MCP Server Trello

Verified on MseeP npm version

Server Trello MCP server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that gives AI agents full access to your Trello boards — cards, lists, checklists, attachments, comments, custom fields, and workspaces — with built-in rate limiting, type safety, and workflow-level tools you won't find in a plain API wrapper, like acceptance-criteria extraction and checklist dependency queries. 57 tools, one npx install, powered by Bun.

Highlights

• Acceptance criteria, natively: get_acceptance_criteria pulls a card's AC checklist straight into your agent's context — no competitor offers it.
• Watch anything: watch_card and watch_list route card and list activity into your Trello notifications.
• Full list management: create, update, reorder (update_list_position), and archive lists.
• Board and workspace switching on the fly: no restarts, no config edits.
• Rate limiting handled for you: respects Trello's API limits automatically (300 req/10s per key, 100 req/10s per token).
• Bun-powered: fast startup and a 2.8-4.4x performance boost over the old Node build. npx and npm work too.

Changelog

For a detailed list of changes, see CHANGELOG.md.

Features

• Full Trello Board Integration: Interact with cards, lists, and board activities
• Acceptance Criteria Extraction: Pull a card's acceptance criteria checklist directly into agent context
• Checklist Intelligence: Query checklist items by name or description, track completion, manage items
• Complete Card Data Extraction: Fetch all card details including checklists, attachments, labels, members, and comments
• 💬 Comment Management: Add, update, delete, and retrieve comments on cards
• Activity Subscriptions: Watch cards and lists so their activity surfaces in Trello notifications
• List Management: Create, update, reorder, and archive lists
• File Attachments: Attach any type of file to cards (PDFs, documents, videos, images, etc.) from URLs
• Custom Fields: Read board custom field definitions and update card values
• Built-in Rate Limiting: Respects Trello's API limits (300 requests/10s per API key, 100 requests/10s per token)
• Type-Safe Implementation: Written in TypeScript with comprehensive type definitions
• Input Validation: Robust validation for all API inputs
• Error Handling: Graceful error handling with informative messages
• Dynamic Board Selection: Switch between boards and workspaces without restarting
• Markdown Formatting: Export card data in human-readable markdown format

Installation

The server is published on npm as @delorenj/mcp-server-trello. Add it to your MCP client and you're done — no clone, no build.

Quickstart (Claude Desktop, Cursor, and other MCP clients)

Add the server to your client's MCP configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "trello": {
      "command": "bunx",
      "args": ["@delorenj/mcp-server-trello"],
      "env": {
        "TRELLO_API_KEY": "your-trello-api-key",
        "TRELLO_TOKEN": "your-trello-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

bunx starts fastest, but npx works identically. Get your API key at trello.com/app-key and generate a token from the same page.

Claude Code

Register the server with the CLI:

claude mcp add trello \
  --env TRELLO_API_KEY=your-trello-api-key \
  --env TRELLO_TOKEN=your-trello-token \
  -- bunx @delorenj/mcp-server-trello

MCP Registry

The server is listed on the official MCP Registry as io.github.delorenj/mcp-server-trello, so registry-aware clients can discover and install it directly.

Agent skill package (optional)

This repository also ships a BMAD-compatible skill package for the Trello MCP server. Install the skill/ directory through your agent's skill management workflow, or place it in the agent's skills directory.

When an agent activates the skill, it follows skill/SKILL.md. On first use, the agent runs the bundled installer:

bash skill/scripts/install.sh

The installer builds the MCP server from skill/assets/source/ when Bun is available. If Bun is unavailable, it falls back to the published Smithery install path for @delorenj/mcp-server-trello and creates the same local build/index.js command path used by the skill activation check.

Skill package structure

The skill is the agent-facing entry point for this repository.

• skill/SKILL.md: Activation, routing, and agent workflow rules.
• skill/scripts/install.sh: First-run installer for the bundled server.
• skill/references/trello-mcp/: Focused references for setup, tools, workflows, and gotchas.
• skill/assets/source/: Bundled MCP server source used for local builds.

For AI agents, start with skill/SKILL.md rather than this README. The README is the human-facing overview; the skill references are the operational surface for tool selection and Trello workflow rules.

