MCP Setup

Install the released CLI

• Operalta is distributed as a GitHub Release asset, not through the public npm registry. The installer installs both operalta and operalta-mcp into ~/.local/bin.
• The MCP server uses local stdio. There is no hosted MCP URL to add with an HTTP or SSE transport.
• Sign in with the MCP OAuth flow before connecting a client.

curl -fsSL https://www.operalta.ai/install.sh | sh
source ~/.zshrc
operalta login --mcp
operalta-mcp --help

Configure a client

• Recommended for Claude Code: run operalta install --target claudecode from a built checkout. It registers the server in ~/.claude.json, adds a managed workflow block to ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md, and ships /operalta-context and /operalta-debrief command files — merging into files it does not own and never overwriting content it did not create.
• The installer writes the server entry as an absolute path to the built file rather than the operalta-mcp binary name shown in the manual example below: Claude Code launches MCP servers with its own spawn environment, which may not carry ~/.local/bin on PATH, so pointing at the file directly is the safer default.
• Manual fallback (or for Cursor, Windsurf, and other clients): add operalta-mcp as a local stdio MCP server by hand. Do not use npx @operalta-ai/cli.
• OAuth is the default authentication path either way: run operalta login --mcp once and let the server reuse that local session. It keeps user identity and granted scopes explicit.
• OPERALTA_API_KEY is a secondary fallback for headless or server-to-server installations where browser OAuth is unavailable; do not add it to a normal desktop MCP configuration.
• OPERALTA_COMPANY_ID pins a company in multi-company setups.

operalta install --target claudecode

Run from a repository checkout

• Contributors can run the MCP server directly from TypeScript source. This does not require a compiled dist/ directory.
• Point the client at the checkout-local tsx executable and the MCP entrypoint. This tracks the current branch, so use it for development rather than a stable deployment.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "operalta": {
      "command": "/absolute/path/to/operalta-app/node_modules/.bin/tsx",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/operalta-app/packages/operalta-mcp/src/cli.ts"]
    }
  }
}

Tool families

• Read: get_company_context, get_metrics, get_decisions, search_knowledge, get_structure.
• Artifacts: sync_artifact, get_artifact, archive_artifact.
• Office: operalta excel create <spec.json> creates a local .xlsx file as an explicit user-invoked CLI command without calling the Operalta API.
• Innovation templates: operalta excel template create <template-id> produces ready workbooks for portfolio, scoring, experiments, roadmap, funding, partners, impact metrics, and venture BP. The former model-facing Excel tools are retired.
• Lists & matrices: create_list, get_list, upsert_list_entries — read and maintain your strategic matrices (bets, theses, portfolio monitoring) with a company key carrying lists:read / lists:write.
• Agents: council, panel, research_panel, and deep_research; use explicit operalta agent commands for advanced canonical runs. The legacy orchestrate model tool is retired.
• Workflow: pipeline, Transporter room resources, and deferred host-local data-room scan, gap analysis, and consent-gated build. Hybrid room-sync model tools are retired; explicit Transporter and room upload operations own tenant persistence.
• Financial planning: read company context and metrics, then create artifacts or room outputs that reference the same company-scoped source data as FounderFin.
• Community Rooms are not in the current MCP tool pack. They will use a separate Network context and must never fall back to Company data.

Your oversight surface from the terminal

• The matrices you pilot in the app — bets, theses, term sheets, portfolio monitoring — are fully readable and maintainable over MCP, so a terminal or desktop AI session works the same board your team sees.
• A typical loop: explore your codebase or documents in the session, then push the conclusions into the matrix — new rows, updated cells, moved stages — instead of losing them in the chat scrollback.
• Specs and long-form conclusions belong in artifacts (sync_artifact); the matrix keeps the state and telemetry. That split is what makes the board reviewable by the whole team.
• Everything an assistant writes through MCP respects the same rules as the app: your hand-edited cells are never overwritten, and every write is scoped to the company on the key.

Company context

• OPERALTA_COMPANY_ID pins MCP calls to one company when your key can access multiple workspaces.
• Financial tools are company-aware: a founder workspace, investor workspace, and portfolio workspace can expose different metrics, labels, and workflows.
• Use the same company context when moving between CLI, MCP, and REST API calls so forecasts, artifacts, and rooms stay attached to the intended workspace.

Spreadsheet automation boundary

• For local work, use operalta excel create or operalta excel template create to produce the workbook on disk. These are explicit CLI commands, not model tools. This path does not require OPERALTA_API_KEY and does not create a server-side generated export.
• Pick the template by company type and job: startup experiments/BP, fund or accelerator portfolio, corporate roadmap/capacity, public sector or nonprofit impact/funding, and partner ecosystem tracking.
• Template IDs include innovation_portfolio, opportunity_scorecard, experiment_tracker, roadmap_capacity, funding_plan, partner_ecosystem, impact_metrics, and venture_bp.
• Use the office_spreadsheet sandbox path when an agent must generate the workbook server-side, promote it into Operalta storage, or link it to Rooms from the web app.
• Keep OPERALTA_COMPANY_ID pinned when API-backed follow-up is needed so workbook assumptions, labels, room access, and generated exports stay tied to the intended company type.