Basecamp MCP Server

Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Basecamp. Gives LLMs tools for projects, messages, todos, comments, people, kanban boards, docs & files, check-ins, and campfire chat.

48 tools, published on npm and installable with one npx command: no cloning, no virtualenv, no manual OAuth script to run.

Why this server

• Zero-install setup: npx basecamp-mcp@latest runs the server directly from npm. Authentication is one MCP tool call (basecamp_login) that opens a browser; there's no separate script to clone and run by hand.
• Full Docs & Files support: read and write vaults (folders), documents, and uploads, and download inline <bc-attachment> blobs embedded in rich text. Images come back inline, text files as text, everything else saved to disk. Upload a local file or a remote URL to get the sgid that embeds it in rich text.
• Check-ins (Q&A) support: list automatic check-in questions and their answers, or post new answers programmatically.
• Granular content editing: messages, comments, documents, and kanban cards all support append, prepend, and search-replace operations, not just full-text replacement, so an LLM can make a small edit without resending the whole document.
• Mentions by person ID: every tool that writes rich text takes <bc-attachment person-id="123"> anywhere in the HTML and turns it into a real mention. An unknown ID is an error and nothing is posted, instead of a broken mention that notifies nobody.
• Cross-project activity feed: basecamp_list_recordings searches across every project by type, person, date range, and free text in one call, with automatic response-size management and pagination.
• Type-safe end to end: written in TypeScript with Zod schemas validating every tool input.
• Tested against the real API: the test suite exercises every tool category (messages, todos, kanban, comments, docs/files, check-ins, campfires, activity) against a live Basecamp account, not mocks.

Getting Started

The Basecamp MCP server requires Node.js 18+ and works with various MCP clients including Claude Code CLI, Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, and others.

Prerequisites

You need a Basecamp OAuth app. Register one at 37signals Launchpad with the redirect URI set to http://localhost:7652/callback.

Installation

Add the MCP server to your client with your OAuth credentials:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "basecamp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "basecamp-mcp@latest"],
      "env": {
        "BASECAMP_CLIENT_ID": "your_client_id",
        "BASECAMP_CLIENT_SECRET": "your_client_secret"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Code CLI:

claude mcp add basecamp npx basecamp-mcp@latest \
  -e BASECAMP_CLIENT_ID=your_client_id \
  -e BASECAMP_CLIENT_SECRET=your_client_secret

Claude Desktop: Follow the MCP install guide using the JSON config above.

Cursor: Add configuration through Settings → Tools & Integrations → New MCP Server.

VS Code:

code --add-mcp '{"name":"basecamp","command":"npx","args":["-y", "basecamp-mcp@latest"]}'

Authentication

Once the MCP server is running, authenticate using the built-in login tool:

1. Call basecamp_login to open a browser window for Basecamp authorization
2. Authorize the app in your browser
3. If you have multiple Basecamp accounts, call basecamp_login again with the desired account_id
4. Done! Credentials are saved to ~/.config/basecamp-mcp/credentials.json

Use basecamp_whoami to check who you're logged in as, and basecamp_logout to remove stored credentials.

Configuration

The server requires these environment variables:

• BASECAMP_CLIENT_ID — Your Basecamp OAuth client ID
• BASECAMP_CLIENT_SECRET — Your Basecamp OAuth client secret

Available Tools

Authentication

• basecamp_login - Authenticate with Basecamp via OAuth browser flow
• basecamp_logout - Remove stored credentials
• basecamp_whoami - Show the currently authenticated user

Projects

• basecamp_list_projects - List all accessible projects with optional filtering
• basecamp_get_project - Get detailed project information including dock configuration

Messages

• basecamp_list_messages - List messages in a message board with optional filtering
• basecamp_list_message_types - List available message types/categories for a project
• basecamp_get_message - Get single message details
• basecamp_create_message - Create new message with optional category and draft status
• basecamp_update_message - Update message with advanced content editing (supports full replacement, append, prepend, search/replace)