Maintainers can refresh the bundled source before packaging with:

mise run package

Configuration

Environment Variables

The server can be configured using environment variables. Create a .env file in the root directory with the following variables:

# Required: Your Trello API credentials
TRELLO_API_KEY=your-api-key
TRELLO_TOKEN=your-token

# Optional (Deprecated): Default board ID (can be changed later using set_active_board)
TRELLO_BOARD_ID=your-board-id

# Optional: Initial workspace ID (can be changed later using set_active_workspace)
TRELLO_WORKSPACE_ID=your-workspace-id

# Optional: HTTPS proxy URL (for corporate proxies or restricted networks)
https_proxy=http://your-proxy:8080

# Optional: Restrict access to specific workspaces (comma-separated IDs)
# If set, only the listed workspaces will be accessible via MCP tools
TRELLO_ALLOWED_WORKSPACES=workspace-id-1,workspace-id-2

Proxy Support: If you're behind a corporate proxy or in an environment that routes traffic through a proxy, set the https_proxy or HTTPS_PROXY environment variable. The server will automatically route all Trello API requests through the specified proxy.

You can get these values from:

• API Key: https://trello.com/app-key
• Token: Generate using your API key
• Board ID (optional, deprecated): Found in the board URL (e.g., https://trello.com/b/abc123/example-board)
• Workspace ID: Found in workspace settings or using list_workspaces tool

Board and Workspace Management

Starting with version 0.3.0, the MCP server supports multiple ways to work with boards:

1. Multi-board support: All methods now accept an optional boardId parameter    - Omit TRELLO_BOARD_ID and provide boardId in each API call    - Set TRELLO_BOARD_ID as default and optionally override with boardId parameter

2. Dynamic board selection: Use workspace management tools    - The TRELLO_BOARD_ID in your .env file is used as the initial/default board ID    - You can change the active board at any time using the set_active_board tool    - The selected board persists between server restarts (stored in ~/.trello-mcp/config.json)    - Similarly, you can set and persist an active workspace using set_active_workspace

This allows you to work with multiple boards and workspaces without restarting the server.

Workspace Access Restriction

You can optionally restrict MCP access to specific workspaces using the TRELLO_ALLOWED_WORKSPACES environment variable. This is useful for:

• Security: Limiting AI agent access to only approved workspaces
• Multi-tenant setups: Ensuring agents only access relevant workspaces
• Testing: Isolating test environments from production data

When TRELLO_ALLOWED_WORKSPACES is set:

• list_workspaces only returns workspaces in the allowed list
• list_boards only returns boards from allowed workspaces
• set_active_workspace rejects workspaces not in the allowed list
• list_boards_in_workspace rejects non-allowed workspace IDs
• create_board rejects creation in non-allowed workspaces

Example configuration:

# Only allow access to two specific workspaces
TRELLO_ALLOWED_WORKSPACES=697c549ce04dc460af133a75,5f8a3b2c1d4e5f6a7b8c9d0e

If TRELLO_ALLOWED_WORKSPACES is not set or empty, all workspaces the token has access to will be available (default behaviour).

Example Workflow

1. Start by listing available boards:

{
  name: 'list_boards',
  arguments: {}
}

2. Set your active board:

{
  name: 'set_active_board',
  arguments: {
    boardId: "abc123"  // ID from list_boards response
  }
}

3. List workspaces if needed:

{
  name: 'list_workspaces',
  arguments: {}
}

4. Set active workspace if needed:

{
  name: 'set_active_workspace',
  arguments: {
    workspaceId: "xyz789"  // ID from list_workspaces response
  }
}

5. Check current active board info:

{
  name: 'get_active_board_info',
  arguments: {}
}

Date Format Guidelines

When working with dates in the Trello MCP server, please note the different format requirements:

• Due Date (dueDate): Accepts full ISO 8601 format with time (e.g., 2023-12-31T12:00:00Z)
• Start Date (start): Accepts date only in YYYY-MM-DD format (e.g., 2025-08-05)

This distinction follows Trello's API conventions where start dates are day-based markers while due dates can include specific times.

Available Tools

Checklist Management Tools 🆕

get_checklist_items

Get all items from a checklist by name.

{
  name: 'get_checklist_items',
  arguments: {
    name: string,        // Name of the checklist to retrieve items from
    boardId?: string     // Optional: ID of the board (uses default if not provided)
  }
}

add_checklist_item

Add a new item to an existing checklist.

{
  name: 'add_checklist_item',
  arguments: {
    text: string,           // Text content of the checklist item
    checkListName: string,  // Name of the checklist to add the item to
    boardId?: string        // Optional: ID of the board (uses default if not provided)
  }
}

find_checklist_items_by_description

Search for checklist items containing specific text.

{
 name: 'find_checklist_items_by_description',
  arguments: {
    description: string,  // Text to search for in checklist item descriptions
    boardId?: string      // Optional: ID of the board (uses default if not provided)
 }
}

get_acceptance_criteria

Get a card's (or board's) acceptance criteria, tolerating the common checklist headings teams actually use. A checklist matches if its name equals Acceptance Criteria, AC, DoD, or Definition of Done — compared case-insensitively and whitespace-trimmed. The first alias in that order with any match wins.

