Anaplan MCP

Unofficial MCP server for Anaplan

The Problem

Anaplan’s Integration API is powerful but requires serious technical expertise. Most teams rely on a handful of model builders to navigate complex models, extract data, and run imports. Everyone else waits. That bottleneck slows down data reviews, onboarding, impact analysis, and routine workflows that should be self-serve.

The Solution: Anaplan MCP

This server wraps the Anaplan Integration API v2 in structured tools that AI assistants like Claude can call on your behalf. Instead of writing API calls or waiting for someone who knows the model, you ask in plain English:

Show me the structure of the Supply Planning model

Pull the current pricing data for all products

Run the monthly demand import and show me the result

Built in TypeScript with support for both stdio (local) and Streamable HTTP (remote) transports. Works with Claude Desktop, Claude Code, claude.ai, and any MCP-compatible client.

Who It’s For

Business users

Stop waiting for someone to pull data or explain how a model works. Ask Claude to show you the numbers, walk you through module structure, or run your regular imports.

Model builders & consultants

Analyze model structure, trace formula dependencies, review line item configurations, and identify performance issues through conversation instead of clicking through hundreds of modules manually.

IT & platform teams

Standard API access using your existing authentication and permissions. No new credentials, no elevated access. Open source for auditability.

What It Can Do

Model Exploration

Browse workspaces, models, modules, lists, views, and line items. Inspect import, export, and process definitions. Query users, versions, calendar settings, and task history.

Bulk Data Operations

Run imports, exports, processes, and delete actions with automatic task polling. Upload and download files with chunked transfer for large datasets. Manage models and large-volume reads for datasets over 1M cells.

Transactional Operations

Read cell data from module views. Write values to specific cells. Add, update, and delete list items.

Common Use Cases

Model documentation

Explore structure, list line items with formulas, check dimension usage, and understand how a model is composed.

Data review

Pull current data, identify recently added items, read forecast numbers, and get summaries without building custom exports.

Impact analysis

Find which modules use a specific list as a dimension, trace line-item references, and identify what a change would affect.

Automation

Run monthly imports, export actuals, add batches of new products to master lists, and chain multi-step workflows.

Onboarding

Walk new team members through module structure, explain how the model is organized, and answer questions about what each piece does.

Built-in orchestration guide

The server exposes an MCP resource (anaplan://orchestration-guide) that AI assistants read automatically. It teaches the correct tool sequences for every workflow: navigation patterns, read and write prerequisites, bulk import lifecycles, large-volume read pagination, and list mutation flows. Every tool description also includes prerequisite hints and next-step guidance, so the AI always knows what to call and in what order.

What it can't do

The Anaplan API does not support creating modules or line items, defining formulas, building model structure from scratch, or configuring the model calendar programmatically. For model building, use Anaplan’s UI or Agent Studio. This server covers everything the Integration API v2 exposes.

For implementation details (internals, module layout, client compatibility matrix, architecture diagrams), see the GitHub README. That is the canonical technical reference and always reflects the latest release.

Setup Guide

This guide is platform-aware. Pick your operating system below and the commands, file paths, and troubleshooting will switch to match. In Phase 2 you will also pick an authentication method: OAuth2 (recommended), Certificate, or Basic Auth. Both pickers stay in sync throughout the page.

Scope of this walkthrough

This walkthrough covers the local Claude Desktop setup only (stdio transport). Remote or cloud-hosted MCP deployment is not covered on this page.

Pick your platform:

Windows macOS Linux

Prerequisites

Ensure these are in place before starting.

Requirement	Min Version	Where to get it
Node.js	18 or higher	nodejs.org LTS installer, or platform instructions below
Git	Any recent	Platform instructions below
Claude Desktop	Latest	claude.ai/download
Anaplan account	With API access	Ask your Anaplan admin to enable API access if needed

Quick check

Open a terminal and run node --version. You should see v18.x.x or higher. If the command is not found, follow the install instructions in Phase 1, Step 2.

Phase 1: Clone and build the server

Complete this phase once, regardless of which auth method you choose.

Open a terminal

Press Windows + R, type cmd, and press Enter. Or search for “Command Prompt” in the Start menu. No admin privileges needed.

Open Terminal from Applications > Utilities, or press Cmd + Space and type “Terminal”.

Open your terminal emulator. On Ubuntu-based distros: Ctrl + Alt + T.

Install Node.js and Git (if not already present)

Run node --version and git --version first. If both report a valid version, skip this step.

Node.js: download the LTS installer from nodejs.org and run it with default options.
Git: download from git-scm.com/download/win and install with default options.