TODOs

• basecamp_get_todoset - Get todo set container with all todo lists
• basecamp_create_todolist - Create a todo list in a todo set, with an optional description
• basecamp_update_todolist - Rename a todo list or a group (section), or edit its description
• basecamp_move_todolist - Move a todo list to the top, the bottom, or before/after another list
• basecamp_create_todolist_group - Create a group (section) in a todo list, at the bottom or at a given place
• basecamp_move_todolist_group - Move a group (section) among the groups of its todo list
• basecamp_list_todos - List todos in a list, with their groups, and status filtering (active/archived)
• basecamp_create_todo - Create new todo with optional description
• basecamp_update_todo - Update a todo's title, description, due date, or assignees
• basecamp_move_todo - Move a todo to the top, the bottom, or before/after another todo, also into a different list or group
• basecamp_reorder_todos - Set the order of all the todos in a list or group, for example to sort them by due date
• basecamp_complete_todo - Mark todo as complete
• basecamp_uncomplete_todo - Mark todo as incomplete

Comments

• basecamp_list_comments - List comments on any resource (works universally on all recording types)
• basecamp_create_comment - Add comment to any resource
• basecamp_update_comment - Update comment with advanced content editing (supports full replacement, append, prepend, search/replace)

People

• basecamp_get_me - Get personal information for the authenticated user
• basecamp_list_people - List all people with optional filtering by name, email, or title
• basecamp_get_person - Get person details

Kanban

• basecamp_list_kanban_columns - List all columns in a kanban board
• basecamp_list_kanban_cards - List cards in a column with steps and assignees
• basecamp_get_kanban_card - Get complete details of a specific card
• basecamp_create_kanban_card - Create new card with title, content, and optional checklist steps
• basecamp_update_kanban_card - Update card with advanced content editing (supports full replacement, append, prepend, search/replace, plus title, due date, assignees, notifications, and complete step array management)
• basecamp_move_kanban_card - Move a card to a different column and/or position

Activity

• basecamp_list_recordings - Browse recent activity globally or across specific projects, with filtering by type, date range, person, and text search. All filters support multiple values for OR-matching (e.g., multiple project IDs, person IDs, types, or search terms)
• basecamp_list_campfire_messages - Browse chat messages from Campfires with filtering by campfire, person, text content, and date range. All filters support multiple values for OR-matching

Docs & Files

• basecamp_list_vaults - List sub-vaults (folders) under a parent vault
• basecamp_get_vault - Get a vault's details, including document/upload/sub-vault counts
• basecamp_create_vault - Create a new vault (folder)
• basecamp_update_vault - Rename a vault
• basecamp_list_documents - List documents in a vault, with optional title/content filtering
• basecamp_get_document - Get a document's full HTML content
• basecamp_create_document - Create a new document (active or draft)
• basecamp_update_document - Update a document with advanced content editing (supports full replacement, append, prepend, search/replace)
• basecamp_list_uploads - List files uploaded to a vault
• basecamp_get_upload - Retrieve an uploaded file: images are returned inline, text files as text, other binary formats saved to disk
• basecamp_download_blob - Download an inline <bc-attachment> attachment referenced in document/message/comment HTML content
• basecamp_create_attachment - Upload a local file or a remote URL and get the attachable_sgid to embed it with <bc-attachment>

Check-ins (Q&A)

• basecamp_get_questionnaire - Get a project's check-ins container
• basecamp_list_questions - List automatic check-in questions with schedule and answer counts
• basecamp_get_question - Get a single check-in question
• basecamp_list_answers - List answers to a check-in question
• basecamp_get_answer - Get a single check-in answer
• basecamp_create_answer - Post a new answer to a check-in question

Trash

• basecamp_trash - Move any item (todo list, group, todo, message, comment, document, folder, upload, card) to the trash, with the items in it
• basecamp_restore - Bring an item back from the trash or the archive

Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run type checking
npx tsc --noEmit

# Build
npm run build

# Run the live test suite (requires a real, authenticated Basecamp account)
npm test

# Clean build artifacts
npm run clean

License

MIT