodRawShapeCompat;
+const getCourseDraftShape = ZCourseImportDraftGetParam.shape as unknown as ZodRawShapeCompat;
+const updateCourseDraftShape = ZUpdateCourseDraftToolInput.shape as unknown as ZodRawShapeCompat;
+const publishCourseDraftShape = ZPublishCourseDraftToolInput.shape as unknown as ZodRawShapeCompat;
+
+export function registerCourseDraftTools(server: McpServer, apiClient: ClassroomIoApiClient) {
+  server.tool('create_course_draft', createCourseDraftShape, async (args) => {
+    const payload = ZCourseImportDraftCreate.parse(args);
+    const result = await apiClient.createCourseDraft(payload);
+    return jsonContent(result);
+  });
+
+  server.tool('get_course_draft', getCourseDraftShape, async (args) => {
+    const { draftId } = ZCourseImportDraftGetParam.parse(args);
+    const result = await apiClient.getCourseDraft(draftId);
+    return jsonContent(result);
+  });
+
+  server.tool('update_course_draft', updateCourseDraftShape, async (args) => {
+    const { draftId, ...payload } = ZUpdateCourseDraftToolInput.parse(args);
+    const result = await apiClient.updateCourseDraft(draftId, payload);
+    return jsonContent(result);
+  });
+
+  server.tool('publish_course_draft', publishCourseDraftShape, async (args) => {
+    const { draftId, ...payload } = ZPublishCourseDraftToolInput.parse(args);
+    const result = await apiClient.publishCourseDraft(draftId, payload);
+    return jsonContent(result);
+  });
+}
+
+function jsonContent(data: unknown) {
+  return {
+    content: [
+      {
+        type: 'text' as const,
+        text: JSON.stringify(data)
+      }
+    ]
+  };
+}
diff --git a/packages/mcp/tsconfig.json b/packages/mcp/tsconfig.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3cba4eee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/mcp/tsconfig.json
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+{
+  "extends": "@cio/tsconfig/base.json",
+  "compilerOptions": {
+    "composite": true,
+    "outDir": "./dist",
+    "rootDir": "./src",
+    "module": "ESNext",
+    "target": "ES2022",
+    "moduleResolution": "Bundler",
+    "allowSyntheticDefaultImports": true,
+    "declaration": true,
+    "declarationMap": true
+  },
+  "include": ["src/**/*.ts"],
+  "exclude": ["node_modules", "dist", "tsconfig.tsbuildinfo"],
+  "references": [{ "path": "../utils" }],
+  "tsc-alias": {
+    "resolveFullPaths": true,
+    "verbose": false
+  }
+}