mcp-strava

A read-only Model Context Protocol server that lets an AI assistant such as Claude read your own Strava data: activities, laps, splits, zones, second-by-second streams, segments, routes, gear and totals. Compatible with Strava.

It runs on your machine, talks to Strava with your own API application, and cannot change anything in your Strava account.

You:     How did Sunday's long run compare with the one the week before?
Claude:  Sunday's 14.2 km took 1:16:40, a 5:24/km average, 11 seconds per km faster than the
         13.8 km the previous Sunday. Your pace held steady until 11 km, then slipped by about
         15 seconds per km on the last climb.

(An illustrative exchange; the numbers are made up.)

Contents

• Features

• Tools

• Requirements

• Quick start

• Configuration

• Privacy and security

• Rate limits

• Troubleshooting

• Development

• License and trademarks

Related MCP server: Strava MCP Server

Features

• Read-only by design. It asks Strava only for read scopes, and apart from the OAuth token exchange every request it makes is a GET, so no prompt can edit, delete or post anything.

• 14 tools covering the athlete profile, totals, activities and their detail, laps, zones, streams, segments, routes, gear and clubs.

• Sized for a model's context window. Activity lists come back as compact summaries with distance in metres, kilometres and miles; map polylines are removed; per-second streams are evenly downsampled (500 points by default) so every stream still lines up point for point.

• Signs in once. mcp-strava auth runs the browser OAuth flow and stores the tokens. After that the server refreshes its own access token and saves the rotated refresh token Strava hands back.

• Errors the model can act on. Strava's own error message, missing-permission hints and rate-limit usage reach the assistant instead of a bare "tool failed".

• No secrets in client config. Claude Code and Claude Desktop only need the command to run.

Tools

Every tool is annotated readOnlyHint: true. Units are Strava's: metres, seconds and metres per second.

Requirements

• macOS or Linux. Windows is untested.

• uv, which also provides Python 3.12 or newer if you do not have it.

• A Strava account and an MCP client such as Claude Code or Claude Desktop.

Quick start

1. Create your own Strava API application

Open https://www.strava.com/settings/api and create an application:

Keep the page open: the next step asks for its Client ID and Client Secret.

2. Install

uv tool install git+https://github.com/lyzetam/mcp-strava
mcp-strava --version

This puts an mcp-strava command on your PATH. Upgrade later with uv tool upgrade mcp-strava.

3. Authorize once

mcp-strava auth

It asks for the Client ID and Client Secret (the secret is not echoed), opens Strava's consent page in your browser, and waits for the redirect on http://localhost:8723/callback. Leave every permission box ticked; the command warns you if one was unticked. The tokens are saved to ~/.config/mcp-strava/tokens.json.

You only run this again if you revoke access in Strava or the server tells you to.

4. Connect your MCP client

The server speaks MCP over stdin and stdout and takes no arguments. Desktop apps often start with a minimal PATH, so give them the absolute path that command -v mcp-strava prints.

Claude Code

claude mcp add --scope user strava -- "$(command -v mcp-strava)"
claude mcp list    # strava: ... - ✔ Connected

Claude Desktop: add the server to claude_desktop_config.json (on macOS in ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/), then restart Claude Desktop:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "strava": {
      "command": "/Users/you/.local/bin/mcp-strava"
    }
  }
}

Any other MCP client: register a stdio server whose command is the same absolute path.

Then ask something like "How far did I run this month?", "Compare my pace across my last five runs" or "Where did my heart rate drift on Sunday's long ride?"

Configuration

Nothing is required after mcp-strava auth. These environment variables exist for unusual setups:

The server re-reads the token file on every request, so re-running mcp-strava auth takes effect without restarting your MCP client.

Privacy and security

• Your data travels between Strava, this process and your MCP client, nowhere else. What the client then sends to its model is governed by that client's data policy.

• The token file holds your app's client secret and your tokens. It is written atomically with mode 0600, in a directory created as 0700. Treat it like a password.

• To cut access off completely, revoke the application at https://www.strava.com/settings/apps and delete the token file.

• Strava's API Agreement only lets a user's data be shown to that user. This server is built for exactly that: one person, their own API application, their own data. Do not host it for other people.

See SECURITY.md for the security model and how to report a vulnerability, and docs/architecture.md for how the pieces fit together.

Rate limits

A new Strava API application gets 200 requests per 15 minutes and 2,000 per day overall, of which 100 per 15 minutes and 1,000 per day may be reads. The 15-minute window resets at :00, :15, :30 and :45; the daily one at midnight UTC. When a limit is hit the assistant receives the current usage from Strava's X-RateLimit-* headers, so it can tell you when to try again. Typical questions use one to five requests; filtering list_activities by date keeps it that way.

Troubleshooting

Development

git clone https://github.com/lyzetam/mcp-strava.git && cd mcp-strava
uv sync
uv run pytest --cov=mcp_strava     # tests and coverage
uv run ruff check . && uv run ruff format --check . && uv run mypy

Tests never touch the network: the Strava API is faked at the HTTP boundary and every tool is called through a real MCP client session. CONTRIBUTING.md explains the workflow and how to add a tool, and CHANGELOG.md lists what changed in each release.

License and trademarks

Released under the MIT License.

Strava is a trademark of Strava, Inc. This project is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Strava. Use of the Strava API is subject to the Strava API Agreement and brand guidelines.