MCP integration

Squadboard exposes board, project, run, capture, and routing tools through Model Context Protocol.

Connect clients

Use MCP from Copilot CLI, VS Code, or service clients.

Expose tools

Make board and run operations available without direct database access.

Capture work

Turn driver directives into inbox items, cards, or decision files.

Copilot CLI

Add Squadboard to ~/.copilot/mcp-config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "squadboard": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/squadboard/packages/cli/dist/index.js", "mcp"],
      "env": {
        "SQUADBOARD_SQUAD_STORAGE_PROVIDER": "postgresql",
        "SQUADBOARD_DEFAULT_PROJECT_ID": "project-uuid"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or let the CLI create a repo-local config:

squadboard connect

This writes .copilot/mcp-config.json and injects squad.agent.md hints into your project. Copilot CLI and squad.agent.md then use Squadboard as the broker for PostgreSQL-backed Squad state. Use squadboard connect when you want filesystem .squad/ fallback configured separately.

VS Code

Add a project-level .vscode/mcp.json:

{
  "servers": {
    "squadboard": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["packages/cli/dist/index.js", "mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Core tools

Tool	Purpose
list_projects	List Squadboard projects
list_issues	List board cards
create_issue	Create a card
update_issue	Update a card
run_agent	Trigger an agent run
get_run_status	Read run status and output
list_agents	List active, disabled, retired, or all agents
list_inbox	List capture inbox items
capture	Capture freeform work or done messages
slash_command	Execute a /squadboard command
get_routing	Read project routing metadata

GitHub run tools are also available for worktree-backed runs: branch push, PR open/comment/merge, workflow dispatch, workflow polling, workflow listing, default-branch lookup, branch listing, and authenticated-user lookup.

When using upstream Squad, register these as a squadboard tool bundle or MCP server recipe so Squad hooks can enforce policy before write tools run. See Squad tools and hooks.

Capture loop

Use capture for both issue-like work and done messages:

capture --prompt "Add a Docusaurus docs site" --hint issue
capture --prompt "done: Docusaurus docs site builds cleanly"