Altiplano

A small, dependable MCP server for Vikunja. Named after the Andean altiplano, the high plateau that is the Vicuña's native habitat.

Filtering and sorting are passed straight to the Vikunja API (server-side), so there is no client-side filtering engine and no paginate-then-filter pitfall.

Tools

Projects:

• list_projects (includes parent_project_id, shows sub-project nesting)
• create_project (title, parent_project_id?, description?) — pass parent_project_id for a sub-project

Tasks:

• list_tasks (project_id, filter, sort_by, page, per_page)
• get_task (task_id)
• create_task (project_id, title, description?, priority?, due_date?, start_date?, end_date?)
• update_task (task_id, title?, description?, done?, priority?, start_date?, end_date?) — on v1, see the warning below about omitted fields
• set_reminders (task_id, reminders) — replaces the task's reminders with the given ISO 8601 datetimes; empty list clears
• delete_task (task_id) — soft-deletes the task along with its comments, labels and assignees. Vikunja keeps it for 30 days but exposes no way to restore it, so treat this as irreversible

Labels:

• list_labels
• add_label (task_id, label_id)
• remove_label (task_id, label_id)

Comments:

• list_comments (task_id)
• add_comment (task_id, comment)
• update_comment (task_id, comment_id, comment) — replaces the comment text; get comment_id from list_comments
• delete_comment (task_id, comment_id)

Assignees:

• search_users (query) — find a user_id to assign
• list_assignees (task_id)
• add_assignee (task_id, user_id)
• remove_assignee (task_id, user_id)

Credentials (no secrets in mcp.json)

The server resolves two values, in order:

1. Environment variables VIKUNJA_URL and VIKUNJA_API_TOKEN.
2. A per-device file of KEY=VALUE lines, default ~/.config/altiplano/env (override the path with ALTIPLANO_CONFIG).

VIKUNJA_URL is the base API URL including the version prefix (e.g. https://todo.example.com/api/v2).

Recommended so the your mcp.json carries no secrets:

• Drop a per-device file and lock it down:

  mkdir -p ~/.config/altiplano
  printf 'VIKUNJA_URL=https://todo.example.com/api/v2\nVIKUNJA_API_TOKEN=tk_xxx\n' > ~/.config/altiplano/env
  chmod 600 ~/.config/altiplano/env
  

• Or inject via the launcher's environment (e.g. a systemd unit EnvironmentFile= pointing at a chmod 600 file), which the server inherits.
• For stronger setups, source the token from a secret manager/keychain at launch and export it into the environment.

Then mcp.json only needs the command, no env block, no plain-text secrets:

{
  "altiplano": {
    "command": "uvx",
    "args": ["--refresh-package", "altiplano", "altiplano@latest"]
  }
}

uvx caches aggressively. It fetches a version on first run and reuses it afterwards, and it separately caches the list of versions it knows about. So altiplano@latest on its own can keep launching an older build for a while after a release, and restarting your client does not help.

--refresh-package altiplano revalidates against PyPI on each start, which is what makes @latest actually mean latest. It costs roughly a tenth of a second.

If you are already stuck on an older build, quit your MCP client first, then run uv cache clean altiplano. It has to be quit: while the client is running it holds that cache, and the command will sit and wait for it.

Choosing the API version

Vikunja 2.4.0 added a v2 API alongside v1, and this server speaks both. The version comes from the URL you configure, so there is nothing else to set:

Prefer /api/v2 if your server has it, since Vikunja has said v1 will eventually be withdrawn. Stay on /api/v1 for older servers; every tool works the same either way, with one exception worth knowing about.

On v1, updating a task discards the fields you omit

v1's update endpoint is a replace, not a partial update. Whatever you leave out is reset to its zero value:

update_task(task_id=42, priority=4)     # on v1, this also blanks the description
update_task(task_id=42, done=True)      # and this discards description, priority and dates
set_reminders(task_id=42, reminders=[]) # same, via the same endpoint

This is Vikunja's behaviour, not something the server adds, and it is not fixed here: doing so would mean reading each task before every update, which costs a request on a path most people will not use. On v1, pass every field you want to keep.

v2 is unaffected. It uses PATCH, a genuine partial update, so omitted fields survive. This is the strongest practical reason to point at /api/v2 if you can.

The differences are handled internally: v2 uses POST to create and PATCH to update where v1 uses PUT and POST, returns collections in a pagination envelope rather than a bare array, renames the user search parameter from s to q, and answers deletes with 204 rather than a message body. Tool arguments and return shapes are unchanged.

One difference is visible to you, and it is the reason to prefer v2: descriptions and comments are Markdown.

Markdown descriptions and comments (v2 only)

Vikunja stores task descriptions and comments as HTML. On v2 this server asks it to convert, so you write and read Markdown and never touch HTML:

create_task(project_id=12, title="Ship it", description="**bold** and a [link](https://example.com)")

Vikunja stores that as <p><strong>bold</strong> and a <a href="...">link</a></p>, and get_task hands it back as the Markdown you wrote. The same applies to update_task, create_project, add_comment and update_comment.

On v1 there is no conversion and the fields are HTML, so Markdown you send is stored verbatim and renders as literal asterisks.

Two things worth knowing:

• v2 only converts on create and on full replace, never on a partial update. So changing a description reads the task first and writes it back whole, which costs one extra request and could lose a concurrent edit by something else. Updates that do not touch the description stay a single partial update.
• Vikunja resolves @mentions during conversion, so writing @someone in a description notifies them.

Run

uv run altiplano                        # dev, from this directory
uvx --from /your/local/path altiplano   # local path
uvx altiplano@latest                    # from PyPI, refreshing the cache

Notes

• Vikunja priority scale: 0 Unset, 1 Low, 2 Medium, 3 High, 4 Urgent, 5 DO NOW.
• Dates are ISO 8601 datetimes. start_date/end_date mark the window you plan to work on a task (start work / finish work); due_date is the deadline.
• The UI shows tasks by their project-local identifier (e.g. #50), which is not the global id the API uses.
• Verified end to end against Vikunja v2.5.0 on both /api/v1 and /api/v2.
• list_assignees needs a server where GET /tasks/{id}/assignees works. It answers 500 on v2.3.0, which was a server-side bug, and works on v2.5.0. Every other tool works on both.

Licence

MIT.

Support

RTFM, then RTFC... If you are still stuck or just need an additional feature, file an issue.