Autotask

Autotask MCP Server

Give your AI assistant direct access to Autotask. Search tickets, create time entries, look up companies, manage projects — all through natural language. No more copy-pasting between browser tabs and chat windows.

This is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that connects Claude (or any MCP-compatible AI) to your Autotask PSA environment. Your AI assistant gets 101 tools covering the operations MSP teams use daily: ticket triage, time logging, company lookups, project management, billing review, and more.

If you run an MSP on Autotask and you're tired of the context-switching tax, this is for you.

Part of the MSP Claude Plugins ecosystem — a growing suite of AI integrations for the MSP stack including Datto RMM, IT Glue, HaloPSA, ConnectWise Automate, NinjaOne, Huntress, and more. Built by MSPs, for MSPs.

One-Click Deployment

Note — no GitHub Packages token required. Unlike most WYRE MCP servers, autotask-mcp does not depend on a private @wyre-ai/* package on GitHub Packages. Its only WYRE dependency is the autotask-node SDK, declared as a git dependency on the public WYRE-AI/autotask-node repo, which npm install resolves anonymously. The DigitalOcean one-click deploy therefore works without any NODE_AUTH_TOKEN/GITHUB_TOKEN build variable.

Quick Start

Claude Desktop — download, open, done:

1. Download autotask-mcp.mcpb from the latest release
2. Open the file (double-click or drag into Claude Desktop)
3. Enter your Autotask credentials when prompted (Username, Secret, Integration Code)

No terminal, no JSON editing, no Node.js install required.

Claude Code (CLI):

claude mcp add autotask-mcp \
  -e AUTOTASK_USERNAME=your-user@company.com \
  -e AUTOTASK_SECRET=your-secret \
  -e AUTOTASK_INTEGRATION_CODE=your-code \
  -- npx -y github:WYRE-AI/autotask-mcp

See Installation for Docker and from-source methods.

Features

• 🔌 MCP Protocol Compliance: Full support for MCP resources and tools
• 🎴 Interactive Ticket Card (MCP Apps): autotask_get_ticket_details renders as an interactive card in MCP Apps hosts (Claude Desktop/web) with an in-card "Add note" round-trip; neutral theme by default, brandable via MCP_BRAND_* env vars; plain-JSON behavior is unchanged in other hosts
• 🛠️ Comprehensive API Coverage: 101 tools spanning companies, contacts, tickets, projects, billing items, time entries, notes, attachments, and more
• 🔍 Advanced Search: Powerful search capabilities with filters across all entities
• 📝 CRUD Operations: Create, read, update operations for core Autotask entities
• 🔄 ID-to-Name Mapping: Automatic resolution of company and resource IDs to human-readable names
• ⚡ Intelligent Caching: Smart caching system for improved performance and reduced API calls
• 🔒 Secure Authentication: Enterprise-grade API security with Autotask credentials
• 🌐 Dual Transport: Supports both stdio (local) and HTTP Streamable (remote/Docker) transports
• 📦 MCPB Packaging: One-click installation via MCP Bundle for desktop clients
• 🐳 Docker Ready: Containerized deployment with HTTP transport and health checks
• 📊 Structured Logging: Comprehensive logging with configurable levels and formats
• 🧪 Test Coverage: Comprehensive test suite with 80%+ coverage

Table of Contents

• Installation
• Configuration
  • Gateway Mode
• Usage
• API Reference
• ID-to-Name Mapping
• HTTP Transport
• Docker Deployment
• Migration Guide
• Development
• Testing
• Troubleshooting
• Contributing
• Contributors
• License

Installation

Option 1: MCPB Bundle (Claude Desktop)

The simplest method — no terminal, no JSON editing, no Node.js install required.

