Twist MCP Server

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This is an MCP (Model Context Protocol) Server integrating MCP Clients with Twist's team messaging and collaboration platform: manage channels, threads, and messages through a unified interface.

Twist is a team communication app that emphasizes asynchronous communication through organized threads. Unlike traditional chat apps, Twist is designed to reduce information overload by organizing conversations into channels and threads. This server connects directly to their REST API. You will need a Twist bearer token to get started.

This project is NOT officially affiliated with Twist.

Table of Contents

• Highlights
• Capabilities
• Usage Tips
• Examples
• Setup
  • Cheatsheet
  • Claude Desktop
    • Manual Setup

Highlights

Channel management: List and retrieve channel information to understand your team's communication structure.

Thread operations: Create new threads and access existing ones for organized, topic-focused discussions.

Message posting: Add messages to threads programmatically, enabling automated updates and notifications.

Asynchronous-first: Designed to work with Twist's philosophy of calm, organized communication that doesn't require immediate responses.

Capabilities

This server is built and tested on macOS with Claude Desktop. It should work with other MCP clients as well.

Usage Tips

• Use get_channels first to discover available channels in your workspace
• When creating threads, provide clear, descriptive titles to maintain organization
• Use threading to keep related discussions together - avoid creating multiple threads for the same topic
• The workspace ID is required for most operations and can be configured via environment variable
• Thread and message content supports Markdown formatting for rich text
• All list operations support pagination for workspaces with many items

Examples

Discover Channels and Create a Thread

User: "Show me all channels in my Twist workspace"
Assistant: I'll get the list of channels in your workspace.

[Uses get_channels tool]

I found 5 channels in your workspace:
1. #general (ID: ch_123) - General discussions
2. #engineering (ID: ch_456) - Engineering team channel
3. #product (ID: ch_789) - Product discussions
...

User: "Create a thread in the engineering channel about the new API design"
Assistant: I'll create a new thread in the #engineering channel.

[Uses create_thread tool with channel_id: ch_456]

I've created a new thread titled "API Design Discussion - v2.0" in the #engineering channel. The thread ID is th_999.

Add to an Existing Thread

User: "Add a message to thread th_999 with the latest API documentation link"
Assistant: I'll add that message to the thread.

[Uses add_message_to_thread tool]

I've added your message with the API documentation link to the thread.

Development

Testing

This project uses Vitest for unit testing. Tests are automatically run on pull requests and pushes to the main branch.

Running Tests Locally

# Install dependencies
npm run install-all

# Run tests once
npm run test:run

# Run tests in watch mode (recommended for development)
npm test

# Run tests with UI
npm run test:ui

Test Structure

Tests are located in the tests/ directory:

• tests/functional/ - Functional tests for individual components
• tests/integration/ - Integration tests with mocked Twist API
• tests/manual/ - Manual tests that hit the real Twist API (not run in CI)
• tests/mocks/ - Mock implementations and test data

See tests/README.md for more details on the testing approach.

Manual Testing

Manual tests are end-to-end system tests that verify the complete integration with the real Twist API. These tests:

• Require real API credentials (TWIST_BEARER_TOKEN and TWIST_WORKSPACE_ID environment variables)
• Hit the actual Twist production API - not mocked
• Chain together real API calls in a realistic workflow
• Are not run in CI to avoid API rate limits and dependency on external services
• Should be run when modifying TwistClient code or any code that interacts with the external API

To run manual tests:

# Copy .env.example to .env and add your credentials
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env to add your real bearer token and workspace ID

# Run manual tests
npm run test:manual

# Run manual tests in watch mode
npm run test:manual:watch

Setup

Prerequisites

• Node.js v24.2.0 (use nvm use if you have nvm installed)
• A Twist bearer token
• Your Twist workspace ID

Cheatsheet

Claude Desktop

Make sure you have a bearer token from Twist and your workspace ID ready.

Then proceed to your preferred method of configuring the server below. If this is your first time using MCP Servers, you'll want to make sure you have the Claude Desktop application and follow the official MCP setup instructions.

Manual Setup

You're going to need Node working on your machine so you can run npx commands in your terminal. If you don't have Node, you can install it from nodejs.org.

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Modify your claude_desktop_config.json file to add the following:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "twist": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "twist-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "TWIST_BEARER_TOKEN": "Bearer your-token-here",
        "TWIST_WORKSPACE_ID": "your-workspace-id"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop and you should be ready to go!

Implementation Plan

Phase 1: Initial Setup ✅

• Create project structure from template
• Write comprehensive README documentation
• Plan API integration approach

Phase 2: Core Infrastructure

• Set up TypeScript configuration
• Create Twist API client with proper authentication
• Implement error handling and retry logic
• Set up testing infrastructure (functional, integration, manual)

Phase 3: Tool Implementation

• Implement get_channels - List all workspace channels
• Implement get_channel - Get specific channel details
• Implement get_threads - List threads with filtering options
• Implement get_thread - Get thread with messages
• Implement create_thread - Create new discussion threads
• Implement add_message_to_thread - Post messages to threads

Phase 4: Testing & Polish

• Write comprehensive unit tests
• Create integration tests with mocked API
• Implement manual tests for real API validation
• Add proper error messages and user feedback
• Document any API limitations or quirks

Phase 5: Future Enhancements (Post-MVP)

• Add support for thread search
• Implement message editing/deletion
• Add file attachment support
• Support for reactions and mentions
• Workspace user management tools

Technical Decisions

API Integration

• Use REST API (https://developer.twist.com/v3/)
• Implement rate limiting and retry logic
• Handle pagination for list operations
• Proper error handling for network issues

Authentication

• Bearer token authentication via Authorization header
• Workspace ID required for most operations
• Store credentials securely via environment variables

Tool Design

• Keep tools focused and single-purpose
• Use consistent naming (get**, create*_, add__)
• Return structured data that's easy to consume
• Include helpful error messages for common issues