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MCP Server (AI Integration)

What is the MCP Server?

The MCP (Model Context Protocol) server lets AI assistants like Claude interact with your Yando boards. You can ask Claude to create boards, add sticky notes, export content, manage projects, and more — all through natural conversation.

For example, you can say "Create a SWOT Analysis board for our product launch" and Claude will create the board with the right template, or "Add a red sticky note about the budget risk" and it will appear on your board in real time.

Prerequisites

  1. A Yando account
  2. An API key (see below)
  3. An MCP-compatible AI client (Claude Desktop, Claude.ai, or Cursor)

Step 1: Create an API Key

  1. Click your avatar in the top-right corner and go to Settings
  2. Scroll down to the API Keys section
  3. Click Create API Key
  4. Give it a descriptive name (e.g., "Claude Desktop")
  5. Copy the key immediately — it is only shown once

Your API key starts with ynd_ and looks like ynd_abc123def456.... Keep it secret — anyone with this key can access your boards.

Step 2: Connect Your AI Client

Choose the setup that matches your client:

Claude.ai

Claude.ai connects to the Yando MCP server over the internet using OAuth.

  1. Go to Settings → MCP Servers → Add custom
  2. Name: Yando
  3. URL: https://mcp.bigdeez.com/mcp
  4. Leave the OAuth fields blank — Claude.ai discovers them automatically
  5. You'll be redirected to a consent page — enter your Yando API key to approve access

Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop connects to the remote MCP server using your API key directly.

  1. Open Claude Desktop settings (gear icon → Developer → Edit Config)
  2. Add this to your configuration:
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "yando": {
      "url": "https://mcp.bigdeez.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ynd_your_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace ynd_your_key_here with your API key.

  1. Restart Claude Desktop

Cursor

Cursor uses the same configuration as Claude Desktop:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "yando": {
      "url": "https://mcp.bigdeez.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ynd_your_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

What Can Claude Do?

Once connected, Claude has access to 43 tools organized into these categories:

Board Management

  • List your boards — See all boards you own or have access to
  • Create boards — Create blank boards or use a template (e.g., Business Model Canvas, SWOT Analysis)
  • Update boards — Change the title or description
  • Delete boards — Remove boards you own

Working with Objects

  • Add sticky notes — Place color-coded sticky notes on a board, optionally targeting a zone by name
  • Add text boxes — Add text boxes for longer content, optionally auto-fitted to a zone
  • Update objects — Change text, position, or other properties
  • Delete objects — Remove objects from a board
  • List objects — See everything on a board

Zone-aware placement. When Claude adds a sticky note or text box to a zone that has grid ordering enabled (for example, the zones in SWOT and Lean Canvas templates), Yando automatically snaps the note to the next free grid cell. This means you can say "add five ideas to the Strengths zone" and Claude doesn't need to know the exact coordinates — they'll line up neatly.

Sticky Note Colors

Sticky note colors carry meaning. When asking Claude to add notes, you can specify a color:

Color Meaning
Yellow Ideas and suggestions
Green Decisions and agreements
Red Concerns and blockers
Blue Action items and tasks
Purple Questions and follow-ups
Orange General notes

Templates

  • Browse templates — See your built-in and custom templates
  • Get template details — View zones and layout information
  • Create custom templates — Describe a framework in plain language and Claude will build the template (zones, colors, shapes)
  • Update templates — Rename, resize, or edit zones on templates you own
  • Clone templates — Copy any accessible template as a starting point
  • Add / update / remove zones — Modify individual zones without rewriting the whole template
  • Add / delete scaffold objects — Manage the pre-placed text boxes and sticky notes that ship with a template
  • Validate a draft layout — Catch overlapping zones, angle wrap-around bugs, coverage gaps, and sizing issues before saving
  • Render a template preview — Get a PNG snapshot of a draft or saved template so Claude can visually confirm the layout

Template Layout Helpers

These tools compute zone coordinates for common patterns so Claude doesn't have to do the arithmetic:

  • Grid zones — Even rows × columns with padding
  • Strip zones — Horizontal or vertical bands
  • Pie zones — Evenly divided circular wedges
  • Rect-sector zones — Angular wedges that fill a rectangle (full coverage, no dead corners)
  • Matrix zones — 2×2 matrices (e.g., Impact/Effort, Eisenhower)

Export & Import

  • Export to JSON — Get a structured export of a board's content
  • Export to Markdown — Get a readable text version of a board
  • Import meeting transcripts — Create a board from a video conference transcript with AI-powered extraction

Board History

  • List snapshots — See daily snapshots of a board's history
  • View a snapshot — See the board's full state at a point in time

Projects & Pages

  • Manage projects — Create, update, list, and delete projects
  • Manage pages — Create, update, list, and delete markdown pages within projects

Example Conversations

Here are some things you can ask Claude once the MCP server is connected:

Creating a board:

"Create a new SWOT Analysis board called 'Q3 Product Review'"

Adding ideas to a specific zone:

"Add these as yellow sticky notes to the Strengths zone: faster onboarding, better docs, improved search"

Flagging concerns:

"Add a red sticky note about the timeline risk for the API migration"

Building a custom template:

"Create a custom template for a RACI chart — four vertical columns for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed"

Previewing a template:

"Show me what my new RACI template looks like before I use it"

Exporting content:

"Export my 'Sprint Planning' board as Markdown"

Working with projects:

"Create a project called 'Product Launch' and add a page with our launch checklist"

Reviewing history:

"Show me the snapshots for the Q2 Review board — what changed last week?"

Meeting notes:

"Import this meeting transcript to a new board and organize the key points"

Security Notes

  • Your API key is never stored in plain text — it is securely hashed on the server
  • Each API key only grants access to boards you own or have been invited to
  • You can revoke an API key at any time from Settings → API Keys
  • API keys can have an expiration date for extra security
  • If you suspect a key has been compromised, revoke it immediately and create a new one

Troubleshooting

Claude says it can't find the Yando tools:
- Make sure your API key is valid (not expired or revoked)
- Restart your AI client after changing the configuration

"Authentication failed" errors:
- Verify your API key starts with ynd_
- Check that the key hasn't been revoked in Settings → API Keys
- Make sure the MCP server URL is correct

Objects not appearing on the board:
- Refresh the board page — objects added via MCP appear in real time via WebSocket, but a refresh ensures everything is synced
- Check that you have editor access to the board

Claude.ai OAuth consent page not loading:
- Make sure the MCP server URL is correct and reachable
- Try removing and re-adding the MCP server in Claude.ai settings

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