1. Download autotask-mcp.mcpb from the latest release
2. Open the file (double-click or drag into Claude Desktop)
3. Enter your Autotask credentials when prompted (Username, Secret, Integration Code)

For Claude Code (CLI), one command:

claude mcp add autotask-mcp \
  -e AUTOTASK_USERNAME=your-user@company.com \
  -e AUTOTASK_SECRET=your-secret \
  -e AUTOTASK_INTEGRATION_CODE=your-code \
  -- npx -y github:WYRE-AI/autotask-mcp

Option 2: Docker

Local (stdio — for Claude Desktop or Claude Code):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "autotask": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run", "--rm", "-i",
        "-e", "MCP_TRANSPORT=stdio",
        "-e", "AUTOTASK_USERNAME=your-user@company.com",
        "-e", "AUTOTASK_SECRET=your-secret",
        "-e", "AUTOTASK_INTEGRATION_CODE=your-code",
        "--entrypoint", "node",
        "ghcr.io/wyre-ai/autotask-mcp:latest",
        "dist/entry.js"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Remote (HTTP Streamable — for server deployments):

docker run -d \
  --name autotask-mcp \
  -p 127.0.0.1:8080:8080 \
  -e CONDUIT_S2S_SECRET="your-real-s2s-secret" \
  -e AUTOTASK_USERNAME="your-user@company.com" \
  -e AUTOTASK_SECRET="your-secret" \
  -e AUTOTASK_INTEGRATION_CODE="your-code" \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  ghcr.io/wyre-ai/autotask-mcp:latest

# Verify (health does not require X-Gateway-S2S)
curl http://127.0.0.1:8080/health

The HTTP server refuses to start when CONDUIT_S2S_SECRET is empty or a known placeholder. Clients connect to http://127.0.0.1:8080/mcp using MCP Streamable HTTP transport and must send X-Gateway-S2S. See X-Gateway-S2S signing.

Gateway Mode (for MCP Gateway deployments):

When deploying behind an MCP Gateway that injects credentials via HTTP headers. This container has no static Autotask credentials:

docker run -d \
  --name autotask-mcp \
  -p 127.0.0.1:8080:8080 \
  -e CONDUIT_S2S_SECRET="your-real-s2s-secret" \
  -e AUTH_MODE=gateway \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  ghcr.io/wyre-ai/autotask-mcp:latest

The gateway injects credentials via headers:

• X-Gateway-S2S: service-to-service proof (required on /mcp)
• X-API-Key: Autotask username
• X-API-Secret: Autotask secret
• X-Integration-Code: Autotask integration code
• X-Impersonation-Resource-Id: (optional) Autotask resource ID to act on behalf of

A /mcp request missing any of the three Autotask headers returns 401 and does not fall back to AUTOTASK_* in the environment. See Gateway Mode for details.

Option 3: From Source (Development)

git clone https://github.com/WYRE-AI/autotask-mcp.git
cd autotask-mcp
npm ci && npm run build

Then point your MCP client at dist/entry.js:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "autotask": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/autotask-mcp/dist/entry.js"],
      "env": {
        "AUTOTASK_USERNAME": "your-user@company.com",
        "AUTOTASK_SECRET": "your-secret",
        "AUTOTASK_INTEGRATION_CODE": "your-code"
      }
    }
  }
}

Prerequisites

• Valid Autotask API credentials (API user email, secret, integration code)
• MCP-compatible client (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, etc.)
• Docker (for Option 2) or Node.js 18+ (for Option 3)

Configuration

Environment Variables

Create a .env file with your configuration:

# Required Autotask API credentials (Local Mode)
AUTOTASK_USERNAME=your-api-user@example.com
AUTOTASK_SECRET=your-secret-key
AUTOTASK_INTEGRATION_CODE=your-integration-code

# Optional configuration
# AUTOTASK_API_URL is auto-detected from AUTOTASK_USERNAME via Autotask's
# unauthenticated zoneInformation endpoint on first connect. Only set this
# explicitly to override auto-detection (e.g. for an on-prem proxy).
# AUTOTASK_API_URL=https://webservices2.autotask.net/atservicesrest/
MCP_SERVER_NAME=autotask-mcp

# Authentication mode
AUTH_MODE=env               # env (local), gateway (hosted)

# Required to start HTTP. Empty and known placeholders are rejected.
# Never commit a real value. stdio does not use this.
CONDUIT_S2S_SECRET=