{
  name: 'get_acceptance_criteria',
  arguments: {
    cardId?: string,  // Optional: ID of the card to scope the search to (recommended to avoid ambiguity)
    boardId?: string  // Optional: ID of the board (uses default if not provided)
  }
}

On a match, returns:

{
  found: true,
  items: CheckListItem[],    // All items of the matching checklist(s), in Trello's order
  unmet: CheckListItem[],    // The incomplete subset of items
  percentComplete: number,  // Rounded percentage complete; 0 when there are no items
  matchedChecklistName: string  // The checklist name as written on the board, original casing
}

When nothing matches, the tool says so explicitly instead of returning an empty list — so "this card has no acceptance criteria" is never confused with "the checklist is named something else":

{
  found: false,
  reason: string,    // Human-readable explanation naming the aliases that were tried
  availableChecklists: string[]  // Names of the checklists that do exist in the searched scope
}

A checklist that matches but has no items returns found: true with items: [], which is distinct from the not-found response above.

get_checklist_by_name

Get a complete checklist with all items and completion percentage.

{
  name: 'get_checklist_by_name',
  arguments: {
    name: string,     // Name of the checklist to retrieve
    boardId?: string  // Optional: ID of the board (uses default if not provided)
  }
}

Returns: CheckList object with:

• id: Checklist identifier
• name: Checklist name
• items: Array of CheckListItem objects
• percentComplete: Completion percentage (0-100)

update_checklist_item

Update an existing checklist item.

{
  name: 'update_checklist_item',
  arguments: {
    cardId: string,                          // ID of the card containing the checklist item
    checkItemId: string,                     // ID of the checklist item to update
    name?: string,                           // Optional: new checklist item text
    state?: 'complete' | 'incomplete',       // Optional: new checklist item state
    pos?: number | 'top' | 'bottom',         // Optional: new checklist item position
    due?: string | null,                     // Optional: ISO 8601 due date, or null to clear it
    dueReminder?: number | null,             // Optional: reminder offset in minutes, or null to clear it
    idMember?: string | null                 // Optional: member ID to assign, or null to clear it
  }
}

delete_checklist_item

Delete an existing checklist item.

{
  name: 'delete_checklist_item',
  arguments: {
    cardId: string,       // ID of the card containing the checklist item
    checkItemId: string   // ID of the checklist item to delete
  }
}

get_card 🆕

Get comprehensive details of a specific Trello card with human-level parity.

{
  name: 'get_card',
  arguments: {
    cardId: string,          // ID of the Trello card (short ID like 'FdhbArbK' or full ID)
    includeMarkdown?: boolean // Return formatted markdown instead of JSON (default: false)
  }
}

Returns: Complete card data including:

• ✅ Checklists with item states and assignments
• 📎 Attachments with previews and metadata
• 🏷️ Labels with names and colors
• 👥 Assigned members
• 💬 Comments and activity
• 📊 Statistics (badges)
• 🎨 Cover images
• 📍 Board and list context

get_cards_by_list_id

Fetch all cards from a specific list.

{
  name: 'get_cards_by_list_id',
  arguments: {
    boardId?: string, // Optional: ID of the board (uses default if not provided)
    listId: string    // ID of the Trello list
  }
}

get_lists

Retrieve all lists from a board.

{
  name: 'get_lists',
  arguments: {
    boardId?: string  // Optional: ID of the board (uses default if not provided)
  }
}

get_recent_activity

Fetch recent activity on a board.

{
  name: 'get_recent_activity',
  arguments: {
    boardId?: string, // Optional: ID of the board (uses default if not provided)
    limit?: number    // Optional: Number of activities to fetch (default: 10)
  }
}

add_card_to_list

Add a new card to a specified list.

{
  name: 'add_card_to_list',
  arguments: {
    boardId?: string,     // Optional: ID of the board (uses default if not provided)
    listId: string,       // ID of the list to add the card to
    name: string,         // Name of the card
    description?: string, // Optional: Description of the card
  mbs; dueDate?: string,     // Optional: Due date (ISO 8601 format with time)
    start?: string,       // Optional: Start date (YYYY-MM-DD format, date only)
    labels?: string[]     // Optional: Array of label IDs
  }
}

update_card_details

Update an existing card's details.

