Help Scout

An MCP server that gives AI assistants direct access to your Help Scout inboxes, conversations, and threads. Search tickets, pull context, spot patterns, and get answers without leaving your editor or chat window.

Built by a Help Scout customer who wanted to give his support team superpowers. If you handle customer conversations in Help Scout and want AI to help you work faster, this is for you.

What You Can Do

• Search conversations by keyword, date range, status, tag, email domain, or ticket number
• Pull full thread history into context before drafting a reply
• Get conversation summaries with the original customer message and latest staff response
• Monitor inbox activity across multiple inboxes with a single query
• Stay compliant with optional PII redaction and scoped inbox access

Quick Start

Claude Cowork (Recommended)

Install the helpscout-navigator plugin. It auto-starts the MCP server and includes navigation skills that help Claude pick the right search tool for your query.

1. Open Cowork and go to Customize > Browse plugins > Personal
2. Click + > Add marketplace from GitHub and enter drewburchfield/help-scout-mcp-server
3. Install helpscout-navigator from the marketplace
4. Add your Help Scout credentials (step-by-step guide)

The plugin bundles guided skills, session hooks, and tool selection guidance on top of the MCP server. Other install methods give you the tools; this one also teaches the AI how to use them well.

Claude Desktop

One-click install using Desktop Extensions:

1. Download the latest .mcpb file from releases
2. Double-click to install (or drag into Claude Desktop)
3. Enter your Help Scout App ID and App Secret when prompted

Claude Code

The same helpscout-navigator plugin works in Claude Code with the same navigation skills.

1. Run /plugin in Claude Code to open the marketplace
2. Search for helpscout-navigator and install it
3. Set HELPSCOUT_APP_ID and HELPSCOUT_APP_SECRET as environment variables
4. Restart Claude Code

For Cursor, VS Code, and Other MCP Clients

Add to your MCP client's config file (e.g., claude_desktop_config.json, .cursor/mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "helpscout": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["help-scout-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "HELPSCOUT_APP_ID": "your-app-id",
        "HELPSCOUT_APP_SECRET": "your-app-secret"
      }
    }
  }
}

Docker

docker run -e HELPSCOUT_APP_ID="your-app-id" \
  -e HELPSCOUT_APP_SECRET="your-app-secret" \
  drewburchfield/help-scout-mcp-server

Getting Your API Credentials

1. Go to Help Scout > My Apps > Create Private App
2. Select at minimum: Read access to Mailboxes and Conversations
3. Copy your App ID and App Secret

Help Scout uses OAuth2 Client Credentials flow exclusively. Personal Access Tokens are not supported.

Help Scout UI	Environment Variable
App ID	HELPSCOUT_APP_ID
App Secret	HELPSCOUT_APP_SECRET

Alternative names HELPSCOUT_CLIENT_ID / HELPSCOUT_CLIENT_SECRET and legacy HELPSCOUT_API_KEY are also supported.

Tools

Which tool should I use?

Task	Tool	Example
List recent tickets	searchConversations	"Show me active tickets from this week"
Find by keyword	comprehensiveConversationSearch	"Find conversations about billing errors"
Look up a ticket number	structuredConversationFilter	"Show me ticket #42839"
Complex filters	advancedConversationSearch	"All @acme.com conversations tagged urgent"
Quick conversation overview	getConversationSummary	"Summarize this conversation"
Full message history	getThreads	"Show me the complete thread"
Current server time	getServerTime	Used for time-relative searches

Inboxes are auto-discovered when the server connects. AI agents get inbox IDs in their instructions automatically, so no lookup step is needed.

Configuration

Variable	Description	Default
HELPSCOUT_APP_ID	App ID from Help Scout My Apps	Required
HELPSCOUT_APP_SECRET	App Secret from Help Scout My Apps	Required
HELPSCOUT_DEFAULT_INBOX_ID	Scope searches to a specific inbox	None (all inboxes)
HELPSCOUT_BASE_URL	Help Scout API endpoint	https://api.helpscout.net/v2/
REDACT_MESSAGE_CONTENT	Hide message bodies in responses	false
CACHE_TTL_SECONDS	Cache duration for API responses	300
LOG_LEVEL	Logging verbosity (error, warn, info, debug)	info

Compatibility

Works with any MCP-compatible client:

Category	Clients
AI Assistants	Claude Desktop, Goose, and other MCP-enabled assistants
Code Editors	Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, Continue.dev
Command Line	Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, OpenCode
Custom	Any application implementing the MCP standard

Security and Privacy

Built with compliance-minded teams in mind:

• Optional PII redaction. Message bodies are included by default. Set REDACT_MESSAGE_CONTENT=true to hide them for stricter compliance requirements.
• Secure authentication. OAuth2 Client Credentials with automatic token refresh.
• Rate limit handling. Automatic retry with exponential backoff on 429 responses.
• Scoped access. Optional default inbox configuration limits what the AI can search.

Troubleshooting

Authentication failed? Verify your credentials work with Help Scout directly:

curl -X POST https://api.helpscout.net/v2/oauth2/token \
  -d "grant_type=client_credentials&client_id=$HELPSCOUT_APP_ID&client_secret=$HELPSCOUT_APP_SECRET"

Empty search results? Common causes:

• Using the wrong search tool (use searchConversations for listing, comprehensiveConversationSearch for keyword search)
• Inbox ID mismatch. Check the IDs from server instructions, not guessed values.
• Search terms too narrow. Try broader terms or a longer time range.

Need more detail? Enable debug logging:

LOG_LEVEL=debug npx help-scout-mcp-server

Development

git clone https://github.com/drewburchfield/help-scout-mcp-server.git
cd help-scout-mcp-server
npm install && npm run build
npm start

npm test           # Run tests
npm run type-check # TypeScript validation
npm run lint       # Linting
npm run dev        # Development server with auto-reload

Contributions welcome. Please ensure tests, type checking, and linting pass before submitting a PR.

Support

• GitHub Issues
• GitHub Discussions
• NPM Package
• Changelog

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.