mcp-basecamp — Basecamp MCP Server

Manage projects, to-dos, messages, schedules, and campfire chats in Basecamp.

Basecamp is the all-in-one project management and team communication platform. This MCP server gives your AI agents the ability to list and inspect projects, create and complete to-dos, post messages to message boards, and read schedule entries — making Basecamp a first-class integration for automated project management workflows.

Live endpoint: https://mcp.aerostack.dev/s/aerostack/mcp-basecamp

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What You Can Do

• List all projects in your Basecamp account and inspect their tools (dock) to find message boards, to-do sets, and schedules
• Create to-do items with assignees and due dates, and mark them complete when work is done
• Post messages to project message boards for announcements, status updates, or automated reports
• Read schedule entries to check upcoming events, deadlines, and milestones

Setup (Important — read before using)

Step 1: Get a Basecamp OAuth Access Token

Basecamp 4 uses OAuth 2 for authentication. You need a valid access token:

1. Register an integration at launchpad.37signals.com/integrations
2. Complete the OAuth 2 flow to obtain an access token
3. Alternatively, for personal use, you can use a personal access token from the integration settings

Important: Basecamp requires a User-Agent header on all API requests. This MCP server sends AerostackMCP (hello@aerostack.dev) automatically.

Step 2: Find Your Account ID

Your Basecamp account ID is the number in your Basecamp URL:

https://3.basecamp.com/YOUR_ACCOUNT_ID/projects

For example, if your URL is https://3.basecamp.com/4567890/projects, your account ID is 4567890.

Step 3: Add to Aerostack Workspace

1. Go to your Aerostack workspace → Add Server → search "Basecamp"
2. Paste your BASECAMP_ACCESS_TOKEN when prompted
3. Paste your BASECAMP_ACCOUNT_ID when prompted
4. Click Test to verify the connection

Available Tools

Tool	Description
list_projects	List all active (or archived/trashed) projects in the account
get_project	Get project details including its dock (message board ID, to-do set ID, schedule ID)
list_todolists	List all to-do lists in a project's to-do set
get_todolist	Get a to-do list with its items
create_todo	Create a new to-do with optional assignees and due date
complete_todo	Mark a to-do item as completed
list_messages	List messages on a project's message board
create_message	Post a new message to a project's message board
list_schedule_entries	List schedule entries (events) for a project

Workflow: Finding IDs

Basecamp's API is hierarchical. To create a to-do, you need the to-do set ID from the project dock:

1. Call list_projects to get the project ID
2. Call get_project with the project ID — the dock array contains entries like { name: "todoset", id: 12345 }
3. Use that todoset ID as todoset_id in list_todolists
4. Use a to-do list ID from the results as todolist_id in create_todo

The same pattern applies for message boards (message_board in dock) and schedules (schedule in dock).

Configuration

Variable	Required	Description
BASECAMP_ACCESS_TOKEN	Yes	Basecamp OAuth 2 access token
BASECAMP_ACCOUNT_ID	Yes	Your Basecamp account ID (number from URL)

Troubleshooting

Error	Cause	Fix
HTTP 401	Access token is expired or invalid	Re-authenticate via OAuth 2 and update the token
HTTP 403	Token doesn't have access to this project	Verify the token's account has access to the project
HTTP 404	Wrong account ID, project ID, or resource ID	Double-check all IDs — use list_projects and get_project to discover correct IDs
HTTP 429	Rate limited (50 requests per 10 seconds)	Wait and retry — Basecamp enforces strict rate limits

Example Prompts

"List all my Basecamp projects and show me the to-do lists in the Marketing project"
"Create a to-do in the Q2 Launch list: Review landing page copy, due next Friday"
"Mark the 'Update DNS records' to-do as complete"
"Post a message to the Engineering message board with this week's deploy summary"
"Show me all schedule entries for the Product Roadmap project"

Direct API Call

curl -X POST https://mcp.aerostack.dev/s/aerostack/mcp-basecamp \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'X-Mcp-Secret-BASECAMP-ACCESS-TOKEN: your-oauth-token' \
  -H 'X-Mcp-Secret-BASECAMP-ACCOUNT-ID: 4567890' \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"list_projects","arguments":{}}}'

License

MIT