fortis-trello-mcp

MCP server that lets Claude Desktop manage our Fortis robotics Trello board. Talk to Claude in plain english and it handles cards, assignments, labels, blocking, weekly recurring tasks, etc.

Setup

You need Node.js installed (v20+).

git clone git@github.com:nthankas/fortis-trello-mcp.git
cd fortis-trello-mcp
npm install
npm run build

Then you need three things from Trello:

• API Key — get it at https://trello.com/power-ups/admin (click "New", grab the API key)
• Token — on that same page, click "Token" next to your key and authorize it
• Board ID — open the board in a browser, the ID is in the URL: trello.com/b/{THIS_PART}/...

Add this to your Claude Desktop config file (claude_desktop_config.json):

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

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "fortis-trello": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/fortis-trello-mcp/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "TRELLO_API_KEY": "your-api-key",
        "TRELLO_TOKEN": "your-token",
        "TRELLO_BOARD_ID": "your-board-id"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace the path in args with wherever you cloned the repo. Restart Claude Desktop.

What you can do

Just talk to Claude naturally. Some examples:

• "show me the board"
• "what's in the backlog?"
• "add a card called 'redesign motor mount' to This Sprint, assign NT and RC, label Chassis, due Friday"
• "move motor mount to In Progress"
• "mark motor mount as done"
• "block sensor calibration — waiting on IMU shipment"
• "unblock sensor calibration, put it back in This Sprint"
• "create this week's recurring cards"
• "search for anything about wiring"
• "archive old prototype test"

Card names are fuzzy matched so you don't have to type them exactly. Members are referenced by initials (NT, AP, CP, RC, CC) and labels by subsystem name (Simulation, Chassis, Arm, Embedded/Compute, Power/Electrical, Winch/Tether, Documentation, Procurement).

Tools

Tool	What it does
get_board_overview	snapshot of all lists + card details for active lists
get_cards_in_list	all cards in a specific list
add_card	create a card with name, list, description, due date, members, labels
move_card	move a card between lists
complete_card	mark done, auto-routes to the right Done list by subsystem label
update_card	change name, description, due date, add/remove members or labels
block_card	move to Blocked with a reason
unblock_card	move out of Blocked
create_weekly_recurring	generates weekly task cards (reports, gantt, trello maintenance)
search_cards	search card names and descriptions
archive_card	archive a card

Notes

• Trello API calls are rate-limited to 10/sec
• Board metadata (lists, labels, members) is cached for 60 seconds
• Never hardcode API keys — they go in the Claude Desktop config as env vars