Early MCP Server

A complete Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Early (formerly Timeular) time tracking API v4.

Use natural language to track time, manage activities, generate reports, and more—directly from Claude.

Quick Start

1. Get API Credentials

1. Go to Early Account Settings
2. Scroll to the bottom to find the API section
3. Generate your API Key and API Secret

2. Install

git clone https://github.com/weichselbaum/early-mcp.git
cd early-mcp
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

3. Configure Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude Desktop config file:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "early": {
      "command": "/absolute/path/to/early-mcp/venv/bin/python",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/early-mcp/early_mcp.py"],
      "env": {
        "EARLY_API_KEY": "your_api_key_here",
        "EARLY_API_SECRET": "your_api_secret_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

4. Restart Claude Desktop

The Early tools should now appear in Claude.

Usage Examples

Start tracking:

"Start tracking on LWX"

Check current timer:

"What am I working on?"

Stop with note:

"Stop tracking, note: finished feature implementation"

Log time manually:

"Log 2 hours on Meeting yesterday from 2pm to 4pm"

Weekly report:

"Show me my time report for last week"

Manage tags:

"Create a tag called 'urgent' in my Income folder"

Features

46 tools covering the complete Early API:

Category	Tools	Description
User	2	Get current user, list team users
Tracking	5	Start, stop, edit, cancel, get current
Time Entries	5	List, get, create, edit, delete
Activities	5	List, create, edit, archive, unarchive
Folders	10	Full CRUD + member management
Tags	4	List, create, update, delete
Mentions	3	Create, update, delete
Leaves	5	Create, approve, deny, delete
Webhooks	5	List events, subscribe, unsubscribe
Reports	2	Generate report, today summary

API Notes

Time Formats

All times use ISO 8601: 2024-01-15T14:30:00.000

Minimum Duration

Time entries require at least 1 minute duration.

Tags & Mentions in Notes

Special syntax for notes:

• Tags: <{{|t|TAG_ID|}}>
• Mentions: <{{|m|MENTION_ID|}}>

Development

# Run locally
python early_mcp.py

# Test with MCP Inspector
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector python early_mcp.py

License

MIT - see LICENSE

API Documentation

The docs/ folder contains reference documentation for developers who want to understand the Early API or build custom implementations:

• EARLY_API_V4_REFERENCE.md - Markdown reference covering all endpoints, parameters, and response formats
• early_api_v4_collection.json - Full Postman collection export

How the docs were sourced

The JSON collection was exported from Early's official Postman workspace. Click "Run in Postman" (top right), fork the collection to your own workspace, then export as JSON. The collection is maintained by Timeular (Early's parent company).

Links

• Early App
• Early API Docs
• MCP Protocol
• Claude Desktop

Roadmap

See ROADMAP.md for planned features and ideas. Feedback welcome!