clickup-mcp-full

A ClickUp MCP server that can read a whole nested subtask tree in one call.

It wraps @twofeetup/clickup-mcp rather than forking it, so upstream fixes arrive with a dependency bump. On top of that server it adds get_task_tree, rewrites one tool description that reliably misleads smaller models, and pins a sensible default tool set.

Why

Upstream's only route to subtasks is search_tasks with include_subtasks, which calls GET /task/{id}?subtasks=true and returns full task objects for the direct children only. On a task with fifty subtasks nested several levels deep that is both incomplete and ruinous for an agent's context window. The alternative, one request per node, is worse.

get_task_tree walks the containing list once instead. ClickUp's GET /list/{id}/task?subtasks=true returns every task in the list along with its parent pointer, so the tree is reassembled locally: two requests total regardless of depth or width, and the output is one compact line per task.

Task tree for 86capt3b: 23 task(s) including the root.
Statuses: in progress: 3, open: 14, complete: 6
List: Q3 Delivery

86capt3b  [in progress]  Migrate billing service  <ivan>
  86captk1  [complete]  Audit current schema  <olena>
  86captk2  [in progress]  Write migration scripts  <ivan>
    86captm7  [open]  Handle partial refunds
    86captm8  [open]  Backfill historical rows
  86captk3  [open]  Cutover plan

Related MCP server: ClickUp MCP

Install

Nothing to clone or build. Point your agent at the package and it is fetched on first launch.

Claude Code

claude mcp add clickup_full_local \
  --env CLICKUP_API_KEY=pk_your_token \
  --env CLICKUP_TEAM_ID=9012345678 \
  -- npx -y github:breckenreed/clickup-mcp-full

Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, or any client using mcpServers JSON

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "clickup_full_local": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "github:breckenreed/clickup-mcp-full"],
      "env": {
        "CLICKUP_API_KEY": "pk_your_token",
        "CLICKUP_TEAM_ID": "9012345678"
      }
    }
  }
}

Hermes (~/.hermes/config.yaml)

mcp_servers:
  clickup_full_local:
    command: npx
    args: ["-y", "github:breckenreed/clickup-mcp-full"]
    env:
      CLICKUP_API_KEY: "${CLICKUP_API_KEY}"
      CLICKUP_TEAM_ID: "${CLICKUP_TEAM_ID}"
    connect_timeout: 60
    keepalive_interval: 60
    idle_timeout_seconds: 1800

Global install, if you would rather not resolve from GitHub on every launch:

npm install -g github:breckenreed/clickup-mcp-full

then use clickup-mcp-full as the command with no arguments.

Credentials

A ClickUp personal token has no scopes of its own. It acts as the user who created it and inherits that user's permissions, so if you want an agent that cannot write, create the token under a view-only ClickUp account rather than relying on tool selection.

Tools

Upstream also ships attach_file_to_task, which uploads a local file into ClickUp. It is off by default here: for an agent that runs without per-action confirmation, it turns any prompt injection the agent reads into a data-egress path. Enable it deliberately if you need it:

ENABLED_TOOLS=get_workspace_hierarchy,search_tasks,manage_task,task_comments,get_container,manage_container,find_members,operate_tags,task_time_tracking,attach_file_to_task

Options

Raise REQUEST_SPACING on a shared workspace. The default allows about ten requests per second, while ClickUp's per-token limit is roughly 100 per minute on most plans. The limit is counted against the token, not the tool, so an agent that exhausts it also breaks every other integration running under the same token. 700 keeps you under a 100 per minute ceiling.

Notes on behaviour

Subtasks in another list. The tree is built by walking the list that contains the root task. If your workspace places subtasks in a different list from their parent, those will not appear, and the server falls back to the direct children reported by the task endpoint. Open an issue if you hit this and it matters.

search_tasks descriptions. The upstream description ("Works 3 ways") leads smaller models to put a plain id like 86capt3b into customTaskId, which is only for prefixed ids like DEV-123. Such a call falls through to the workspace-search branch and fails with "At least one filter parameter is required", an error that names the wrong problem, after which the model tends to invent filters instead of fixing the field. This server replaces that description with the single rule the model actually needs.

Running inside Docker with a bind-mounted home. If your agent launches MCP servers with HOME pointing at a bind mount, npx rebuilds its package cache across that mount on every connect, which can take minutes and time out. Install globally inside the image instead and point command: at the binary.

Troubleshooting

Check that the server starts and lists its tools:

CLICKUP_API_KEY=pk_... CLICKUP_TEAM_ID=... npx -y github:breckenreed/clickup-mcp-full --help

Missing required environment means the variables did not reach the process: most clients require them in the server's own env block, not your shell.

A 401 from any tool means the token is wrong or was revoked. A 429 means you are hitting the rate limit, so raise REQUEST_SPACING.

License

MIT, like the upstream server it wraps. @twofeetup/clickup-mcp is the MIT-licensed community continuation of the pre-paid tree of @taazkareem/clickup-mcp-server.