{
  name: 'update_card_details',
  arguments: {
    boardId?: string,     // Optional: ID of the board (uses default if not provided)
    cardId: string,       // ID of the card to update
    name?: string,        // Optional: New name for the card
    description?: string, // Optional: New description
    dueDate?: string,     // Optional: New due date (ISO 8601 format with time)
    start?: string,       // Optional: New start date (YYYY-MM-DD format, date only)
    dueComplete?: boolean,// Optional: Mark the due date as complete (true) or incomplete (false)
    labels?: string[]     // Optional: New array of label IDs
  }
}

archive_card

Send a card to the archive.

{
  name: 'archive_card',
  arguments: {
    boardId?: string, // Optional: ID of the board (uses default if not provided)
    cardId: string    // ID of the card to archive
  }
}

add_list_to_board

Add a new list to a board.

{
 name: 'add_list_to_board',
  arguments: {
    boardId?: string, // Optional: ID of the board (uses default if not provided)
    name: string      // Name of the new list
  }
}

archive_list

Send a list to the archive.

{
  name: 'archive_list',
  arguments: {
    boardId?: string, // Optional: ID of the board (uses default if not provided)
    listId: string    // ID of the list to archive
  }
}

update_list

Update a list's name, archive state, subscription state, or board. Use update_list_position to reorder lists within a board.

{
  name: 'update_list',
  arguments: {
    listId: string,          // ID of the list to update
    name?: string,           // Optional: New name for the list
    closed?: boolean,        // Optional: Whether to close (archive) the list
    subscribed?: boolean,    // Optional: Whether to subscribe to the list
    idBoard?: string         // Optional: ID of a board to move the list to
  }
}

update_list_position

Update the position of a list on the board. Trello uses fractional indexing: each list has a float position, and to place a list between two others, use the average of their positions (e.g., between pos 1024 and 2048, use 1536). Use "top"/"bottom" shortcuts to move to the edges.

{
  name: 'update_list_position',
  arguments: {
    listId: string,              // ID of the list to reposition
    position: string             // "top", "bottom", or a positive numeric string (e.g. "1536")
  }
}

get_my_cards

Fetch all cards assigned to the current user.

{
  name: 'get_my_cards',
  arguments: {}
}

move_card

Move a card to a different list.

{
  name: 'move_card',
  arguments: {
    boardId?: string,  // Optional: ID of the target board (uses default if not provided)
s;   cardId: string,    // ID of the card to move
    listId: string     // ID of the target list
  }
}

attach_image_to_card

Attach an image to a card directly from a URL.

{
  name: 'attach_image_to_card',
  arguments: {
    boardId?: string, // Optional: ID of the board (uses default if not provided)
    cardId: string,   // ID of the card to attach the image to
    imageUrl: string, // URL of the image to attach
    name?: string     // Optional: Name for the attachment (defaults to "Image Attachment")
  }
}

attach_file_to_card

Attach any type of file to a card from a URL or a local file path (e.g., file:///path/to/your/file.pdf).

{
  name: 'attach_file_to_card',
 arguments: {
    boardId?: string,  // Optional: ID of the board (uses default if not provided)
    cardId: string,s;   // ID of the card to attach the file to
    fileUrl: string,   // URL or local file path (using the file:// protocol) of the file to attach
    name?: string,     // Optional: Name for the attachment (defaults to the file name for local files)
    mimeType?: string  // Optional: MIME type (e.g., "application/pdf", "text/plain", "video/mp4")
  }
}

download_attachment

Download an attachment from a card by ID. Attachment IDs are available in the attachments array returned by get_card.

{
  name: 'download_attachment',
  arguments: {
    cardId: string,       // ID of the card containing the attachment
    attachmentId: string  // ID of the attachment to download
  }
}

Returns: For image attachments (image/*), returns the image as inline viewable data. For all other file types, returns a JSON object with:

• fileName: Original filename
• mimeType: MIME type of the file
• data: Base64-encoded file contents

Comment Management Tools

add_comment

Add a comment to a Trello card.

{
  name: 'add_comment',
  arguments: {
    cardId: string,  // ID of the card to comment on
    text: string     // The text of the comment to add
  }
}

update_comment

Update an existing comment on a card.

{
  name: 'update_comment',
  arguments: {
    commentId: string,  // ID of the comment to change
    text: string        // The new text of the comment
  }
}

delete_comment

Delete a comment from a card.

{
  name: 'delete_comment',
  arguments: {
    commentId: string  // ID of the comment to delete
  }
}

get_card_comments

Retrieve all comments from a specific card without fetching all card data.

{
  name: 'get_card_comments',
  arguments: {
    cardId: string,  // ID of the card to get comments from
    limit?: number   // Optional: Maximum number of comments to retrieve (default: 100)
  }
}

list_boards

List all boards the user has access to.

