MCP Tools

AbleTime serves its agent MCP tools on two endpoints: time and task tracking at /api/public/v2/mcp, and project management at /api/public/v2/mcp/pm. The tracking endpoint serves eighteen tools and the project-management endpoint fourteen; orientation, description_schema, tool_schema and full_catalog are served on both. This page describes what each tool lets an agent do; the agent itself learns the technical details from the endpoint.

Time tools

These tools require a personal access token and act only on the entries of the person the token belongs to. An organization API key cannot call them.

orientation

Tells the agent who it is acting as and what is already going on: recent recorded time, open drafts, active tasks, and current projects, along with AbleTime's rules for recording work. Agents call it at the start of every session.

upsert_entry

Creates a draft time entry: the minutes spent, when the work started, and the task it advanced. A retried write updates the existing entry rather than creating a duplicate, and overlapping drafts are allowed.

An entry description is limited to 500 characters — it summarizes the work, while the task description carries the detail.

update_entry

Changes an existing draft — usually the open entry as work continues, or an earlier one with the wrong minutes or description.

list_entries

Lists the agent's draft entries from the last 90 days, most recent first, filtered by kind, task, or date range.

delete_entry

Permanently deletes a draft entry. This cannot be undone — to fix a wrong duration or description, the agent uses update_entry instead.

accept_entry

Accepts a draft, turning it into recorded time. An agent can only accept its own drafts, never anyone else's. Because this tool converts draft entries actual time entries, making them visible to the rest of the organization, users must activate this ability under Profile > Settings > Privacy & Notifications.

Task tools

With a personal access token these tools act as you. With an organization API key, the write tools require the task.write grant and the read tools (get_task, list_tasks) require task.read.

create_task

Creates a task in a project and one of its categories, with its description in the same call. New tasks start in backlog or todo.

update_task

Changes a task's title, description, category, estimate, or schedule. Moving a task between board states is a separate tool.

get_task

Reads one task in full, including the description the task list leaves out, and can include the task's comment thread, newest first.

list_tasks

Lists tasks a page at a time, filtered by project, category, epic, board state, or assignee. Archived tasks are included unless filtered out.

set_task_state

Moves a task between board states: backlog and todo either way, doing to done when the work is finished, and back again if it is reopened. A task only reaches doing through time recorded against it, and can only be marked done once that time is on the record.

create_comment

Adds a comment to a task: a permanent note on the task's thread, separate from the description and visible to everyone who can see the task. A task that is done or archived takes no new comments.

description_schema

Returns the format for AbleTime's rich task descriptions, for agents that write formatted descriptions rather than markdown. Served on both endpoints.

Finding work and people

With a personal access token these tools act as you. With an organization API key, search_tasks requires the task.read grant, list_projects the project.read grant, and list_users the user.read grant.

search_tasks

Finds tasks by text, matching titles, task references, and tags across every board state.

list_projects

Lists the projects the agent can see, filtered by client or project state, and can include each project's categories.

list_users

Lists who work can be given to — a project's active members, or everyone in the organization.

Project management tools

Served at POST /api/public/v2/mcp/pm. This endpoint is in beta. With a personal access token these tools act as you; with an organization API key they require the task.write grant, except delete_task, which takes a personal access token only. Done and archived tasks are not changed by these tools.

set_task_assignee

Assigns a task to an active member of its project, or unassigns it.

set_task_priority

Sets or clears a task's priority.

set_task_stage

Moves a task to a lane on its project's board, or clears the lane. The lane must belong to the task's current board state.

set_task_dependency

Makes a task wait on another task in the same project, or clears that link. A chain that would loop back on itself is refused.

set_task_blocked

Marks a task blocked, with a note saying what it is waiting on, or unblocks it and clears the notes.

set_task_locked

Locks a task so scheduling never moves it, or unlocks it.

set_task_schedule

Puts a task on the timeline with a start and end date, or moves it. If the move would disturb locked tasks or cross a milestone, nothing changes until the agent confirms, and the same shift can be carried onto dependent tasks.

clear_task_schedule

Takes a task off the timeline. A task with recorded time stays where it is.

archive_task

Archives a task — off the board without deleting it. Tasks that were waiting on it stop waiting, and a task with recorded time can only ever be archived, never deleted.

delete_task

Permanently deletes a task the agent itself created, and only while it is still in backlog or todo with no recorded time. This cannot be undone.

Catalog tools

Two lookup tools, served on both endpoints and open to either credential. Agents use them to read the tool catalog itself.

tool_schema

Returns the complete argument list for one named tool, including the optional arguments.

full_catalog

Returns every tool on the endpoint with its complete arguments, in one answer.