Trello MCP Server

What is Trello MCP Server?

Trello MCP Server is a community trello mcp integration that lets AI agents read and update your Trello boards, lists, cards, checklists, comments, attachments and custom fields through the Model Context Protocol.

It is maintained by delorenj, published on npm as @delorenj/mcp-server-trello, licensed under MIT and listed on the official MCP Registry as io.github.delorenj/mcp-server-trello. It is not built or supported by Trello or Atlassian. The README describes 57 tools, built-in rate limiting and a Bun-based build, and the server runs locally over stdio.

How to use Trello MCP Server?

Prerequisites:

• A Trello account and an API key from trello.com/app-key.
• A Trello token, generated from the same page using your API key.
• Bun (for bunx) or Node.js (for npx). The README says bunx starts fastest and npx works identically.

Environment variables:

# Required
TRELLO_API_KEY=your-api-key
TRELLO_TOKEN=your-token

# Optional (deprecated): default board ID, can be changed later with set_active_board
TRELLO_BOARD_ID=your-board-id

# Optional: initial workspace ID, can be changed later with set_active_workspace
TRELLO_WORKSPACE_ID=your-workspace-id

# Optional: HTTPS proxy
https_proxy=http://your-proxy:8080

# Optional: restrict access to specific workspaces (comma-separated IDs)
TRELLO_ALLOWED_WORKSPACES=workspace-id-1,workspace-id-2

Claude Code

Register the trello mcp 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

Claude Desktop

Add this to your Claude Desktop MCP configuration and restart the app:

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

Cursor

The README's quickstart config applies to Cursor and other MCP clients as well. Add the same mcpServers block shown above to Cursor's MCP configuration. To use npm instead of Bun, replace bunx with npx.

Once connected, a typical first session is: call list_boards, pick a board with set_active_board, then confirm it with get_active_board_info.

Key features of Trello MCP Server

• Full board coverage: cards, lists, checklists, labels, members, comments, attachments, custom fields and board activity.
• Acceptance criteria extraction: get_acceptance_criteria finds a checklist named Acceptance Criteria, AC, DoD or Definition of Done and returns its items, unmet items and percent complete.
• Dynamic board and workspace switching: change the active board or workspace without restarting. The selection persists in ~/.trello-mcp/config.json.
• Workspace allow-list: TRELLO_ALLOWED_WORKSPACES limits which workspaces the agent can list, open or create boards in.
• Built-in rate limiting: a token bucket respects Trello's limits of 300 requests per 10 seconds per API key and 100 per 10 seconds per token, and queues requests when limits are reached.
• File attachments: attach files from a URL or a local file:// path, and download attachments back.
• Markdown output: get_card can return a card as readable Markdown with includeMarkdown.
• Proxy support: routes Trello API traffic through https_proxy or HTTPS_PROXY.

Trello MCP Server tools

• Boards and workspaces: list_boards, set_active_board, get_active_board_info, list_workspaces, set_active_workspace and list_boards_in_workspace handle navigation. Most other tools accept an optional boardId, so you can work across boards in one session.
• Lists: get_lists, add_list_to_board, update_list, update_list_position (top, bottom or a fractional position) and archive_list.
• Cards: get_card returns full card detail. get_cards_by_list_id, get_my_cards, add_card_to_list, update_card_details, move_card and archive_card cover the card lifecycle. Due dates use ISO 8601 with time, while start dates are YYYY-MM-DD.
• Checklists: get_checklist_items, get_checklist_by_name, add_checklist_item, update_checklist_item, delete_checklist_item, find_checklist_items_by_description and get_acceptance_criteria.
• Comments: add_comment, update_comment, delete_comment and get_card_comments.
• Attachments: attach_image_to_card, attach_file_to_card and download_attachment.
• Custom fields: get_board_custom_fields and update_card_custom_field. Custom fields require a Trello Standard plan or higher.
• Activity: get_recent_activity, plus watch_card and watch_list to route activity into your Trello notifications.

Use cases of Trello MCP Server

• Daily triage: "Show me every card assigned to me and which ones are overdue." The agent uses get_my_cards.
• Sprint grooming: "Create cards in the Backlog list for each item in this spec, with due dates next Friday."
• Definition-of-done checks: "Which acceptance criteria on card FdhbArbK are still unmet?" The agent uses get_acceptance_criteria.
• Status updates: "Summarize recent activity on the Marketing board and post a comment on the launch card."
• Moving work along: "Move all cards in Review that have completed checklists to Done."
• Visual assets: pair it with another MCP server, such as the Ideogram server mentioned in the README, then attach the generated image to a card with attach_image_to_card.

Trello MCP Server vs alternatives

Several other community Trello MCP servers exist, including Python implementations, but delorenj/mcp-server-trello is the one listed on the official MCP Registry. If your team plans work in other tools, compare Atlassian MCP Server for Jira and Confluence, Asana MCP Server, ClickUp MCP Server or Linear MCP Server. This server is local-only and authenticates with your personal Trello key and token. It is not a hosted OAuth service.

Troubleshooting Trello MCP Server

• Authentication errors: check that both TRELLO_API_KEY and TRELLO_TOKEN are set, and that the token was generated from the same API key at trello.com/app-key.
• Wrong board or "invalid ID" errors: call list_boards and set_active_board, or pass boardId explicitly. TRELLO_BOARD_ID is deprecated, and the active board persists in ~/.trello-mcp/config.json, so an old selection may still apply.
• Workspace or board not visible: if TRELLO_ALLOWED_WORKSPACES is set, only those workspaces are listed or usable. Add the ID, or unset the variable.
• Requests stall or slow down: the server queues requests when Trello's rate limits are hit, so large batch jobs pause briefly instead of failing.
• Custom field updates fail: custom fields need Trello Standard or higher. Use option IDs from get_board_custom_fields for list fields.