# Local HTTP only. Exactly "1" skips X-Gateway-S2S and forces 127.0.0.1.
# MCP_ALLOW_INSECURE_DEV=1

# Transport (stdio for local/desktop, http for remote/Docker)
MCP_TRANSPORT=stdio          # stdio, http
MCP_HTTP_PORT=8080           # HTTP transport port (only used when MCP_TRANSPORT=http)
# Honored when CONDUIT_S2S_SECRET is set. Without a usable secret the bind is 127.0.0.1.
MCP_HTTP_HOST=0.0.0.0        # HTTP transport bind address

# Logging
LOG_LEVEL=info          # error, warn, info, debug
LOG_FORMAT=simple       # simple, json

# Search-result name enrichment
# Max concurrent Autotask API calls used to resolve company/resource names on
# search results. Kept low to stay under Autotask's per-integration
# concurrent-thread limit (raising it risks HTTP 429 "thread threshold").
AUTOTASK_ENHANCE_CONCURRENCY=3

# Max Autotask REST calls in flight per tenant. Further calls queue instead of
# tripping the concurrent-thread limit (HTTP 429 "thread threshold").
AUTOTASK_MAX_INFLIGHT=3

# Environment
NODE_ENV=production

Gateway Mode

When deployed behind an MCP Gateway (e.g., mcp.wyre.ai), the server operates in gateway mode where credentials are injected via HTTP headers on each request.

Enable Gateway Mode:

AUTH_MODE=gateway
MCP_TRANSPORT=http
CONDUIT_S2S_SECRET=<gateway-provisioned secret>

Every /mcp request must include a valid X-Gateway-S2S header and the three Autotask credential headers. A request missing any credential header returns 401. The server does not fall back to AUTOTASK_USERNAME, AUTOTASK_SECRET, or AUTOTASK_INTEGRATION_CODE in the process environment.

Expected Headers:

Header	Description
X-Gateway-S2S	Service-to-service proof. t=<unix seconds>,v1=<hex hmac-sha256>. Required on /mcp whenever CONDUIT_S2S_SECRET is set. See X-Gateway-S2S signing.
X-API-Key	Autotask API username (email)
X-API-Secret	Autotask API secret key
X-Integration-Code	Autotask integration code
X-API-URL	(Optional) Custom Autotask API URL
X-Impersonation-Resource-Id	(Optional) Autotask resource ID to act on behalf of. Forwarded to Autotask as its ImpersonationResourceId header, so actions are attributed to that resource instead of the API user, and recorded in the entity's read-only impersonatorCreatorResourceID field. Must be a positive integer; anything else is ignored with a warning. The impersonated resource must itself have permission for the action, and the API user's security level must permit impersonation.

X-Gateway-S2S signing

MCP_TRANSPORT=http refuses to start unless CONDUIT_S2S_SECRET is a real secret. Empty values and known placeholders are rejected, including changeme, placeholder, your-s2s-secret, secret, password, test, and any value that is only an unresolved ${...} template. The process logs an error and exits non-zero. It never prints the secret.

MCP_ALLOW_INSECURE_DEV=1 is the local-only escape hatch. The process logs a warning, does not check X-Gateway-S2S, and listens on 127.0.0.1 only. A non-loopback MCP_HTTP_HOST (including 0.0.0.0, localhost, and ::1) is ignored in that mode and the override is logged.

Without a usable secret the bind address defaults to 127.0.0.1. A configured secret honors MCP_HTTP_HOST (default 0.0.0.0 when that variable is unset, which is what the container image sets). Publish the host port on loopback unless a proxy sits in front.

/health stays unauthenticated and does not read credentials. The stdio transport does not use CONDUIT_S2S_SECRET.

With a usable secret, every /mcp request must include:

X-Gateway-S2S: t=<unix seconds>,v1=<lowercase hex>

v1 is HMAC-SHA256, hex-encoded, of the ASCII string t=<unix seconds> (the same t= prefix that starts the header), keyed with CONDUIT_S2S_SECRET. The timestamp must be within 300 seconds of the server clock. A missing or invalid header returns HTTP 401. The secret is never written to logs or the response body.

