MCP Server — Shortcut Help Center

Use the Shortcut MCP server to access your Shortcut workspace data in a simple and secure way. MCP is an open protocol that enables AI models to securely interact with local and remote resources through standardized server implementations.

What does the Shortcut MCP Server do? Connect Shortcut to tools like Cursor, Claude Code, and more. Access and edit Stories and Epics in the apps to get your agents started coding and connect the output directly to GitHub.

Shortcut MCP server has tools for finding, creating, and updating entities in Shortcut like Stories, Epics, and Docs.

Let us know how you and your agents use the Shortcut MCP to power your workflows! If you have questions, feedback, or requests for new MCP tools, reach out at support@shortcut.com

Supported Entities

Entity	Retrieve	Create	Update	Notes
Stories	✓	✓	✓	Full support, including comments and Sub-tasks
Epics	✓	✓		Can be created and retrieved
Iterations	✓	✓		Can be created and retrieved
Objectives	✓			Read-only
Teams	✓			Read-only
Members	✓			Read-only
Workflows	✓			Read-only
Docs	✓	✓	✓	Can be created, retrieved, and updated

Available OAuth scopes

These are the OAuth scopes you can configure manually for Shortcut MCP. Most MCP clients select the appropriate scopes automatically. You can review the requested permissions during authorization before continuing.

Scope	Permission
`read`	Read workspace data, including Stories, Epics, Iterations, Objectives, Teams, Members, Workflows, and Docs.
`write`	Create and update supported workspace data.
`story-write`	Create and update Stories.
`comment-write`	Add comments where supported.
`admin`	Access admin-only API features.

Grant only the permissions your MCP client needs. Some actions may still require the right workspace role, even when the related OAuth scope is granted. The openid scope may also be used for sign-in, but it does not grant Shortcut API access by itself. You can revoke access later from Shortcut settings.

Setup Instructions

Connect to Shortcut’s hosted MCP server at https://mcp.shortcut.com/mcp. No API token or local setup required — authentication is handled via OAuth.

For client-specific setup, see Claude Code, Codex CLI, Cursor, or Kiro CLI.

Cursor

Open (or create) the mcp.json file (it should be in ~/.cursor/mcp.json or /.cursor/mcp.json, but see Cursor docs for more details).

Add the following details and save the file:

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

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

VS Code

If all you need is 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 details on installing MCP services in VS Code, see the official VS Code MCP docs for more information.

Claude Desktop

Navigate to Settings or Customize > Connectors, and select + Add Custom Connector.

Enter a name (i.e., Shortcut MCP) and the following URL for the Remote MCP Server URL field (follow the authorization prompt after adding):

https://mcp.shortcut.com/mcp

Troubleshooting

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

Ask for help in the community Slack Submit a support request or reach out at support@shortcut.com