Shortcut MCP Server

The Shortcut MCP server bridges the gap between AI assistants and the Shortcut project‑management platform, giving agents instant, authenticated access to story data, search capabilities, and branch naming conventions. By exposing Shortcut’s API through the Model Context Protocol, developers can embed real‑time project information directly into conversational workflows without writing custom connectors or handling OAuth flows themselves. This is especially valuable in environments where teams rely on AI assistants for task triage, sprint planning, or automated documentation generation.

At its core, the server offers a small but powerful set of tools that mirror common Shortcut operations. Developers can retrieve a specific story by ID, search for stories using flexible filters (status, assignee, labels), and even generate a recommended branch name that aligns with the workspace’s branching strategy. These tools are exposed as stateless commands, meaning each invocation is independent and safe to run in parallel. The server also supports prompt and sampling extensions, allowing AI models to tailor responses or request additional context on demand.

Real‑world use cases are plentiful. A product manager might ask an AI assistant, “Show me all high‑priority stories for the next sprint,” and receive a curated list instantly pulled from Shortcut. A developer could ask, “What branch name should I use for story 12345?” and get a compliant suggestion without leaving the IDE. Teams can also build custom workflows where an AI agent automatically creates or updates stories based on chat logs, turning conversational intent into actionable tasks.

Integration is straightforward across popular MCP‑enabled clients such as Windsurf, Cursor, Claude Code, and Zed. Once the server is registered in a client’s configuration file, agents can call the Shortcut tools with a simple function‑call syntax. Because the server handles authentication via an environment variable, secrets remain secure and can be rotated without touching the AI code. The result is a seamless, low‑friction loop where project data flows naturally into the assistant’s context and back again.

What sets this MCP apart is its focus on developer experience. The server ships with a minimal footprint—just a single NPM package—and includes clear, example configurations for each major client. The tools are intentionally lightweight yet expressive, covering the most common patterns in Shortcut usage while remaining open to extension. For teams looking to embed real‑time project intelligence into AI workflows, the Shortcut MCP server delivers a reliable, secure, and easy‑to‑adopt bridge between human intent and project execution.