# t is the current unix time. v1 is HMAC-SHA256 of the literal "t=$t".
t=$(date +%s)
v1=$(printf 't=%s' "$t" | openssl dgst -sha256 -hmac "$CONDUIT_S2S_SECRET" | awk '{print $NF}')
curl -sS http://127.0.0.1:8080/mcp \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Accept: application/json, text/event-stream" \
  -H "X-Gateway-S2S: t=${t},v1=${v1}" \
  -H "X-API-Key: api-user@example.com" \
  -H "X-API-Secret: the-api-secret" \
  -H "X-Integration-Code: the-integration-code" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/list"}'

In AUTH_MODE=env, /mcp still requires a valid X-Gateway-S2S header. Autotask credentials then come from AUTOTASK_*. In AUTH_MODE=gateway, the three X-API-* headers above are required as well and are the only credential source for that request.

Health Check Response (Gateway Mode):

{
  "status": "ok",
  "transport": "http",
  "authMode": "gateway",
  "timestamp": "2026-02-05T10:00:00.000Z"
}

For detailed migration instructions, see the Migration Guide.

💡 Pro Tip: Copy the above content to a .env file in your project root.

Autotask API Setup

1. Create API User: In Autotask, create a dedicated API user with appropriate permissions
2. Generate Secret: Generate an API secret for the user
3. Integration Code: Obtain your integration code from Autotask
4. Permissions: Ensure the API user has read/write access to required entities

For detailed setup instructions, see the Autotask API documentation.

Usage

Command Line

# Start the MCP server (stdio transport, for piping to an MCP client)
node dist/entry.js

# HTTP refuses to start until CONDUIT_S2S_SECRET is a real secret
CONDUIT_S2S_SECRET="$CONDUIT_S2S_SECRET" MCP_TRANSPORT=http node dist/index.js

# Local HTTP only, without a service-to-service secret (always binds 127.0.0.1)
MCP_ALLOW_INSECURE_DEV=1 MCP_TRANSPORT=http node dist/index.js

MCP Client Configuration

See Installation for all setup methods.

API Reference

Resources

Resources provide read-only access to Autotask data:

• autotask://companies - List all companies
• autotask://companies/{id} - Get specific company
• autotask://contacts - List all contacts
• autotask://contacts/{id} - Get specific contact
• autotask://tickets - List all tickets
• autotask://tickets/{id} - Get specific ticket
• autotask://time-entries - List time entries

Tools

The server provides 101 tools for interacting with Autotask:

Company Operations

• autotask_search_companies - Search companies with filters
• autotask_create_company - Create new company
• autotask_update_company - Update existing company

Contact Operations

• autotask_search_contacts - Search contacts with filters
• autotask_create_contact - Create new contact

Ticket Operations

• autotask_search_tickets - Search tickets with filters
• autotask_get_ticket_details - Get full ticket details by ID
• autotask_create_ticket - Create new ticket

Time Entry Operations

• autotask_create_time_entry - Log time entry
• autotask_search_time_entries - Search time entries with filters (resource, ticket, task, date range)

Billing Items (Approve and Post Workflow)

• autotask_search_billing_items - Search approved and posted billing items
• autotask_get_billing_item - Get specific billing item by ID
• autotask_search_billing_item_approval_levels - Search multi-level approval records for time entries

Project Operations

• autotask_search_projects - Search projects with filters
• autotask_create_project - Create new project

Resource Operations

• autotask_search_resources - Search resources (technicians/users)

Note Operations

• autotask_get_ticket_note / autotask_search_ticket_notes / autotask_create_ticket_note
• autotask_get_project_note / autotask_search_project_notes / autotask_create_project_note
• autotask_get_company_note / autotask_search_company_notes / autotask_create_company_note

Attachment Operations

• autotask_get_ticket_attachment - Get ticket attachment
• autotask_search_ticket_attachments - Search ticket attachments
• autotask_get_ticket_note_attachment - Get an attachment on a ticket note (e.g. a pasted screenshot)
• autotask_search_ticket_note_attachments - Search attachments on a ticket note

