Trello Setup

Connect your Trello boards to Dex so your tasks, projects, and daily plans stay in sync with your Trello Kanban boards.

What This Enables

Once connected, Dex can:

• Task Sync: Cards created in Dex appear on your Trello board; cards moved to Done in Trello mark tasks complete in Dex
• Project Health: See live board status -- cards by list, blocked items, stale cards
• Daily Plan: Surface Trello cards assigned to you, including overdue items
• Meeting Prep: Know which board has blocked cards to discuss with attendees

Privacy

• Card titles and status sync. No attachments or comments are read unless you ask.
• Your API key and token stay local on your machine and are gitignored
• Sync is on-demand (during daily plan or task creation) -- no background polling
• Only boards you explicitly configure are accessed

When to Run

• User types /trello-setup
• User asks about connecting Trello
• User wants Kanban board context in daily plans or project health
• During /integrate-mcp if Trello is mentioned

Setup Flow

Step 1: Check if Already Connected

1. Check System/integrations/config.yaml for a trello: section with enabled: true
2. If found, skip to Step 6 (Configure Board Mapping)
3. If not found, continue to Step 2

Step 2: Explain What We're Setting Up

Say:

**Let's connect Trello to Dex.**

This links your Trello boards so tasks sync between Dex and Trello.
Cards move between lists = status updates in Dex. Simple Kanban sync.

**What you'll need:**
- A Trello account with at least one board
- Your Trello API key and token (I'll walk you through getting these)
- About 3 minutes

**Ready to go?**

Wait for confirmation.

Step 3: Get API Credentials

Walk the user through getting their Trello API key and token:

**Step 1: Get your API Key**

1. Go to https://trello.com/power-ups/admin
2. Click "New" to create a new Power-Up (or use an existing one)
3. Copy your **API Key** from the Power-Up settings

**Step 2: Generate a Token**

1. On the same page, click the link to generate a **Token**
2. Authorize the app when prompted
3. Copy the token that appears

**Paste your API key and token when ready.**

Wait for the user to provide both values.

Step 4: Add the MCP Server

Check the user's MCP configuration. If mcp-server-trello is not listed:

1. Explain what we're adding:

I'll add the Trello connector to your Dex configuration.
This uses mcp-server-trello which runs on Bun for fast performance.

2. Add to the user's .mcp.json:

{
  "mcp-server-trello": {
    "command": "bunx",
    "args": ["-y", "mcp-server-trello"],
    "env": {
      "TRELLO_API_KEY": "<user's api key>",
      "TRELLO_TOKEN": "<user's token>"
    }
  }
}

3. Tell the user the MCP server needs to restart for changes to take effect.

Step 5: Test the Connection

Run a quick test to confirm everything works:

1. List the user's boards via the Trello MCP
2. Show a brief summary:

**Connection test:**
- Found [N] boards: [Board Name 1], [Board Name 2], ...
- API access confirmed

Everything looks good!

If it fails, troubleshoot:

That didn't work. A few things to check:

1. **API Key correct?** Should be a 32-character string
2. **Token correct?** Should be a longer string (64+ characters)
3. **Account access?** Make sure the token has read/write permissions

Want to re-enter your credentials?

Retry up to 2 times, then offer to skip and come back later.

Step 6: Configure Board Mapping

Ask the user which board to sync:

**Which Trello board should Dex sync with?**

Here are your boards:
1. [Board Name 1]
2. [Board Name 2]
3. [Board Name 3]

Pick a board (or say "show all" for the full list).

You can add more boards later by running `/trello-setup` again.

After they choose a board:

**Now let's map your lists to Dex statuses.**

I'll look at the lists on [Board Name]:
- "To Do" -> Backlog (not started)
- "In Progress" -> Started
- "Review" -> (unmapped -- keep or map to Blocked?)
- "Done" -> Done

Does this mapping look right? Or should I adjust?

Let the user confirm or customize the mapping. Default status list names:

• Backlog / To Do / TODO -> status n
• In Progress / Doing / Active -> status s
• Blocked / On Hold / Waiting -> status b
• Done / Complete / Finished -> status d

Step 7: Trust Level

Ask about sync behavior:

**How should Dex handle Trello sync?**

1. **Auto-sync** — Cards sync automatically during daily plan and task creation
2. **Ask each time** — Dex shows you what changed and asks before syncing

Which do you prefer? (Most people choose auto-sync)

Step 8: Save Configuration

Write to System/integrations/config.yaml -- update the trello section:

trello:
  enabled: true
  task_sync: true
  configured_at: YYYY-MM-DD
  api_key: <user's api key>
  token: <user's token>
  default_board: <board id>
  board_name: <board name>
  trust_level: auto | ask
  list_mapping:
    backlog: <list id for Backlog>
    in_progress: <list id for In Progress>
    blocked: <list id for Blocked>
    done: <list id for Done>
  features:
    task_sync: true
    project_health: true
    daily_plan: true
    meeting_prep: true

If the file already exists, only update the trello: section. Preserve other integration configs.

Step 9: Confirm

**Trello is connected!**

Here's what changes now:

- **Task Sync** — New Dex tasks appear on your [Board Name] board. Cards completed in Trello mark tasks done in Dex.
- **Project Health** (`/project-health`) shows live board status -- cards by list, blocked items
- **Daily Plan** (`/daily-plan`) includes your assigned Trello cards and overdue items
- **Meeting Prep** (`/meeting-prep`) surfaces blocked cards relevant to attendees

**Capability cascade:** These skills now have Trello awareness built in.

You can adjust settings anytime by running `/trello-setup` again.

Troubleshooting

Token Expired

Trello tokens can be set to expire. If you see auth errors:

1. Go to https://trello.com/power-ups/admin
2. Generate a new token
3. Update System/integrations/config.yaml with the new token
4. Restart MCP server

Board Not Found

If the configured board was deleted or renamed:

1. Run /trello-setup to reconfigure
2. Select the new board
3. Remap lists if needed

Rate Limiting

Trello allows 100 requests per 10 seconds. This is generous -- you'd only hit it during bulk sync. If you see rate limit errors, wait 10 seconds and retry.

Cards Not Syncing

Check:

• Is the board ID correct in config.yaml?
• Does the token have write access?
• Are the list names matching? (List mapping is case-insensitive but names must partially match)

Reconfiguration

If the user runs /trello-setup when already configured:

1. Show current config from System/integrations/config.yaml
2. Offer options:
   • Change synced board
   • Update list mapping
   • Change trust level (auto/ask)
   • Re-authenticate (new API key/token)
   • Add additional boards
   • Disconnect Trello

Disconnect Flow

If user wants to disconnect:

1. Update System/integrations/config.yaml:
   yamlCopy

   trello:
     enabled: false
   

2. Confirm: "Trello is disconnected. Your daily plans and project health will no longer include Trello context. Run /trello-setup anytime to reconnect."