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Canny MCP Server

Canny MCP Server: How to set up Canny's MCP server so you can access Canny data in your AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude and Cursor.

Written by Canny

What is the Canny MCP Server?

The Canny MCP Server lets AI tools securely interact with your Canny data using the Model Context Protocol (MCP). MCP provides a way for apps and AI models to communicate through a safe, permission-based interface. In simple terms: it's a way to give an AI controlled access to Canny data.

The MCP Server currently works with ChatGPT, Claude, Claude Code, and Cursor. It's also available on the OpenAI marketplace as a one-click connector for ChatGPT users.

ℹ️ Plan and access requirements:

  • The Canny MCP Server is available to teams using Canny Ideas

  • First-time install requires an Owner role.

  • After that, any teammate can authorize additional connectors. Per-tool access is governed by their Canny role.

  • Contributors can connect to the MCP Server. Available tools follow their Canny role permissions — they can read data, create ideas, and edit ideas within the fields their role allows.

With the MCP server, you can:

  • Pull structured data about your feedback (groups, MRR, insights, opportunity values, etc.) into your AI workflows 📊

  • Automate common tasks like summarizing, querying, deduplicating, and analyzing feedback 🤖

  • Build custom AI-powered tools that operate on your Canny data without sharing your API key directly 🛠️

Available tools

The MCP server ships with over 55 tools, and we add more regularly. Access to each tool is governed by the connecting user's Canny role.

Tools available to all roles, including Contributors:

add_user_to_company
create_company
create_idea
create_insight
create_portal_comment
create_user
link_opportunity
list_admins
list_board_categories
list_board_tags
list_boards
list_changelog_entries
list_changelog_labels
list_comments
list_companies
list_groups
list_idea_fields
list_idea_filtering_operations
list_idea_statuses
list_idea_themes
list_ideas
list_insights
list_portal_comments
list_portal_statuses
list_segment_fields
list_segment_operations
list_segments
list_users
list_views
move_idea
retrieve_company
retrieve_group
retrieve_idea
retrieve_user
send_to_autopilot
unlink_opportunity
update_idea
update_portal_category
update_portal_comment

Tools available to Managers and Owners only:

create_changelog_entry
create_group
create_view
delete_changelog_entry
delete_group
delete_idea
delete_insight
delete_portal_comment
delete_view
merge_ideas
move_insight
remove_user_from_company
update_changelog_entry
update_changelog_entry_status
update_group
update_insight
update_portal_status
update_view

For teams on a Business plan using custom roles, each tool that writes data maps to a specific permission (read-only list_ and retrieve_ tools require none). Grant the matching permission on a custom role to expose the tool:

  • Create ideas — create_idea, send_to_autopilot

  • Create insights — create_insight

  • Create public comments — create_portal_comment, update_portal_comment

  • Move ideas — move_idea

  • View user details — create_company, add_user_to_company

  • Manage insights — update_insight, delete_insight, move_insight

  • Manage groups — create_group, update_group, delete_group

  • Manage views — create_view, update_view, delete_view

  • Manage changelog — create_changelog_entry, update_changelog_entry, update_changelog_entry_status, delete_changelog_entry

  • Merge/unmerge ideas — merge_ideas

  • Delete ideas — delete_idea

  • Delete comments — delete_portal_comment

  • Delete users — remove_user_from_company

  • Change portal feedback status — update_portal_status

create_user, update_idea, update_portal_category, link_opportunity, and unlink_opportunity don't require a dedicated permission. See Admin roles for details.

update_idea additionally enforces per-field permissions: each field you ask the AI to change must be one the connecting user is already allowed to change in the Canny UI.

More tools are added regularly. The OpenAI marketplace version may lag behind the latest set of tools — for the full set, install the custom app following the steps below.

Common use cases

  • Triage and deduplication — ask the AI to find similar ideas, suggest merges, or summarize a backlog.

  • Customer impact analysis — ask the AI to surface ideas with the highest opportunity value, MRR, or insight count from a specific segment.

  • Roadmap reasoning — feed the AI your views and statuses and ask for prioritization suggestions based on your scoring formula.

  • Custom workflow automation — wire the MCP into your own AI agents to update statuses, create ideas, or generate reports.

Quick install: ChatGPT (OpenAI marketplace)

The fastest way to connect Canny to ChatGPT is via the OpenAI marketplace.

  1. Open the Canny app in the OpenAI marketplace.

  2. Click Connect and authorize Canny.

Note: the marketplace version contains a published subset of tools. To get every available tool, install the custom app using the Developer Mode steps below.

Custom install: ChatGPT (Developer Mode)

For the full toolset, install the Canny MCP server as a custom connector. You'll need Developer Mode enabled in ChatGPT for this.

ℹ️ To set up MCP with Developer Mode, you must be on a paid OpenAI plan.

  1. Open https://chatgpt.com/#settings/Connectors

  2. Click Advanced settings.
    You must be an Admin in ChatGPT and an Owner in Canny to see this option.

  3. Enable Developer Mode and click Create app.

  4. Complete with the following values:

    1. Name: Canny

    2. MCP Server URL: https://api.canny.io/api/mcp/v1

    3. Authentication: OAuth

    4. OAuth Client ID: 178e57a0-38d4-980f-8897-59fadb753956

    5. OAuth Client Secret: f33ccf69-8dba-07f5-2828-957805815c67

    6. Optionally, use this Canny logo as the icon.

  5. Click Publish under the overflow menu so other users on your ChatGPT workspace can use the connector.

    Note: The Connector is available to every ChatGPT user even if they are not a Canny admin. For teams on OpenAI Enterprise plans, you can scope the Connector to Managers and Owners depending on account settings.

How to set up the MCP Server with Claude

ℹ️

  • To set up MCP with Claude, you must be on a paid Claude plan.

  • Install is also supported in Claude Code.

  1. Open https://claude.ai/settings/connectors

  2. Click Add custom connector.

  3. Complete with the following values:

    1. Name: Canny

    2. MCP Server URL: https://api.canny.io/api/mcp/v1

    3. Authentication: OAuth

    4. OAuth Client ID: 8479d278-a288-4fc0-9c60-bdb8ba6dbbce

    5. OAuth Client Secret: d883ac5e-03c7-4fcb-9950-7134e7a67888

  4. Click Connect.

How to set up the MCP Server with Cursor

  1. Open https://cursor.com/

  2. Go to Settings → Cursor Settings → MCP.

  3. Click Add new MCP server. This opens a text file, mcp.json.

  4. Add the following entry to mcpServers:

    {  "mcpServers": {    "canny": {      "url": "https://api.canny.io/api/mcp/v1",      "auth": {        "CLIENT_ID": "199f9f08-b723-c80d-af03-70a66e75e8d2",        "CLIENT_SECRET": "93e0cbf1-3eb7-2f10-80b9-183694d2e5fb"      }    }  }}

Things to note

  • If you don't see your AI tool listed and want it supported, let us know here.

  • Tools and permissions are evolving. We may extend Contributor access or lock down certain functionality based on Ideas-specific permission rules.

  • The OpenAI marketplace version is updated periodically. The custom app install gives you the latest tools as soon as they ship.

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