:warning: Future work for the Shortcut MCP server will be done for the remote server at https://mcp.shortcut.com/mcp. Instructions for installing and using the server can be found here: Shortcut MCP Server.

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@shortcut/mcp

MCP Server for Shortcut users.

Links: Local Installations | Server Developers | Tool Registration

Usage

Cursor

The fastest way to get started is to connect to Shortcut's hosted MCP server. No API token or local setup required — authentication is handled via OAuth.

1. Open (or create) the mcp.json file (it should be in ~/.cursor/mcp.json or <project-root>/.cursor/mcp.json, but see Cursor docs for more details).
2. Add the following details and save the file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "shortcut": {
      "url": "https://mcp.shortcut.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

3. Restart Cursor. You will be prompted to authorize with your Shortcut account on first use.

VS Code

If all you need need the configuration for the mcp.json file use this. You will be prompted to authorize with your Shortcut account on first use.

{
  "servers": {
    "shortcut-mcp": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.shortcut.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

For more detail on installing MCP services in VSCode see the official VS Code MCP docs for more information.

Claude Desktop

Download the package from this repo

Then, either double-click the icon to install or drag the package onto the client window. It should trigger the installation.

Other IDEs / Running Locally

If your IDE doesn't support HTTP-based MCP servers, or you'd prefer to run the server locally, see the Local Server Setup guide. This covers setup for Windsurf, Zed, Claude Code, and any IDE that supports stdio-based MCP servers.

Available Tools

Stories

Tool	Description
stories-get-by-id	Get a single Shortcut story by ID
stories-get-history	Get the change history for a story
stories-search	Find Shortcut stories with filtering and search options
stories-get-branch-name	Get the recommended branch name (based on workspace settings) for a specific story
stories-create	Create a new Shortcut story
stories-update	Update an existing Shortcut story
stories-upload-file	Upload a file and link it to a story
stories-assign-current-user	Assign the current user as the owner of a story
stories-unassign-current-user	Unassign the current user as the owner of a story
stories-create-comment	Create a comment on a story
stories-create-subtask	Add a new sub-task to a story
stories-add-subtask	Add an existing story as a sub-task
stories-remove-subtask	Remove a sub-task from a story
stories-add-task	Add a task to a story
stories-update-task	Update a task in a story
stories-add-relation	Add a story relationship (relates to, blocks, duplicates, etc.)
stories-add-external-link	Add an external link to a Shortcut story
stories-remove-external-link	Remove an external link from a Shortcut story
stories-set-external-links	Replace all external links on a story with a new set of links
stories-get-by-external-link	Find all stories that contain a specific external link

Labels

Tool	Description
labels-list	List all labels in the Shortcut workspace
labels-get-stories	Get all stories with a specific label
labels-create	Create a new label in Shortcut

Custom Fields

Tool	Description
custom-fields-list	List all custom fields in the workspace with their possible values

Epics

Tool	Description
epics-get-by-id	Get a Shortcut epic by ID
epics-search	Find Shortcut epics with filtering and search options
epics-create	Create a new Shortcut epic
epics-update	Update an existing Shortcut epic
epics-delete	Delete a Shortcut epic
epics-create-comment	Create a comment on an epic

Iterations

Tool	Description
iterations-get-stories	Get stories in a specific iteration by iteration ID
iterations-get-by-id	Get a Shortcut iteration by ID
iterations-search	Find Shortcut iterations with filtering and search options
iterations-create	Create a new Shortcut iteration with start/end dates
iterations-update	Update an existing Shortcut iteration
iterations-delete	Delete a Shortcut iteration
iterations-get-active	Get active iterations for the current user based on team memberships
iterations-get-upcoming	Get upcoming iterations for the current user based on team memberships

Objectives

Tool	Description
objectives-get-by-id	Get a Shortcut objective by ID
objectives-search	Find Shortcut objectives with filtering and search options

Teams

Tool	Description
teams-get-by-id	Get a Shortcut team by ID
teams-list	List all Shortcut teams

Projects

Tool	Description
projects-list	List all projects in the Shortcut workspace
projects-get-by-id	Get a Shortcut project by public ID
projects-get-stories	Get all stories in a specific project

Workflows

Tool	Description
workflows-get-default	Get the default workflow for a specific team or the workspace default
workflows-get-by-id	Get a Shortcut workflow by ID
workflows-list	List all Shortcut workflows

Users

Tool	Description
users-get-current	Get the current user information
users-get-current-teams	Get a list of teams where the current user is a member
users-list	Get all workspace users

Documents

Tool	Description
documents-create	Create a new document in Shortcut with Markdown content
documents-update	Update content of an existing document by its ID
documents-list	List all documents in Shortcut
documents-search	Search for documents
documents-get-by-id	Retrieve a specific document in markdown format by its ID

Limit tools

You can limit the tools available to the LLM by setting the SHORTCUT_TOOLS environment variable to a comma-separated list.

• Tools can be limited by entity type by just adding the entity, eg stories or epics.
• Individual tools can also be limitied by their full name, eg stories-get-by-id or epics-search.

By default, all tools are enabled.

Example (when running locally):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "shortcut": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@shortcut/mcp@latest"],
      "env": {
        "SHORTCUT_API_TOKEN": "<YOUR_SHORTCUT_API_TOKEN>",
        "SHORTCUT_TOOLS": "stories,epics,iterations-create"
      }
    }
  }
}

The following values are accepted in addition to the full tool names listed above under Available Tools:

• users
• stories
• epics
• iterations
• labels
• custom-fields
• objectives
• teams
• projects
• workflows
• documents

Read-only mode

You can run the MCP server in read-only mode by setting the SHORTCUT_READONLY environment variable to true. This will disable all tools that modify data in Shortcut.

Example (when running locally):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "shortcut": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@shortcut/mcp@latest"],
      "env": {
        "SHORTCUT_API_TOKEN": "<YOUR_SHORTCUT_API_TOKEN>",
        "SHORTCUT_READONLY": "true"
      }
    }
  }
}

Issues and Troubleshooting

Before doing anything else, please make sure you are running the latest version!

If you run into problems using this MCP server, you have a couple of options:

Option	Link
Open an issue	GitHub
Ask for help	Slack