How to connect Trello with Claude Code (4 steps)

Agents that need to create cards, move items, or surface overdue tasks in Trello have to navigate OAuth, manage board-specific permissions, and maintain credentials for every connected workspace.

To help your developers read board state, manage cards, and automate task workflows more easily from their terminal, we'll show you how to connect Trello with Merge Agent Handler's Trello MCP server.

How it works

Merge Agent Handler connects Claude Code to the Trello API through a single CLI setup.

You install the Merge CLI, authenticate once with your Merge Agent Handler account, and register the connection with one command.

Merge handles Trello's OAuth token storage and refresh, so you never manage API keys or worry about token expiration across workspaces.

Here's the command that registers the connection:

claude mcp add 
--transport http agent-handler https://ah-api.merge.dev/mcp

Prerequisites

Before getting started, you'll need the following:

• A Merge Agent Handler account
• Claude Code installed (run claude --version to confirm)
• pipx installed (run pipx --version to confirm, or install via pip install pipx)
• A Trello account with access to the boards you want to connect

If you want to connect Merge Agent Handler's Trello MCP with internal or customer-facing agentic products, you can follow the steps in our docs.

1. Install the Merge CLI

Install with pipx: pipx install merge-api

Then confirm the installation: merge --version

Related: How to use a Jira MCP in Claude Code

2. Configure the CLI and log in

Run the interactive setup: merge configure

This walks you through linking the CLI to your Merge account by prompting for your API key and setting your default workspace preferences.

Then log in: merge login

Once login completes, the CLI can make authorized API requests on your behalf.

3. Add Agent Handler to Claude Code

Register the Agent Handler MCP server with Claude Code:

claude mcp add 
--transport http agent-handler https://ah-api.merge.dev/mcp

Open Claude Code and run: /mcp

agent-handler should appear under Local MCPs with a connected status.

4. Authenticate Trello

Select agent-handler from the MCP list. This opens a browser window where you select which integrations to authenticate.

Choose Trello and complete the OAuth flow. Merge stores and manages the credentials going forward.

The first time you use a Trello tool in a Claude Code session, a Magic Link may appear to complete connector authentication.

Once authenticated, you won't need to re-authenticate unless you revoke access.

To confirm the connector is accessible, open a Claude Code session and run a command like "Show me all cards assigned to me across my active boards that are due this week."

{{this-blog-only-cta}}

Trello MCP FAQ

In case you have more questions on setting up and using the Trello MCP in Claude Code, we've addressed several more commonly-asked questions below.

What can you do once the Trello MCP is connected to Claude Code?

With Trello connected, Claude Code can:

• List boards and cards: retrieve all boards a user has access to, including their lists and cards, with filters for due date, label, or assigned member

• Create and update cards: add new cards to any list with a title, description, due date, and label, or update existing card fields when triggered by an external event

• Move cards between lists: transition cards from one stage to another, enabling agents to automate status updates when conditions are met in another system

• Add comments and attachments: post comments on cards and attach files or URLs, useful for agents that need to log activity or link related resources to a task

• Manage checklists: create checklists, add items, and mark items complete, allowing agents to track multi-step task completion within a single card

• Search across boards: run keyword searches across cards, members, and boards to locate relevant tasks without knowing their exact location

Why use Merge Agent Handler vs. a self-hosted Trello MCP server?

You can build directly on Trello's REST API. Atlassian's documentation is thorough, OAuth is well-supported, and for a single workspace with one user the setup is manageable. Several community MCP servers have already been built on top of the Trello API if you want a faster starting point.

The problem is workspace and user scale. Trello OAuth tokens are scoped to individual user accounts. If your agent needs to read or write cards across multiple workspaces or on behalf of multiple users, each requires a separate authorization flow, a separate token pair, and its own refresh cycle. A community MCP server handles none of that for you; you still own the credential storage and the token refresh logic.

Atlassian doesn't offer an official Trello MCP server, so there's no supported path beyond Merge or a community build. Community implementations vary in maintenance quality and have no audit logging, DLP controls, or enterprise support.

Merge Agent Handler handles multi-user OAuth across Trello workspaces and manages token refresh centrally. You can also scope which Trello tools a given agent can access: a card creation agent, for example, ca use create_card and get_board_lists but not delete_board or remove_board_member. And every tool call is logged with the timestamp, tool name, and inputs.

Why connect Trello to Claude Code?

Trello is where task state lives for teams that prefer a visual, board-based workflow. Developers who need agents to interact with that state—creating cards from upstream events, updating card status based on external triggers, or surfacing overdue items across boards—currently have to wire up a Trello integration from scratch each time a new workflow needs it.

With the Trello MCP connected, Claude Code can query board state, manage cards, and update task metadata without leaving the terminal.

This matters most when Trello is one node in a larger automated workflow: a card gets created when a new support ticket is filed, a checklist item is checked when a deployment succeeds, or a weekly summary is generated from cards that moved to Done in the last seven days.