{
  name: 'list_boards',
  arguments: {}
}

set_active_board

Set the active board for future operations.

{
  name: 'set_active_board',
  arguments: {
    boardId: string  // ID of the board to set as active
  }
}

list_workspaces

List all workspaces the user has access to.

{
s; name: 'list_workspaces',
  arguments: {}
}

set_active_workspace

Set the active workspace for future operations.

{
  name: 'set_active_workspace',
  arguments: {
    workspaceId: string  // ID of the workspace to set as active
  }
}

list_boards_in_workspace

List all boards in a specific workspace.

{
  name: 'list_boards_in_workspace',
  arguments: {
    workspaceId: string  // ID of the workspace to list boards from
  }
}

get_active_board_info

Get information about the currently active board.

{
s; name: 'get_active_board_info',
  arguments: {}
}

Custom Field Management Tools

Note: Custom fields require Trello Standard plan or higher.

get_board_custom_fields

Get all custom field definitions on a board. For dropdown/list fields, also returns the available options with their IDs.

{
  name: 'get_board_custom_fields',
  arguments: {
    boardId?: string  // Optional: ID of the board (uses default if not provided)
  }
}

Returns: Array of custom field definitions including:

• Field ID, name, type (text, number, checkbox, date, list)
• For list type fields: available options with IDs (use these IDs when setting values)

update_card_custom_field

Set or clear a custom field value on a card.

{
  name: 'update_card_custom_field',
  arguments: {
    cardId: string,       // ID of the card to update
    customFieldId: string,// ID of the custom field definition
    type: string,         // Field type: 'text' | 'number' | 'checkbox' | 'date' | 'list' | 'clear'
    value?: string        // The value to set (not needed when type is 'clear')
  }
}

Value format by type:

• text: any string
• number: numeric string (e.g. "42.5")
• checkbox: "true" or "false"
• date: ISO 8601 string (e.g. "2025-12-31T00:00:00.000Z")
• list: option ID from get_board_custom_fields
• clear: omit value to remove the field value

Integration Examples

🎨 Pairing with Ideogram MCP Server

The Trello MCP server pairs beautifully with @flowluap/ideogram-mcp-server for AI-powered visual content creation. Generate images with Ideogram and attach them directly to your Trello cards!

Example Workflow

1. Generate an image with Ideogram:

// Using ideogram-mcp-server
{
  name: 'generate_image',
  arguments: {
    prompt: "A futuristic dashboard design with neon accents",
    aspect_ratio: "16:9"
  }
}
// Returns: { image_url: "https://..." }

2. Attach the generated image to a Trello card:

// Using trello-mcp-server
{
  name: 'attach_image_to_card',
  arguments: {
    cardId: "your-card-id",
    imageUrl: "https://...", // URL from Ideogram
    name: "Dashboard Mockup v1"
  }
}

Setting up both servers

Add both servers to your Claude Desktop configuration. Use bunx for the fastest startup.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "trello": {
      "command": "bunx",
      "args": ["@delorenj/mcp-server-trello"],
   "env": {
        "TRELLO_API_KEY": "your-trello-api-key",
        "TRELLO_TOKEN": "your-trello-token"
      }
    },
    "ideogram": {
      "command": "bunx",
      "args": ["@flowluap/ideogram-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "IDEOGRAM_API_KEY": "your-ideogram-api-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Now you can seamlessly create visual content and organize it in Trello, all within Claude!

Rate Limiting

The server implements a token bucket algorithm for rate limiting to comply with Trello's API limits:

• 300 requests per 10 seconds per API key
• 100 requests per 10 seconds per token

Rate limiting is handled automatically, and requests will be queued if limits are reached.

Error Handling

The server provides detailed error messages for various scenarios:

• Invalid input parameters
• Rate limit exceeded
• API authentication errors
• Network issues
• Invalid board/list/card IDs

Development

Prerequisites

• Bun (v1.0.0 or higher)

Setup

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/delorenj/mcp-server-trello
cd mcp-server-trello

2. Install dependencies

bun install

3. Build the project

bun run build

Running tests

To run the tests, run the following command:

bun test

Running evals

The evals package loads an mcp client that then runs the index.ts file, so there is no need to rebuild between tests. You can load environment variables by prefixing the bunx command. Full documentation can be found here.

OPENAI_API_KEY=your-key bunx mcp-eval src/evals/evals.ts src/index.ts

Contributing

Contributions are welcome!

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• Built with the Model Context Protocol SDK
• Uses the Trello REST API