Workflowy desktop now comes with an integrated MCP server. This is the recommended solution for integrating with your local agents: it interacts with the tree directly in the desktop app, which is much faster than going through the backend API and is not subject to the API rate limits.
Known issues
- Claude Desktop insists on “https” (read further)
Setting up
- Open Workflowy settings
- Locate the MCP section and toggle the server on
- Copy the Connection Link and give it to your local agent
Setting up Claude Desktop
Claude Desktop insists on using remote MCP (Connectors) and treats the ability to add a local MCP as a developer option so the set up is a bit more involved.
- Install NodeJS from the official site: Node.js — Run JavaScript Everywhere
- Click “Developer” in Claude Desktop settings’ sidebar
- Click the Edit Config button to open the config folder
- Open the claude_desktop_config.json in any text editor
- Add the following lines to the config and save the file
{
+ "mcpServers": {
+ "workflowy-mcp": {
+ "command": "npx",
+ "args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "MCP_LINK_FROM_WORKFLOWY_SETTINGS"]
+ }
+ },
Then restart Claude Desktop so it can pick up the config.