Planning Center Online Server

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for the Planning Center Online API. Enables AI assistants like Claude to interact with your PCO account across all major modules.

Covered Modules

Module	Tools
People	List/search people, get person, create/update person, emails, phone numbers, households, lists
Services	Service types, plans, songs, teams, series
Giving	Donations, funds, batches
Groups	Groups, group types, members
Calendar	Events, event instances, resources/rooms
Check-Ins	Check-ins, events, locations

Authentication

Planning Center uses Personal Access Tokens for single-account access. Get yours at: https://api.planningcenteronline.com/oauth/applications

You'll receive an Application ID and Secret — set these as environment variables.

Setup

1. Build

npm install
npm run build

2. Configure Claude Desktop (or Claude Code)

Add the following to your MCP configuration (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "planning-center": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/planning-center-mcp-server/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "PCO_APP_ID": "your_application_id",
        "PCO_SECRET": "your_secret"
      }
    }
  }
}

3. Run (stdio mode, for Claude Desktop)

PCO_APP_ID=your_app_id PCO_SECRET=your_secret npm start

4. Run (HTTP mode, for remote/multi-client)

PCO_APP_ID=your_app_id PCO_SECRET=your_secret TRANSPORT=http PORT=3000 npm start
# Server available at http://localhost:3000/mcp

Available Tools

People (/people/v2)

Tool	Description
pco_list_people	Search/list people with filters (name, status, gender, child)
pco_get_person	Get full person record with emails, phones, addresses
pco_create_person	Create a new person record
pco_update_person	Update an existing person (sparse update)
pco_list_person_emails	List email addresses for a person
pco_list_person_phone_numbers	List phone numbers for a person
pco_list_households	List households
pco_list_people_lists	List smart lists (saved filters)

Services (/services/v2)

Tool	Description
pco_list_service_types	List all service types
pco_list_plans	List plans for a service type (filter: future/past)
pco_get_plan	Get full plan details
pco_list_songs	List/search song library
pco_list_teams	List teams for a service type
pco_list_series	List sermon series for a service type

Giving (/giving/v2)

Tool	Description
pco_list_donations	List donations (filter by date, method, status)
pco_get_donation	Get donation details
pco_list_funds	List giving funds
pco_list_donation_batches	List donation batches

Groups (/groups/v2)

Tool	Description
pco_list_groups	List/search groups
pco_get_group	Get group details
pco_list_group_members	List group members/leaders
pco_list_group_types	List group types

Calendar (/calendar/v2)

Tool	Description
pco_list_calendar_events	List events (filter: approved/pending/future/past)
pco_get_calendar_event	Get event details with instances
pco_list_event_instances	List occurrences of a calendar event
pco_list_calendar_resources	List facility resources/rooms

Check-Ins (/check_ins/v2)

Tool	Description
pco_list_checkins	List check-in records (filter by date)
pco_list_checkin_events	List check-in events
pco_list_checkin_locations	List locations for a check-in event

Example Conversations

Once connected, you can ask Claude:

• "Show me all active people added in the last month"
• "What plans are scheduled for next Sunday?"
• "List all donations received in January over $500"
• "How many members does the Young Adults small group have?"
• "What calendar events are coming up this week?"
• "Show me the children's check-in locations"

Development

# Watch mode for development
npm run dev

# Clean build artifacts
npm run clean

Environment Variables

Variable	Required	Description
PCO_APP_ID	✅	Planning Center Application ID
PCO_SECRET	✅	Planning Center Secret
TRANSPORT	No	Set to http for HTTP mode (default: stdio)
PORT	No	HTTP port (default: 3000, HTTP mode only)

API Reference

• Planning Center Developer Docs
• PCO API Explorer
• JSON API 1.0 Spec