Financial Operations

• autotask_get_expense_report / autotask_search_expense_reports / autotask_create_expense_report
• autotask_get_quote / autotask_search_quotes / autotask_create_quote
• autotask_get_opportunity / autotask_search_opportunities / autotask_create_opportunity
• autotask_update_opportunity - Update an opportunity (stage, status, revenue/cost lines, UDFs)
• autotask_search_invoices - Search invoices

Contract Operations

• autotask_search_contracts - Search contracts (name, company, status, type, end-date range)
• autotask_get_contract - Get a single contract by ID
• autotask_list_expiring_contracts - Expiring/expired contracts report (next N days, per company or org-wide)
• autotask_create_contract / autotask_create_contracts_bulk - Create contract shells, one or many
• autotask_update_contract - Update a contract (e.g. extend/renew end date)
• autotask_create_contract_service / autotask_update_contract_service - Manage contract service lines

Configuration Items

• autotask_search_configuration_items - Search configuration items (assets)

Task Operations

• autotask_search_tasks - Search project tasks
• autotask_create_task - Create project task

Utility Operations

• autotask_test_connection - Test API connectivity

Example Tool Usage

// Search for companies
{
  "name": "autotask_search_companies",
  "arguments": {
    "searchTerm": "Acme Corp",
    "isActive": true,
    "pageSize": 10
  }
}

// Create a new ticket
{
  "name": "autotask_create_ticket",
  "arguments": {
    "companyID": 12345,
    "title": "Server maintenance request",
    "description": "Need to perform monthly server maintenance",
    "priority": 2,
    "status": 1
  }
}

ID-to-Name Mapping

The Autotask MCP server includes intelligent ID-to-name mapping that automatically resolves company and resource IDs to human-readable names, making API responses much more useful for AI assistants and human users.

Automatic Enhancement

All search and detail tools automatically include an _enhanced field with resolved names:

{
  "id": 12345,
  "title": "Sample Ticket",
  "companyID": 678,
  "assignedResourceID": 90,
  "_enhanced": {
    "companyName": "Acme Corporation",
    "assignedResourceName": "John Smith"
  }
}

How It Works

ID-to-name mapping is applied automatically to all search and detail tool results. No additional tools are needed — the _enhanced field is added transparently to every response that contains company or resource IDs.

Performance Features

• Smart Caching: Names are cached for 30 minutes to reduce API calls
• Bulk Operations: Efficient batch lookups for multiple IDs
• Graceful Fallback: Returns "Unknown Company (123)" if lookup fails
• Parallel Processing: Multiple mappings resolved simultaneously

Testing Mapping

Test the mapping functionality:

npm run test:mapping

For detailed mapping documentation, see docs/mapping.md.

HTTP Transport

The server supports the MCP Streamable HTTP transport for remote deployments (e.g., Docker, cloud hosting). Set MCP_TRANSPORT=http to enable it.

# Start with HTTP transport (exits unless CONDUIT_S2S_SECRET is a real secret)
CONDUIT_S2S_SECRET="$CONDUIT_S2S_SECRET" MCP_TRANSPORT=http MCP_HTTP_PORT=8080 node dist/index.js

The HTTP transport exposes:

• POST /mcp — MCP Streamable HTTP endpoint. Requires X-Gateway-S2S when CONDUIT_S2S_SECRET is set. See X-Gateway-S2S signing.
• GET /health — Unauthenticated health check (returns {"status":"ok"}). Does not read credentials.

Clients must send requests to /mcp with Accept: application/json, text/event-stream headers per the MCP Streamable HTTP specification.

Docker Deployment

The Docker image uses HTTP transport by default (port 8080) with a built-in health check.

Using Pre-built Image from GitHub Container Registry

The Docker image defaults to HTTP transport on port 8080 — suitable for remote/server deployments where clients connect over the network.

