Connect Claude & Cursor (MCP)

Wire Kanban AI into MCP clients: access token, Cursor config, Claude Desktop, tools, and troubleshooting.

Connect Claude Desktop, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible client to your Kanban AI boards. Your AI assistant can list projects, create tasks, update status, and read sprint context—without leaving your editor.

Fastest path: sign in, open Connect AI (/connect), click Copy config, paste into Cursor or Claude, restart. No manual tokens or Vercel secrets.

Two-minute setup

Sign in at Kanban AI.
Open Connect AI from the sidebar.
Choose Cursor or Claude Desktop.
Click Copy config — a long-lived personal MCP key and headers are filled in for you.
Paste into your client’s MCP settings and restart.

Cursor

Cursor Settings → MCP → add server (or edit ~/.cursor/mcp.json). Paste the JSON, restart Cursor.

Claude Desktop

Edit claude_desktop_config.json (macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/). Paste under mcpServers, quit and reopen Claude.

MCP endpoint

https://kanbanai.dev/api/mcp

Preview deployments use that deployment’s origin, e.g. https://your-preview.vercel.app/api/mcp.

Authentication

Connect AI issues a personal MCP key (kai_…) that does not expire. Paste once; you only need to reconnect if you rotate the key.

Requests send:

Authorization: Bearer kai_… (preferred) or a short-lived Supabase session JWT
X-MCP-API-Key when the deployment sets MCP_API_SECRET (Connect AI includes this automatically)

When it stops working

If you revoked the key or get 401, return to Connect AI, click Rotate key & regenerate config, copy again, and replace the JSON in your client.

Available tools

Tool — What it does

list_projects — Projects you can access

get_board — Full project + tasks + comments JSON

create_project / update_project / delete_project — Project CRUD

create_task / update_task / delete_task — Task CRUD

list_task_comments / add_task_comment / delete_task_comment — Task threads

Example prompts (once connected)

*"List my Kanban AI projects and tell me which have tasks in progress."*
*"On project <uuid>, move every todo task in sprint 2 to in-progress."*
*"Create a task: Ship landing page copy review — feature, high priority, due Friday."*

Troubleshooting

Symptom — Fix

401 Unauthorized — Rotate key on Connect AI and paste the new config

MCP server not listed — Restart the client after editing config

Tools run but no data — Ensure you are signed in as the same user whose projects you expect

Local npm start only — MCP lives on the hosted API—use kanbanai.dev or vercel dev

For operators

Set MCP_API_SECRET on Vercel. The Connect page injects it server-side into generated configs so end users never paste it manually.

Privacy & scope

MCP acts as you—same projects and tasks your account can access in the web app. Do not share generated configs in public chats or screenshots.