Idea Base Server

MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for IDEA Base — AI-powered project management. Manage projects, tasks, and time tracking directly from Claude Code, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible AI tool.

Quick Setup

1. Get your API key

Sign in to IDEA Base, go to Settings > API Keys, and create a key.

2. Add to your MCP config

Claude Code (~/.claude/claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "idea-base": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@idea-base/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "IDEA_BASE_API_KEY": "ib_your_api_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Cursor (.cursor/mcp.json in your project):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "idea-base": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@idea-base/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "IDEA_BASE_API_KEY": "ib_your_api_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or via Claude Code CLI:

claude mcp add idea-base -- npx -y @idea-base/mcp-server \
  --env IDEA_BASE_API_KEY=ib_your_api_key_here

3. Start using it

Ask Claude to manage your projects:

• "List my projects"
• "Create a task in project 1: Implement login page"
• "Log 2 hours on task 42 — built the auth flow"
• "What tasks are in progress?"

Available Tools

Projects

Tool	Description
list_projects	List all projects with task counts and progress
get_project	Get project details and statistics
create_project	Create a new project or sub-project
update_project	Update project name, description, or status

Tasks

Tool	Description
list_tasks	List tasks for a project (filter by status)
get_task	Get task details, acceptance criteria, and time entries
create_task	Create a task with title, description, estimate
update_task	Update task details
update_task_status	Change task status (todo/in_progress/done)
search_tasks	Search tasks across all projects
quick_log	Create + complete + log time in one step

Time Tracking

Tool	Description
log_time	Log time against a task with notes
start_working	Mark yourself as actively working on a task (surfaces the saved resume context + recent work notes so a cold session re-orients)
stop_working	Stop active work on a task (optionally capture a note and/or resume_context on the way out)

Activity & Audit Trail

For AI agents, these leave a durable trail of what was done and why on each task — so a future session (or a human reviewer) can see the reasoning, not just the final state.

Tool	Description
add_work_note	Append a timestamped progress note to a task's activity log (append-only journal)
add_comment	Add a comment to a task's discussion thread (customer-visible by default)
set_resume_context	Overwrite the task's pinned "where I left off" block, read first on start_working

Products

Tool	Description
list_products	List products (top-level containers)
get_product	Get product details with linked projects
create_product	Create a new product
link_project_to_product	Link a project to a product

Environment Variables

Variable	Required	Description
IDEA_BASE_API_KEY	Yes	Your API key from Settings > API Keys
IDEA_BASE_API_URL	No	Custom API URL (default: https://app.idea-base.us/api)

Real-time Notifications

When you use the MCP server to update tasks or log time, changes are broadcast to all connected users. Team members viewing the project in their browser see live toast notifications — when Claude updates a task, everyone sees it immediately.

Security

• All data access is scoped to your account via API key
• API keys support read/write permissions
• No data is stored locally — all operations go through the IDEA Base API
• Cross-account access is blocked server-side
• Rate limited per API key

Development

# Run the server directly
IDEA_BASE_API_KEY=your_key npm start

# Watch mode
IDEA_BASE_API_KEY=your_key npm run dev

License

MIT - IDEA Management LLC