# Pull the latest image
docker pull ghcr.io/wyre-ai/autotask-mcp:latest

# Run container with HTTP transport (default). The image binds 0.0.0.0 inside
# the container; publish on loopback and pass the S2S secret.
docker run -d \
  --name autotask-mcp \
  -p 127.0.0.1:8080:8080 \
  -e CONDUIT_S2S_SECRET="$CONDUIT_S2S_SECRET" \
  -e AUTOTASK_USERNAME="your-api-user@example.com" \
  -e AUTOTASK_SECRET="your-secret-key" \
  -e AUTOTASK_INTEGRATION_CODE="your-integration-code" \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  ghcr.io/wyre-ai/autotask-mcp:latest

# Verify it's running (health does not require X-Gateway-S2S)
curl http://127.0.0.1:8080/health

Compose will not start when CONDUIT_S2S_SECRET is unset. The checked-in gateway service sets AUTH_MODE=gateway, publishes 127.0.0.1:8080:8080, and does not inject AUTOTASK_*:

CONDUIT_S2S_SECRET="$CONDUIT_S2S_SECRET" docker compose up

For stdio usage with Claude Desktop, see Installation Option 2.

Quick Start (From Source)

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/WYRE-AI/autotask-mcp.git
cd autotask-mcp

# Create environment file
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your credentials

# Start with docker-compose
docker compose up -d

Production Deployment

# Build production image locally
docker build -t autotask-mcp:latest .

# Run container
docker run -d \
  --name autotask-mcp \
  --env-file .env \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  autotask-mcp:latest

Development Mode

# Start development environment with hot reload
docker compose --profile dev up autotask-mcp-dev

Development

Setup

git clone https://github.com/WYRE-AI/autotask-mcp.git
cd autotask-mcp
npm install

Available Scripts

npm run dev          # Start development server with hot reload
npm run build        # Build for production
npm run test         # Run test suite
npm run test:watch   # Run tests in watch mode
npm run test:coverage # Run tests with coverage
npm run lint         # Run ESLint
npm run lint:fix     # Fix ESLint issues

Project Structure

autotask-mcp/
├── src/
│   ├── handlers/           # MCP request handlers
│   ├── mcp/               # MCP server implementation
│   ├── services/          # Autotask service layer
│   ├── types/             # TypeScript type definitions
│   ├── utils/             # Utility functions (config, logger, cache)
│   ├── entry.ts           # Entry point (stdout guard + .env loader)
│   └── index.ts           # Server bootstrap (config, logger, server init)
├── tests/                 # Test files
├── scripts/               # Build and packaging scripts
│   └── pack-mcpb.js       # MCPB bundle creation
├── manifest.json          # MCPB manifest for desktop distribution
├── Dockerfile             # Container definition (HTTP transport)
├── docker-compose.yml     # Multi-service orchestration
└── package.json          # Project configuration

Testing

Running Tests

# Run all tests
npm test

# Run with coverage
npm run test:coverage

# Run in watch mode
npm run test:watch

# Run specific test file
npm test -- tests/autotask-service.test.ts

Test Categories

• Unit Tests: Service layer and utility functions
• Integration Tests: MCP protocol compliance
• API Tests: Autotask API integration (requires credentials)

Coverage Requirements

• Minimum 80% coverage for all metrics
• 100% coverage for critical paths (authentication, data handling)

