Automation Squad - MCP for Samsara

Complete Samsara Fleet Management integration for Claude AI
21 tools | Expert knowledge built-in | Beta

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⚠️ Important Disclaimer

UNOFFICIAL INTEGRATION: This is an unofficial third-party MCP server. It is:

• ❌ NOT affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Samsara Inc.
• ❌ NOT an official Samsara product
• ✅ Built using Samsara's public API with your own API credentials
• ✅ Fully compliant with Samsara's API terms of service

Samsara® is a registered trademark of Samsara Inc.

See NOTICE for the full third-party disclaimer. Licence: MIT.

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🎯 What This Does

Connects Claude AI to the Samsara Fleet Management API with:

✅ 21 tools across vehicles, routes, drivers, addresses, webhooks and contacts
✅ Expert knowledge built into every tool description
✅ Automatic state preservation (stop IDs, route data)
✅ Smart rate limiting (won't hit API limits)
✅ Route optimization (built-in efficiency algorithms)
✅ Production best practices (error handling, retries)

Tools Included

Vehicle Management (4 tools)

• List vehicles, get vehicle details, real-time locations, statistics

Route Management (6 tools) ⭐ Our specialty

• Create, update, delete routes
• Auto-preserve stop state (critical for time tracking!)
• Route optimization (minimize distance/time)
• List and get route details

Driver Management (4 tools)

• List drivers, get driver details
• Hours of Service (HOS) compliance tracking
• Safety event monitoring

Address & Location (2 tools)

• Create and manage saved addresses
• Geofence integration

Webhook Integration (3 tools)

• Real-time event notifications
• Route updates, vehicle events, etc.

Contact Management (2 tools)

• Create and manage contacts for route stops

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🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ installed
• Samsara API Token (Get one here)
• Claude Desktop or any MCP-compatible client

Installation

git clone https://github.com/AutomationSquadOS/mcp-samsara
cd mcp-samsara
npm install
npm run build

Note: the npm package @automationsquad/mcp-samsara is not published yet, so clone-and-build is the only install path that works today. When it ships, an npx one-liner will replace the steps above.

Configuration

Add to your Claude Desktop config file:

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

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "samsara": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/mcp-samsara/build/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "SAMSARA_API_TOKEN": "your-api-token-here",
        "SAMSARA_BASE_URL": "https://api.samsara.com"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace /absolute/path/to/mcp-samsara with wherever you cloned the repo. The path must be absolute — Claude Desktop does not resolve ~ or relative paths.

EU customers: Use https://api.eu.samsara.com for SAMSARA_BASE_URL

Restart Claude

Quit and reopen Claude Desktop. You should see the Samsara tools available!

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💡 Example Usage

Create a route with optimization

Create a delivery route called "Morning Zone 1" with these stops:
1. Warehouse: 123 Main St, Springfield
2. Customer A: 456 Oak Ave, Springfield  
3. Customer B: 789 Pine Rd, Springfield
4. Return to warehouse

Then optimize it for minimum distance.

Claude will:

1. Create the route with proper addresses
2. Automatically optimize stop order
3. Preserve all stop IDs for tracking
4. Assign vehicle/driver if requested

Track vehicle locations

Show me real-time locations for all vehicles currently on routes

Monitor driver compliance

Get HOS logs for driver John Smith for the past week and check for any violations

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🔥 What Makes This Better

vs. Building Direct API Integration

Feature	Direct API	This MCP
Setup time	Days	Minutes
Stop state preservation	Manual	Automatic
Rate limiting	DIY	Built-in
Error handling	Custom	Production-tested
Route optimization	Build yourself	Included
Best practices	Research needed	Built-in

vs. Official MCP (if one existed)

Feature	Hypothetical Official	Automation Squad
Tool count	~8-12 basic	21
API coverage	~10%	Fleet, routes, drivers, HOS, webhooks
Expert knowledge	❌	✅ Built-in
Route optimization	❌	✅ Included
State preservation	Manual	Automatic
Updates	Sporadic	Continuous

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🛠️ Architecture

Rate Limiting

Conservative 5 requests/second with automatic throttling and retry logic.

Error Handling

• Automatic retry on 429 (rate limit)
• Clear error messages
• Graceful degradation

State Preservation

Critical feature: When updating routes, we automatically:

1. Fetch existing route
2. Extract stop IDs
3. Preserve them in updates
4. Prevent data loss

This is a best practice that prevents losing arrival/departure times.

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📚 Documentation

Environment Variables

Variable	Required	Default	Description
SAMSARA_API_TOKEN	✅ Yes	-	Your Samsara API token
SAMSARA_BASE_URL	No	https://api.samsara.com	API base URL (use EU endpoint if needed)

Tool Naming Convention

All tools are prefixed with samsara_ for clarity:

• samsara_list_vehicles
• samsara_create_route
• samsara_get_driver_hos
• etc.

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🤝 TMS Integration

Use externalIds in routes/vehicles/drivers to link with your TMS:

{
  "externalIds": {
    "tmsOrderId": "ORD-12345",
    "customerId": "CUST-789"
  }
}

Then query by external ID:

Find the route linked to TMS order ORD-12345

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🐛 Troubleshooting

"Error: SAMSARA_API_TOKEN environment variable is required"

Set your API token in the Claude config file (see Configuration above).

"Samsara API error (401): Unauthorized"

Your API token is invalid or expired. Generate a new one in Samsara dashboard.

"Samsara API error (429): Too Many Requests"

The MCP will automatically retry. If you see this often, you may have other integrations hitting the API.

Tools not showing in Claude

1. Check config file syntax (valid JSON)
2. Restart Claude completely (quit and reopen)
3. Check Claude logs for errors

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📦 What's Included

mcp-samsara/
├── src/
│   └── index.ts          # Main MCP server
├── build/                # Compiled JavaScript
├── package.json          # NPM package config
├── tsconfig.json         # TypeScript config
├── README.md            # This file
└── LICENSE              # MIT License

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🔐 Security

• Your credentials stay local - API token is stored on your machine
• No data collection - We don't see your Samsara data
• Open source - Review the code yourself
• No phone-home - MCP runs entirely locally

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📈 Roadmap

• [ ] Add more tools (dispatch, assets, tags)
• [ ] Support for batch operations
• [ ] Enhanced optimization algorithms
• [ ] Multi-route optimization
• [ ] Fuel cost calculations
• [ ] Compliance reporting tools

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🎓 Learn More

• Samsara API Documentation
• MCP Protocol Specification
• Automation Squad Website

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💬 Support

Beta Users:

• Join the Automation Squad community
• Email: rob@matrix.digital
• GitHub Issues: Report a bug

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📝 License

MIT License - See LICENSE file for details

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🙏 Credits

Built with ❤️ by Automation Squad

Not affiliated with Samsara Inc. This is an independent integration using Samsara's public API.

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⭐ More from Automation Squad

Docs, install steps and what this server does not do: automationsquad.com/mcp/samsara

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Ready to automate your fleet management? Let's go! 🚀