Install the Smartsheet MCP server

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You can connect various AI clients to the Smartsheet Model Context Protocol (MCP) server. Connected to the Smartsheet MCP server, you can interact with your Smartsheet data using natural language.

This article:

• Defines connection prerequisites
• Provides an overview of the installation steps
• Links to setup instructions for various AI clients

Start with considering what's required.

Prerequisites

Here's what a Smartsheet MCP server connection requires:

• Network access to a Smartsheet production server environment
• Valid Smartsheet API token, unless you're connecting an AI tool that supports Smartsheet's OAuth, such as Claude AI or Claude Desktop. To create an API token, refer to the Get started article.
• URL for the MCP server production environment in your target region. Refer to the table below.

Region URLs

Now that you know what's required, it's time to orient yourself with the the connection setup steps by way of the following overview.

Installation overview

AI clients provide various ways to register connections with MCP servers. These may include:

• User interface in a web or desktop application
• Commands to execute in a terminal
• A file to edit

As such, check your AI client documentation for the MCP server registration options they provide.

If you register an MCP server with a local client, the client typically stores the registration configuration in a file. Exact paths and formats (for example, JSON, TOML, and others) vary by client. And some clients support using environment values.

Environment variables

For confidential information, such as Smartsheet API tokens, consider using environment variables.

Benefits:

• No secrets in configuration files that might get shared or committed
• One place to update when rotating tokens
• Same configuration file works for everyone on a team (each person sets their own environment variable)
• Same environment variable referenced for all MCP server configs for all tools

Set an environment variable (the name is arbitrary).

export SMARTSHEET_API_TOKEN="value"

If you configure your connection via a terminal command or a configuration file, use your environment variable (${SMARTSHEET_API_TOKEN}) in place of your API token.

Example configuration

Here's an MCP server configuration from a settings.json file for Gemini CLI:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "smartsheet-mcp": {
      "httpUrl": "https://mcp.smartsheet.com",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ${SMARTSHEET_API_TOKEN}"
      }
    }
  }
}

In the above example, you would replace:

• smartsheet-mcp with an arbitrary name you want to use for your connection.
• The URL with your region's URL, if you're using a regional server outside the US.
• ${SMARTSHEET_API_TOKEN} with the environment variable for your Smartsheet API token.

If you want to connect to Smartsheet production servers in multiple regions simultaneously, add their configurations to your mcpServers object.

For example,

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "smartsheet-us": {
      "httpUrl": "https://mcp.smartsheet.com",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ${SMARTSHEET_API_TOKEN}"
      }
    },
    "smartsheet-eu": {
      "httpUrl": "https://mcp.smartsheet.eu",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ${SMARTSHEET_API_TOKEN_EU}"
      }
    },
    "smartsheet-au": {
      "httpUrl": "https://mcp.smartsheet.au",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ${SMARTSHEET_API_TOKEN_AU}"
      }
    }
  }
}

The configuration above registers connections to production servers for the United States, European Union, and Australia regions.

Testing your server connection

After registering the Smartsheet MCP server and connecting to it, test your server connection.

Test prompt:

List the Smartsheet MCP server tools.

The response includes Smartsheet tools such as get_sheet_summary and more.

Now that you understand Smartsheet MCP server installation, it's time to connect your AI client to the MCP server.

Connect to the MCP server

Here are links to various AI client setup instructions.

Custom AI client connections

If you want to connect a custom, MCP-compliant client to the Smartsheet MCP server, follow the general guidance above in the Installation overview.

If you're using a configuration file in your client, the configuration may be similar to the Example configuration above.

What's next?

Once you're connected to the MCP server, you can:

• Check out the example prompts described in Smartsheet MCP prompt cookbook.

• Learn more about the MCP server's capabilities at Smartsheet MCP server tools.