DWB Custom MCP Trello Server

A custom Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Trello board automation and client onboarding. This server extends the original mcp-server-trello with additional tools for creating boards, managing members, and automating client onboarding workflows.

🚀 Features

Original Tools (Maintained)

• Full Trello Board Integration: Interact with cards, lists, and board activities
• Built-in Rate Limiting: Respects Trello's API limits (300 requests/10s per API key, 100 requests/10s per token)
• Type-Safe Implementation: Written in TypeScript with comprehensive type definitions
• Input Validation: Robust validation for all API inputs
• Error Handling: Graceful error handling with informative messages

New Custom Tools

• Board Creation: Create new Trello boards with standardized client onboarding templates
• Board Management: List and filter available boards
• Member Management: Add members to boards with specified permissions
• Template Engine: Automated list creation with emoji fallback support

📦 Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone <repository-url>
cd dwb-trello-mcp

# Install dependencies
pnpm install

# Build the project
pnpm run build

⚙️ Configuration

Create a .env file based on .env.example:

TRELLO_API_KEY=your-api-key
TRELLO_TOKEN=your-token
TRELLO_BOARD_ID=your-default-board-id
TRELLO_ORG_ID=your-organization-id  # Optional

Getting Trello Credentials

1. API Key: Get from https://trello.com/app-key
2. Token: Generate using your API key at:

   https://trello.com/1/authorize?expiration=never&name=DWB_MCP_SERVER&scope=read,write&response_type=token&key=YOUR_API_KEY
   

3. Board ID: Found in the board URL: https://trello.com/b/BOARD_ID/board-name
4. Organization ID: Optional, found in organization settings

🛠️ Available Tools

Original Tools

• get_cards_by_list_id - Fetch cards from a specific list
• get_lists - Retrieve all lists from the board
• get_recent_activity - Fetch recent board activity
• add_card_to_list - Add a new card to a list
• update_card_details - Update existing card details
• archive_card - Archive a card
• add_list_to_board - Add a new list to the board
• archive_list - Archive a list
• get_my_cards - Fetch cards assigned to current user

New Custom Tools

create_board

Creates a new Trello board with standard client onboarding template.

{
  name: string,              // Board name (required)
  description?: string,      // Board description (optional)
  default_lists?: boolean,   // Create template lists (default: true)
  organization_id?: string   // Organization ID (optional)
}

Features:

• Automatically creates 5 standardized lists:
  • 🟢 New Request
  • 📥 Queue
  • 🛠 In Progress
  • 🧐 Review
  • ✅ Completed
• Emoji fallback support (uses plain text if emojis fail)
• Sets board description with client onboarding instructions
• Supports organization-level board creation

get_boards

Lists available Trello boards with optional filtering.

{
  organization_id?: string,  // Filter by organization
  limit?: number            // Maximum boards to return
}

add_member_to_board

Adds a member to a board by email with specified permissions.

{
  board_id: string,         // Board ID (required)
  email: string,           // Member email (required)
  permission?: string      // 'normal', 'admin', or 'observer' (default: 'normal')
}

🎯 Client Onboarding Workflow

The server is designed to automate client onboarding with a standardized workflow:

1. Create Board: Use create_board to create a new client board
2. Add Client: Use add_member_to_board to invite the client
3. Template Applied: Board automatically includes:
   • Standardized list structure
   • Client instructions in board description
   • Emoji-based list names with fallbacks

🐳 Docker Deployment

Build and Run

# Build the Docker image
docker build -t dwb-trello-mcp .

# Run with environment variables
docker run -d \
  --name dwb-trello-mcp \
  -e TRELLO_API_KEY=your-key \
  -e TRELLO_TOKEN=your-token \
  -e TRELLO_BOARD_ID=your-board-id \
  -e TRELLO_ORG_ID=your-org-id \
  dwb-trello-mcp

Using Docker Compose

# Production
docker-compose up -d

# Development with hot reload
docker-compose --profile dev up -d

🧪 Testing

# Run the MCP inspector
pnpm run inspector

# List available tools
npx @modelcontextprotocol/sdk list-tools build/index.js

# Run custom test script
node test-tools.js

📁 Project Structure

dwb-trello-mcp/
├── src/
│   ├── index.ts              # Main MCP server
│   ├── trello-client.ts      # Extended Trello API client
│   ├── board-templates.ts    # Board template engine
│   ├── types.ts              # TypeScript definitions
│   ├── validators.ts         # Input validation
│   └── rate-limiter.ts       # Rate limiting logic
├── templates/
│   ├── default-board-lists.json      # List template
│   └── board-readme-template.md      # Board description template
├── build/                    # Compiled JavaScript
├── Dockerfile               # Container configuration
├── docker-compose.yml       # Development environment
└── README.md               # This file

🔧 Development

# Start development server
pnpm run dev

# Build project
pnpm run build

# Format code
pnpm run format

# Lint code
pnpm run lint

📋 Template Configuration

The board template is defined in templates/default-board-lists.json:

{
  "template_name": "default_client_board",
  "lists": [
    "🟢 New Request",
    "📥 Queue",
    "🛠 In Progress",
    "🧐 Review",
    "✅ Completed"
  ],
  "fallback_lists": [
    "New Request",
    "Queue",
    "In Progress",
    "Review",
    "Completed"
  ]
}

🚦 Rate Limiting

The server implements automatic rate limiting to comply with Trello's API limits:

• 300 requests per 10 seconds per API key
• 100 requests per 10 seconds per token

Requests are automatically queued and retried when limits are reached.

🐛 Error Handling

The server provides detailed error messages for:

• Invalid input parameters
• Rate limit exceeded
• API authentication errors
• Network issues
• Invalid board/list/card IDs
• Template loading failures

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

🤝 Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Add tests if applicable
5. Submit a pull request

📞 Support

For issues and questions:

• Create an issue in the repository
• Check the PROJECT_PLAN.md for implementation details
• Review the original mcp-server-trello documentation