Connect an MCP client

Semestra runs an MCP server, so an AI client outside the app can read your schedule, grades and tasks, and change them when you allow it. It offers the same operations as the in-app assistant Sem.

• Endpoint: <your Semestra address>/mcp, e.g. https://semestra.example.com/mcp. Global settings → Integrations → MCP server shows the exact address
• Transport: Streamable HTTP (stateless, JSON responses)
• Authentication: Authorization: Bearer spat_… with an API token. Session cookies are not accepted

1. Create an API tokenCopy Anchor Link

Global settings → Account → API tokens → create a token. Choose:

• Access: Read only or Read and write.
• Expiry: never, 30, 90 or 365 days.

The token is shown once. Copy it, or press Copy MCP config for a ready-made Claude Desktop snippet. You can revoke a token at any time; deleting your account revokes all of them.

2. Add Semestra to your clientCopy Anchor Link

Replace <token> and the address with your own.

claude mcp add --transport http semestra https://semestra.example.com/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer <token>"

Then ask something like "What classes do I have tomorrow?"

What a client may doCopy Anchor Link

• Write tools run immediately. Unlike Sem, which shows a confirmation card, Semestra relies on the client's own approval prompt for MCP calls.
• Delete data is off by default. Turn it on in global settings → Integrations, under MCP clients.
• Tools of a plugin appear only while that plugin is installed on your account.
• Changes made over MCP appear in open browser tabs right away.

Prompts and resourcesCopy Anchor Link

• Prompts: each of Sem's skills is an MCP prompt, a step-by-step workflow such as importing a timetable. A prompt is listed only when the token may call every tool it uses.
• Resources: semestra://programs (your programs and terms), semestra://terms/{id} (a term and its courses) and semestra://courses/{id} (a course and its terms).

Good to knowCopy Anchor Link

• Tool names are capability names with __ for dots, e.g. academics__course__create_many.
• Times are in the program's time zone, with the offset.
• If you have exactly one program, tools that need a program_id can be called without it.
• Text other people wrote (Canvas pages, file contents) is returned as data; treat it as such.
• A failed call returns {"error": {"code", "params", "hint"}}; hint, when present, is one English sentence on what to do next.
• Adding items takes a list (*_create_many), even for one item. Reordering is left to the app.

The full list is on Tools and prompts.