Configuration Reference

Environment Variables

Variable	Required	Default	Description
AUTOTASK_USERNAME	✅	-	Autotask API username (email)
AUTOTASK_SECRET	✅	-	Autotask API secret key
AUTOTASK_INTEGRATION_CODE	✅	-	Autotask integration code
AUTOTASK_API_URL	❌	Auto-detected	Autotask API endpoint URL
MCP_SERVER_NAME	❌	autotask-mcp	MCP server name
MCP_TRANSPORT	❌	stdio	Transport type (stdio or http)
MCP_HTTP_PORT	❌	8080	HTTP transport port
MCP_HTTP_HOST	❌	0.0.0.0 when a secret is set; 127.0.0.1 without one	HTTP bind address. A configured CONDUIT_S2S_SECRET honors this variable. MCP_ALLOW_INSECURE_DEV=1 forces 127.0.0.1.
CONDUIT_S2S_SECRET	Yes for HTTP	—	Service-to-service secret for X-Gateway-S2S. HTTP exits if this is empty or a known placeholder. Never commit a real value.
MCP_ALLOW_INSECURE_DEV	❌	unset	Set to exactly 1 for local HTTP without a usable secret. Logs a warning, skips X-Gateway-S2S, and listens on 127.0.0.1 only.
LOG_LEVEL	❌	info	Logging level
LOG_FORMAT	❌	simple	Log output format
AUTOTASK_ENHANCE_CONCURRENCY	❌	3	Max concurrent Autotask API calls used to resolve company/resource names on search results. Kept low to stay under Autotask's concurrent-thread limit.
AUTOTASK_MAX_INFLIGHT	❌	3	Max Autotask REST calls in flight per tenant. Further calls queue in the HTTP client instead of tripping the concurrent-thread limit.
NODE_ENV	❌	development	Node.js environment

Logging Levels

• error: Only error messages
• warn: Warnings and errors
• info: General information, warnings, and errors
• debug: Detailed debugging information

Log Formats

• simple: Human-readable console output
• json: Structured JSON output (recommended for production)

Rate Limits

Autotask enforces per-integration-code API thresholds on a rolling 1-hour window:

• ~10,000 req/hr (soft) — warning email, sporadic HTTP 429 responses
• ~20,000 req/hr (hard) — sustained HTTP 429 until the window rolls

LLM-driven workflows fan out easily — "status report on all open projects with notes" can issue hundreds of requests across a few minutes. The server tries to make this safer:

• 429 responses are surfaced as structured errors. Tool results carry error_type: "rate_limited" and a retry_after_seconds field parsed from Autotask's Retry-After header. The error message explicitly tells the LLM not to retry and to ask the user to scope the query — this prevents repeated retries from extending the cooldown.
• Concurrent-thread 429s are queued, not cooled down for a minute. Autotask also returns HTTP 429 when an integration exceeds its thread threshold (the body mentions "thread threshold"). That is a burst problem, separate from the hourly quota. The HTTP client allows AUTOTASK_MAX_INFLIGHT calls in flight per tenant (default 3) and queues the rest. A thread-threshold 429 on an idempotent call (GET, DELETE, or POST /{Entity}/query) is retried with a short backoff and does not arm the 60s cooldown. Hourly-threshold 429s still arm it. Create/update calls are not retried automatically.
• Fan-out tool descriptions include rate-limit tips. Tools that are commonly looped over (autotask_search_ticket_notes, autotask_search_project_notes, autotask_search_company_notes, autotask_search_time_entries, autotask_search_ticket_attachments, autotask_search_ticket_note_attachments) include a hint reminding the LLM to scope the parent record list before iterating.

Raising the limit

Per-integration thresholds can be increased in Autotask:

1. Autotask Admin → Resources/Users (HR) → Resources
2. Edit the dedicated API user → Workflow Rules → API Tracking Identifier
3. Adjust the threshold for the integration code your MCP server uses

This is the right answer when a single integration code is shared between Claude/Copilot/etc. and other tooling. For LLM-heavy workloads, dedicate a separate API user (and integration code) so a fan-out from one client doesn't starve others.

Patterns that help

• Always scope by date range when searching notes, time entries, attachments. Even a 30-day window can drop call count by an order of magnitude.
• Cache parent lookups. If you're iterating over 100 tickets, fetch the ticket list once and reuse it across follow-up queries; don't re-search per child.
• Use autotask_get_field_info to discover picklist values once per session rather than refetching them per call.

If you're seeing threshold warnings from Autotask but the server seems fine, the LLM driver is probably issuing fan-out patterns. Tighten the prompt to scope before iterating.

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Authentication Errors

Error: Missing required Autotask credentials

Solution: Ensure all required environment variables are set correctly.

Connection Timeouts

Error: Connection to Autotask API failed

Solutions:

• Check network connectivity
• Verify API endpoint URL
• Confirm API user has proper permissions

Permission Denied

Error: User does not have permission to access this resource

Solution: Review Autotask API user permissions and security level settings.

