Connecting Trello to ChatGPT With MCP

Yes, ChatGPT can connect to Trello’s official MCP server today, and you do not need developer mode to do it. Atlassian points ChatGPT users to Trello’s listing in ChatGPT: open Settings, then Plugins, choose Trello and connect. You sign in with the Atlassian account you use for Trello, choose one Trello workspace, pick the permissions, and approve. ChatGPT can then read and search your boards, lists and cards, and, if you granted write access, create and move cards, tick off checklists and archive what is finished, all within your own Trello permissions. Atlassian says Trello MCP works on every Trello plan. What your ChatGPT account may connect is decided on OpenAI’s side, and in a company workspace by your ChatGPT admin.

OpenAI moves its menu names as it goes, and its help pages now use Settings, Plugins for connected apps. The steps below follow OpenAI’s and Atlassian’s documentation as it reads at the end of September 2026. If you work in the terminal instead, see Trello MCP with Claude Code; if MCP itself is new, start with what MCP is.

Before you start

• A Trello account on any plan. Atlassian’s documentation↗ (opens in a new tab) says the one feature that needs Trello Premium or Enterprise is creating focus-time events in Planner.
• A ChatGPT account. OpenAI’s Help Center says whether an app is available depends on the app, your plan, region, workspace, role and the ChatGPT interface you use.
• In a ChatGPT Business, Enterprise or Edu workspace, your admin decides which apps members can use. If Trello shows as disabled by admin, that is where to ask.
• On Trello Enterprise, Atlassian admins control Trello MCP from Atlassian Administration, under Rovo, then Rovo MCP server. They can allow or block client domains, where chatgpt.com is one of the supported entries, and switch off read or write access for everyone.

Connect Trello from ChatGPT’s settings

1. In ChatGPT, open Settings, then Plugins, and find Trello. trello.com/mcp↗ (opens in a new tab) also links to the listing.
2. Select Trello, then Connect. If it is offered as a plugin, select Install plugin and follow the connection prompt.
3. Your browser opens on Atlassian’s sign-in. Sign in with the account you use for Trello.
4. On the consent screen, choose the Trello workspace to connect and review the permissions: read, write and search for your boards and cards, with separate ones for Inbox and Planner. Untick what you do not want yet.
5. Approve. You return to ChatGPT with Trello connected.

Choose the workspace with care, because each connection covers one. Atlassian says support for several workspaces is planned. If you later need a permission you left unticked, its advice is to disconnect Trello and connect again with the wider set.

Using it in a chat

Name Trello in your message, or pick it from the + menu or with @, so ChatGPT uses the app rather than guessing. Start with reads, so you can see how it understands your boards:

• “Which Trello workspace are you connected to, and what boards are in it?”
• “What Trello cards are due this week for me?”
• “Summarise the Launch board: how many cards in each list, and which are overdue?”

Then the writes, which is where Trello in ChatGPT earns its place: “Turn these meeting notes into cards in To Do on the Launch board, one per action, with the owner in the description”, “Mark my ‘Submit report’ card as done”, or “Archive everything in my Inbox that is older than a week.” Ask it to name each card it changed, so you can check it in Trello.

Approvals: when ChatGPT stops to ask

ChatGPT decides when to pause and ask you before it acts. OpenAI’s Help Center describes per-app permission settings with options such as always ask, allow read actions and allow low-risk actions, and notes that these settings never grant new access; they only change when ChatGPT checks with you. For Trello, allowing reads is reasonable and keeping writes on ask is the sensible default, at least until you trust the way it names and places cards.

Trello sets the outer limit. Atlassian says the assistant can do nothing you could not do in Trello yourself, limited further to the one workspace and the permissions you approved. There is no permanent delete at all: the server can archive cards and lists, which you can restore, but it cannot delete anything.

The developer-mode alternative

ChatGPT’s developer mode lets you add any remote MCP server as your own app. OpenAI’s developer documentation↗ (opens in a new tab) lists it for Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Education accounts on the web, supports OAuth sign-in, and calls it powerful but risky, meant for people who understand prompt injection and mistaken writes. Atlassian publishes the server address for adding Trello by hand to any MCP client:

https://mcp.trello.com/v1

1. In ChatGPT on the web, open Settings, then Security and login, and turn on Developer mode.
2. Go to Plugins and use the plus button to create an app. Name it, enter the URL above and choose OAuth.
3. Create it, sign in to Trello on Atlassian’s consent screen, and review the tools ChatGPT discovered.
4. In a new chat, choose Developer mode from the + menu and select the app.

Those are OpenAI’s steps↗ (opens in a new tab) for any remote server; Atlassian does not document this route for ChatGPT specifically, and it points ChatGPT users to the listing instead. For most people the listing is the better choice. Developer mode is worth it only if you already use it for other servers, and on company plans it may be limited to admins.

Limits to know

• One workspace per connection, as above.
• No comments, attachments, custom fields or card activity history yet. Atlassian’s Trello MCP repository↗ (opens in a new tab) lists them among the capabilities coming later, so check it before assuming they are still missing.
• Inbox and Planner permissions work at account level and may be restricted for workspaces outside your organisation.
• OAuth only. Atlassian says Trello MCP does not accept API tokens, so there is no key-based setup to fall back on.
• It acts as you. Changes are made with your Trello account, so in Trello’s activity they look like yours. If your team needs to tell the two apart, agree a habit, such as a line in the card description, before you start.

Disconnecting

Disconnect Trello from ChatGPT’s settings, in the same place you connected it. Atlassian notes you can revoke an assistant’s access at any time, and Trello Enterprise admins can cut off access for everyone from Atlassian Administration.

If the list of tasks is the point

Trello gives you any number of lists and works through your own account. If what you want is four fixed lanes, To Do, Next Up, In Progress and Completed, and a board ChatGPT joins with a role you chose rather than all your rights, that is fenbs. ChatGPT connects to it over MCP with a browser sign-in where your plan allows custom connectors, holds your role narrowed by the scopes you tick, and every change it makes is recorded with its name. The steps are on connecting ChatGPT to fenbs, and the fair comparison is fenbs vs Trello.