StratNav MCP setup guide for AI tools

StratNav's built-in #stratBot AI assistant remains the best AI for developing and executing strategy with StratNav. It understands the tool and the job you're trying to do with it. 

However, there may be times when you want to integrate StratNav with your other AI tools and agents. 

That's where our MCP capability can help. StratNav MCP lets a compatible AI assistant read from your strategy as it works and, with the right permissions, record the follow-ups you agree.

MCP stands for Model Context Protocol. It’s an open standard that lets AI applications discover and use tools from other systems.

StratNav MCP is experimental. An assistant with write access can make unintended changes or delete records if its credentials allow it. Start with a test project. Use the narrowest access that fits the job, require human approval for writes where your client supports it, and keep a recoverable copy of important strategy data before enabling writes.

What can you do with StratNav MCP?

StratNav’s MCP tools can retrieve, update and delete content from your strategy.

There are two steps to setting up your AI tools with StratNav's MCP. 

1. Create a project key or an account key. 
2. Connect your AI tool to StratNav MCP. 

Let's look at each of those. 

Create a project key or an account key

Before you start, you will need a project or account key to enable the MCP server to access your project(s). Follow these instructions to Set up StratNav keys for MCP access

Connect your AI tool to StratNav MCP

Your client needs to support remote MCP over Streamable HTTP and a way to send a bearer token. Check its authentication settings before creating a key. Some clients support interactive OAuth sign-in but have no way to exchange a client ID and secret or accept a supplied token.

1. Add the remote server. In your client’s MCP or integration settings, enter https://api.stratnavapp.com/mcp. Use the MCP settings screen for this step. Opening the address in a browser sends a different kind of request and won’t test the connection.
2. Configure authentication. If the client supports OAuth 2.0 Client Credentials, give it your StratNav client ID and secret and use https://www.stratnavapp.com/oauth/token as the token URL. StratNav sets the token audience when it issues the token.
3. Supply a token yourself if needed. If the client accepts a bearer token but doesn’t handle client credentials, follow the token request in the API keys guide. Use the returned access_token in Authorization: Bearer <access_token>. Check the response’s expires_in value so you know when to obtain a fresh token. StratNav API key and token setup

Keep the client secret and bearer token in the client’s protected configuration or your credential store. Check your AI provider’s data-handling settings before connecting a confidential project. The provider may process or retain strategy data retrieved by the assistant.

Test access before enabling writes

Start by asking, “Which StratNav projects can you access?” The assistant should call list_projects. A project key should return its one project. An account key should return the projects its owner can currently access. Check that list before retrieving any client data.

Then choose a test project and ask, “List the open actions in this project.” Compare the answer with the records in StratNav. If the client can show its tool calls, check that it used the intended project ID. That matters when several projects have similar names.

If listing works but adding a note returns 403 Forbidden, check the account key’s access level and your role in that project. If the connection itself returns 401 Unauthorized, check that your client is sending a valid bearer token and that it hasn’t expired.

Preserve the fields you want to keep

Many update tools replace the editable fields of a record. To mark an action complete, ask the assistant to retrieve the action first, send the complete editable payload with only the completion status changed, and retrieve it again after saving. Omitted fields may be cleared or reset. A note edit replaces the note text, while the dedicated initiative status tool replaces the status text and RAG rating.

When to use MCP or StratNav’s built-in AI

MCP is useful when the work already spans tools. For example, a reporting assistant can bring together figures from another system and the corresponding KPIs and initiatives in your plan from StratNav.

For strategy development inside StratNav, start with its built-in AI. It works within the structure you use to connect evidence, strategic choices, goals, initiatives and measures. Whether you use built-in AI or a connected assistant, the decisions about which customers to serve, where to compete and what to stop doing still depend on your evidence and judgement.

See also:

1. Why purpose-built AI tools matter for strategy