Claude Integration

Connect Commons to Claude Desktop, Claude Code, and any MCP-compatible AI assistant. Query your teams, projects, updates, and workflows using natural language.

MCP Protocol26 tools available

What you can do

Query your teams & projects

Ask Claude about project statuses, team members, contributors, and timelines.

Browse updates & comments

Search and read updates, view comment threads, and track reactions across your org.

Review standups & retros

Get standup submissions, retro insights, action items, and team health summaries.

Generate reports & summaries

Use built-in prompts for weekly status reports, project briefings, and team health checks.

Post updates from Claude

Create updates and add comments directly from your AI assistant.

Explore design critiques

Review crit sessions, nominations, feedback, and design review history.

Things you can ask Claude

>What should I focus on today? Check my action items and what my team posted yesterday.
>Summarize last week's standup for the Platform team
>Who are the contributors on the Homepage Redesign project and what's the latest update?
>Draft a weekly rollup based on project updates from the past 7 days
>How is the Mobile team doing? Show me their recent retro and any open action items.
>Prep me for tomorrow's crit — what are we reviewing and what should I look for?
>Which projects have no updates in the past two weeks?
>What are all the pending action items from our last retro?

How to set up

  1. 1

    Create an API key

    Go to your organization settings → API Keys and create a key with the "MCP Server" permission preset.

    Personal use → User Key dc_

    For your own Claude Desktop or Claude Code. Updates and comments appear as you.

    Shared / team use → Service Key dc_svc_

    For bots, CI/CD, or shared automations. Actions appear as "Service Bot."

  2. 2

    Configure your client

    Claude Desktop / Claude Enterprise

    {
  "mcpServers": {
    "designcommons": {
      "url": "https://trycommons.com/api/mcp/http",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

    Claude Code (CLI)

    claude mcp add designcommons \
  --transport http \
  --url https://trycommons.com/api/mcp/http \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
  3. 3

    Start asking questions

    Open Claude and ask about your teams, projects, or updates. Claude will automatically use the Commons tools to fetch the data.

How Claude understands your data

Claude automatically reads a usage guide from your Commons workspace when you connect. It knows how to navigate your data, resolve team and project names to IDs without asking you, and compose multi-step queries.

  • •Never need to say "teamId xyz" — just say "Platform team"
  • •Ask in natural language
  • •Commons is the structured record — Claude goes there for team rituals, project status, and action items

Available tools

26 tools across 7 categories, plus 5 browsable resources and 5 prompt templates.

Teams

get_teamsget_teamget_team_members

Projects

get_projectsget_projectsearch_projects

Updates & Comments

get_updatesget_updatecreate_updateadd_commentget_commentssearch_updates

Standups

get_standup_sessionsget_standup_sessionget_standup_config

Retros & Crits

get_retro_sessionsget_retro_sessionget_crit_sessionsget_crit_session

Rollups

get_rollupsget_rollup

Organization

get_membersget_membersearch_membersget_action_itemsget_activity_feedget_org_summary

Security & permissions

  • •API key authentication — All requests require a valid API key. No passwords or OAuth tokens needed.
  • •Scoped permissions — Each key only has access to the permissions you grant (read teams, read projects, write updates, etc.).
  • •Two key types — User keys (dc_) attribute actions to you. Service keys (dc_svc_) attribute actions to "Service Bot" for shared automations.
  • •Revocable anytime — Delete or rotate keys from your organization settings at any time.
  • •HTTPS only — All data transmitted over TLS-encrypted connections.

Need help? Check the integration docs or reach out to support.