Grist MCP Server

Overview

Grist MCP Server is the official remote MCP endpoint for Grist. It lets MCP clients work with Grist documents, team sites, workspaces, tables, records, schema, pages, widgets, and attachments through the user's existing Grist permissions.

Installation

No local package installation is required for Hosted Grist. Configure a remote MCP connection to:

https://docs.getgrist.com/api/mcp

Claude Code setup documented by Grist:

claude mcp add --transport http grist https://docs.getgrist.com/api/mcp

ChatGPT and other remote-capable MCP clients should use the Grist MCP URL as the server URL and OAuth when prompted.

Configuration

Hosted Grist uses the single remote URL https://docs.getgrist.com/api/mcp. Self-hosted deployments use this URL pattern:

https://<your-grist-host>/api/mcp

On full-edition self-hosted Grist, enable MCP with GRIST_MCP_ENABLED=true. For interactive sign-in through clients such as Claude or ChatGPT, enable GRIST_ENABLE_OIDC_SERVER=true and list trusted CIMD hosts in GRIST_OIDC_CIMD_ALLOWED_HOSTS, for example claude.ai,chatgpt.com. Clients that cannot use CIMD require a registered Grist OAuth app.

Authentication

The hosted endpoint is OAuth protected. Grist also documents API-key authentication through Authorization: Bearer <token>. OAuth access uses Grist's authorization server at https://login.getgrist.com/ and supports scopes including identity/profile scopes, offline_access, doc:read, doc:write, doc.schema:write, doc:download, and doc:webhooks. Users can grant access to all documents or selected team sites, workspaces, and documents, then adjust or revoke access in Authorized apps.

Capabilities

Documented tool groups include discovery (list_orgs, list_workspaces, list_docs, get_doc_info, get_user_profile, help), reading (query_document, list_records, get_tables, get_table_columns, list_snapshots, get_grist_access_rules_reference), writing (add_records, update_records, remove_records), document/schema management (create_doc, create_table, add_table_column, update_table_column, rename_table, remove_table, remove_table_column), pages/widgets, and attachments (list_attachments, get_attachment_url). Actual tool calls are prefixed with grist_.

Data Handling and Limitations

Transport is HTTPS/TLS. The MCP server stores no data of its own and enforces existing Grist account permissions and access rules. Data returned by tools is sent to the MCP client's AI provider. The doc:download scope is documented but not currently used by any MCP tool. Hosted Grist MCP is currently available to all users at no extra cost, but the docs note this may change. Self-hosted MCP requires the full edition of Grist.