MCP Overview & Setup

kendo exposes a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that lets AI coding assistants manage project work directly from the terminal. Create issues, log time, plan sprints, and search your board — all through natural language.

What is MCP?

MCP is an open protocol that standardizes how AI applications connect to external tools and data sources. Instead of copy-pasting issue IDs or switching between browser tabs, your AI assistant reads project context and takes actions on your behalf.

kendo's MCP server provides:

• Tools — create, update, search, and delete issues, time entries, epics, sprints, comments, reports, and branch links
• Resources — read-only access to projects, issues, lanes, sprints, epics, members, teams, and GitHub repos

Authorization & Security

All MCP data is scoped to the authenticated user's role and team access. You only see projects, issues, and data you're authorized to access in the UI — this isn't just filtering, it's programmatic enforcement through Laravel Gates and project accessibility checks.

• OAuth tokens carry an mcp:use scope that limits what the token can do
• Project access is checked on every request — you can only interact with projects assigned to your teams or where accessAllProjects is enabled on your role
• Role-based permissions are enforced per-resource, per-action: each role defines Create, Read, Update (None/Own/All), and Delete (None/Own/All) scopes for 16 resources
• Project owners automatically get full access to all project-scoped resources in their own projects
• Admins bypass all permission checks
• Rate limiting prevents abuse via the throttle:mcp middleware
• Audit logging records every tool invocation with user, project, tool name, and status

Server URL

The MCP server URL is tenant-specific:

https://{tenant}.kendo.dev/mcp/kendo

Replace {tenant} with your organization's subdomain (e.g., https://acme.kendo.dev/mcp/kendo).

Setup: Claude Code

The quickest way to add kendo is via the CLI:

claude mcp add kendo --transport http https://{tenant}.kendo.dev/mcp/kendo

Or add it manually to your configuration file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kendo": {
      "url": "https://{tenant}.kendo.dev/mcp/kendo",
      "headers": {
        "Accept": "application/json, text/event-stream"
      }
    }
  }
}

When you first connect, Claude Code will open a browser window for OAuth authentication. After authorizing, the token is stored locally and refreshed automatically.

Setup: Cursor

In Cursor, go to Settings → MCP Servers and add:

• Name: kendo
• Type: sse
• URL: https://{tenant}.kendo.dev/mcp/kendo

Cursor will prompt for OAuth authorization on first use.

Setup: Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop connects via mcp-remote, a small Node proxy. Requires Node.js 18+.

Add this to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kendo": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "https://{tenant}.kendo.dev/mcp/kendo"]
    }
  }
}

OS	Config path
macOS	~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows	%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
Linux	~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

After saving, fully quit and relaunch Claude Desktop (Cmd+Q on macOS — closing the window is not enough). A browser window will open for OAuth on first launch.

OAuth Flow

kendo uses OAuth 2.0 for MCP authentication:

1. Your AI client requests authorization from https://{tenant}.kendo.dev/oauth/authorize
2. A browser window opens for you to log in and approve the connection
3. The client receives an access token with the mcp:use scope
4. All subsequent MCP requests include this token in the Authorization header
5. Tokens are automatically refreshed when they expire

Available Tools

Tool	Description	Page
create-issue	Create a new issue in a project	Issues
update-issue	Update an existing issue (including lane changes)	Issues
delete-issue	Delete an issue permanently	Issues
search-issues	Search issues by text and filters	Issues
get-my-issues	Get issues assigned to you	Issues
add-comment	Add a comment to an issue	Comments
update-comment	Edit an existing comment	Comments
delete-comment	Delete a comment permanently	Comments
create-time-entry	Log time against an issue	Time Entries
get-time-entries	Query time entries with grouping	Time Entries
update-time-entry	Update a time entry	Time Entries
delete-time-entry	Delete a time entry permanently	Time Entries
create-epic	Create an epic	Epics
update-epic	Update an epic	Epics
delete-epic	Delete an epic	Epics
get-epics	List epics with progress data	Epics
create-sprint	Create a new sprint	Sprints
update-sprint	Update sprint details	Sprints
complete-sprint	Complete the active sprint	Sprints
delete-sprint	Delete a planned sprint	Sprints
link-branch	Link a Git branch to an issue	Branches
list-reports	List reports for triage	Reports
create-report	Create a new report	Reports
promote-reports	Promote reports to an issue	Reports
dismiss-report	Dismiss a report	Reports
delete-report	Delete a report permanently	Reports
fetch-attachment	Fetch attachment bytes (image or text) for multimodal agents	Attachments

Available Resources

URI Pattern	Description	Page
kendo://projects	List all accessible projects	Resources
kendo://projects/{id}	Project details with GitHub repos	Resources
kendo://projects/{id}/issues	All issues in a project	Resources
kendo://issues/{id}	Single issue with comments and time	Resources
kendo://projects/{id}/lanes	Board lanes with issue counts	Resources
kendo://projects/{id}/sprints	Sprint list with issue counts	Resources
kendo://projects/{id}/epics	Epics with status and progress	Resources
kendo://projects/{id}/members	Project members for assignment	Resources
kendo://projects/{id}/github-repos	Linked GitHub repositories	Resources
kendo://teams	Teams and their members	Resources

See Also

• Workflows — Common multi-step MCP workflows with example prompts
• API Overview — API documentation
• Quick Start — Get started with kendo