Dovetail MCP server

Overview

The Dovetail MCP server enables AI models to securely access and search your Dovetail workspace using the Model Context Protocol.

Supported tools

Dovetail's MCP server can be used in different ways depending on your AI tool.

First-party integrations

These tools have built-in Dovetail integrations available through their app stores or marketplaces — no manual configuration needed:

ChatGPT
Figma Make

Hosted endpoint (custom configuration)

Any MCP client that supports Streamable HTTP transport and custom authentication headers can connect to the hosted Dovetail MCP endpoint (https://dovetail.com/api/mcp) using API token authentication. This includes tools like Cursor, Windsurf, Microsoft Copilot Studio, and many others.

Note: The hosted endpoint does not support OAuth 2.0 Dynamic Client Registration (DCR) or Client-Initiated Metadata Discovery (CIMD), and Dovetail does not expose a clientId or clientSecret for third-party tools. Your MCP client must support setting a custom Authorization header to pass a Dovetail API token.

See client configuration examples below for setup instructions.

Self-hosted server (STDIO transport)

For tools that only support the STDIO transport (e.g., Claude Desktop), you can run the Dovetail MCP server locally. See Self-hosted MCP server for setup instructions.

Quick start

If your tool supports Streamable HTTP transport, connect directly to Dovetail's hosted endpoint:

https://dovetail.com/api/mcp

This endpoint supports the MCP Streamable HTTP transport and handles authentication via OAuth 2.1 or API tokens.

Authentication

OAuth authentication

MCP clients that support OAuth can connect to the hosted endpoint and authenticate through your browser — no tokens to manage.

Add a new MCP server in your client with the URL https://dovetail.com/api/mcp
When prompted, sign in to Dovetail in your browser
Authorize the MCP client to access your workspace

The endpoint publishes OAuth Protected Resource Metadata at https://dovetail.com/.well-known/oauth-protected-resource/api/mcp, which compatible clients use to discover the authorization flow automatically.

Note: The hosted endpoint does not support OAuth 2.0 Dynamic Client Registration (DCR) or Client-Initiated Metadata Discovery (CIMD). If your MCP client requires DCR or CIMD for OAuth, you can use API token authentication instead.

API token authentication

For clients that support Bearer token authentication, or when using the self-hosted server, you can authenticate with a Dovetail API token.

Generate an API token in Dovetail (see Authorization)
Pass it as a Bearer token in the Authorization header:

Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_TOKEN>

Available tools

Tool	Description
`get_dovetail_projects`	List all projects in your workspace
`get_project_highlights`	Get highlights for a specific project
`list_project_insights`	List insights for a project
`get_project_insight`	Get a specific insight by ID
`get_insight_content`	Get insight content in markdown format
`list_project_data`	List data entries for a project
`get_project_data`	Get a specific data entry by ID
`get_data_content`	Get data content in markdown format
`search_workspace`	Search across all content in the workspace

Client configuration examples

Cursor

Navigate to Settings → Tools & MCP → Add Custom MCP and add the following configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dovetail-mcp": {
      "url": "https://dovetail.com/api/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer <YOUR_TOKEN>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace <YOUR_TOKEN> with your Dovetail API token (see Authorization).

Microsoft Copilot Studio

In the MCP onboarding wizard, configure:

Server URL: https://dovetail.com/api/mcp
Authentication: API key
Type: Header
Header name: Authorization
API key value: Bearer <YOUR_TOKEN>

Replace <YOUR_TOKEN> with your Dovetail API token (see Authorization).

Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop currently requires the self-hosted server for MCP connections.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dovetail": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["<path-to-index-js>"],
      "env": {
        "DOVETAIL_API_TOKEN": "<YOUR_TOKEN>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Testing with curl

You can test the endpoint directly:

curl -X POST https://dovetail.com/api/mcp \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_TOKEN>" \
  -d '{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "id": 1,
    "method": "tools/list",
    "params": {}
  }'

Self-hosted server

If your MCP client only supports STDIO transport (e.g., Claude Desktop), you can run the Dovetail MCP server locally with an API token. See Self-hosted MCP server for setup instructions.