Debug Mode

Enable debug logging for detailed troubleshooting:

LOG_LEVEL=debug npm start

Health Checks

Test server connectivity:

# Run test suite
npm run test

# For HTTP transport, check the health endpoint
curl http://localhost:8080/health
# Returns: {"status":"ok"}

# Test API connection with debug logging
LOG_LEVEL=debug npm start

Autotask API Rate Limits

Problem: 429 Too Many Requests or "thread limit exceeded" errors when Claude queries aggressively

Autotask enforces 3 concurrent threads per endpoint per API tracking identifier. When an LLM issues multiple tool calls simultaneously (e.g., searching tickets, companies, and contacts at once), requests can pile up and hit this limit.

Built-in mitigation: The HTTP client caps in-flight requests per tenant (AUTOTASK_MAX_INFLIGHT, default 3) and queues the rest, so a parallel burst waits for a free slot instead of tripping the thread threshold. You may notice slower responses under heavy load. A thread-threshold 429 on an idempotent call is retried briefly; the hourly request threshold still surfaces as a structured rate-limit error and a short tenant cooldown.

Critical for team/multi-user deployments: If multiple users or the MCP Gateway share the same API credentials, they compete for the same 3-thread budget. This can cause noticeable slowdowns and, in severe cases, queued requests that time out.

Solution — one API key per team: Create a dedicated Autotask API user per team or integration. Each user has an independent integrationCode with its own thread budget:

1. Admin > Resources (Users) > Resources/Users → Add Resource
2. Set Security Level to API User
3. Note the username, secret, and integration code
4. Set AUTOTASK_USERNAME, AUTOTASK_SECRET, and AUTOTASK_INTEGRATION_CODE per team

Support Team  → AUTOTASK_INTEGRATION_CODE=SUPPORT_TEAM_CODE  (3 threads)
Projects Team → AUTOTASK_INTEGRATION_CODE=PROJECTS_TEAM_CODE (3 threads, independent)

Additionally, Autotask limits 10,000 total requests per hour across all integrations hitting your tenant. If you hit this limit, all integrations will start receiving 429s — another reason to use targeted queries with appropriate filters.

MCP Client Issues

Problem: MCP server not appearing in Claude Desktop Solutions:

1. Check configuration file syntax (valid JSON)
2. Verify file path in the configuration
3. Ensure environment variables are set correctly
4. Restart Claude Desktop completely

Problem: "Invalid JSON-RPC message: [dotenv@...] injecting env" / Server disconnected Cause: The autotask-node library calls dotenv.config() at module load time. dotenv v17+ writes status messages via console.log to stdout, which corrupts the MCP stdio JSON-RPC channel. Solution: Ensure you're using dist/entry.js (not dist/index.js) as the entry point. The entry wrapper redirects console.log to stderr before any libraries load.

Problem: Slow responses Solutions:

1. Check network connectivity to Autotask API
2. Enable debug logging (LOG_LEVEL=debug) to identify bottlenecks
3. The server caches company/resource names for 30 minutes automatically

Security Best Practices

• Store credentials in environment variables, not directly in config files
• Limit Autotask API user permissions to the minimum required
• Rotate API credentials regularly
• For Docker deployments, use secrets management rather than plain environment variables

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

Development Guidelines

• Follow TypeScript best practices
• Maintain test coverage above 80%
• Use conventional commit messages
• Update documentation for API changes
• Add tests for new features

License

This project is licensed under the Apache License 2.0. See the LICENSE file for details.

Contributor License Agreement

By submitting a pull request, you agree to the terms of our Contributor License Agreement. This ensures that contributions can be properly licensed and that you have the right to submit the code.

Contributors

Avatar	Name	Contributions
	@asachs01	Maintainer
	@Baphomet480	CLI bin fix

Support

• 📚 Documentation
• 🐛 Issue Tracker
• 💬 Discussions

Acknowledgments

• Model Context Protocol by Anthropic
• Autotask REST API by Kaseya
• autotask-node library

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Built by WYRE Technology — part of the MSP Claude Plugins ecosystem