# Option A: Homebrew (recommended)
brew install node

# Option B: direct installer
# Download the .pkg from https://nodejs.org and run it

Git installs automatically on first use (triggers Xcode Command Line Tools dialog):

git --version
# Click "Install" in the dialog that appears

Node.js (pick one):

# Option A: nvm (recommended)
curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.7/install.sh | bash
source ~/.bashrc   # or ~/.zshrc on zsh
nvm install --lts

# Option B: package manager
sudo apt install nodejs npm     # Debian/Ubuntu
sudo dnf install nodejs         # Fedora/RHEL

Some distro package managers ship an older Node.js version. After installing, run node --version and confirm it is still 18 or higher. If not, use nvm.

Git:

sudo apt install git            # Debian/Ubuntu
sudo dnf install git            # Fedora/RHEL

After installing, open a new terminal window and confirm with node --version and git --version.

Navigate to your projects folder

Keep the repo in your user folder for easy access.

cd %USERPROFILE%
mkdir Projects
cd Projects

cd ~
mkdir -p Projects
cd Projects

Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/larasrinath/anaplan-mcp.git
cd anaplan-mcp

Result: a folder at C:\Users\<your-username>\Projects\anaplan-mcp.

Result: a folder at ~/Projects/anaplan-mcp.

Install dependencies

npm install

Wait for it to finish. Warnings are normal. Only lines starting with npm ERR! indicate a real problem.

EACCES permission errors

If you see EACCES errors, do not use sudo. Fix ownership first, then retry:

sudo chown -R $(whoami) ~/.npm
npm install

Build the TypeScript source

npm run build

Compiles TypeScript to JavaScript. Only needed on first setup and after git pull. Success means no errors, and a dist/ folder appears inside anaplan-mcp.

Note your absolute path

You will need this exact path when configuring Claude Desktop.

echo %CD%

Output will look like: C:\Users\<your-username>\Projects\anaplan-mcp.

Use forward slashes in the JSON config

In claude_desktop_config.json, always use forward slashes in paths. Example: C:/Users/<your-username>/Projects/anaplan-mcp/dist/index.js.

pwd

Output example: /Users/<your-username>/Projects/anaplan-mcp.

Output example: /home/<your-username>/Projects/anaplan-mcp.

Copy this path. You will paste it into the config file in Phase 2.

Phase 2: Configure authentication

Pick your auth method below and the guide will filter to show only the steps that apply. Review the comparison table first if you’re not sure which to choose.

One auth method at a time

Use only ONE authentication method. If multiple env vars are present, the server picks the highest-priority method: OAuth2 > Certificate > Basic. Never set all three at once.

Authentication methods at a glance

	OAuth2 (Recommended)	Certificate	Basic Auth
Best for	Most users, SSO tenants	Service accounts, automation	Simple, non-SSO accounts
What you need	OAuth2 client ID (device grant flow)	Paths to your certificate `.pem` and private key `.pem` files	Your Anaplan login email and password
Token lifetime	60 min idle (in-memory)	Session-based	Session-based
SSO compatible	Yes	Yes	No

Pick your auth method:

OAuth2 Certificate Basic Auth

Option A: OAuth2 (recommended)

OAuth2 is recommended for most users, especially if your Anaplan account uses SSO. On first use, Claude Desktop shows an authorization link in chat. Click it, approve in Anaplan, then retry your request.

What you need: an Anaplan OAuth2 Client ID. Ask your workspace admin to create an OAuth2 client (Device Grant type) and share the Client ID.

Open the Claude Desktop config file

Press Windows + R, type %APPDATA%\Claude, press Enter. Open claude_desktop_config.json in Notepad. If the file does not exist yet, create it as an empty file.

If the folder does not exist yet:

mkdir -p ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude

# Open the config folder in Finder
open ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude

# Or edit directly in terminal
nano ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

If the folder does not exist yet:

mkdir -p ~/.config/Claude

# Edit in terminal
nano ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

# Or with a GUI editor
gedit ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Paste the OAuth2 configuration

If this is your only MCP server, you can replace the entire file contents with the block below. Otherwise, add or update only the anaplan entry inside mcpServers. Substitute your actual path and Client ID.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "anaplan": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["C:/Users/<your-username>/Projects/anaplan-mcp/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "ANAPLAN_CLIENT_ID": "your-client-id-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "anaplan": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/Users/<your-username>/Projects/anaplan-mcp/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "ANAPLAN_CLIENT_ID": "your-client-id-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "anaplan": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/home/<your-username>/Projects/anaplan-mcp/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "ANAPLAN_CLIENT_ID": "your-client-id-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Save and fully restart Claude Desktop

Save the file. Right-click the Claude icon in the system tray and choose Quit (do not just close the window). Reopen Claude Desktop.

Save the file. Quit Claude Desktop with Cmd + Q, or right-click the Dock icon and choose Quit. Reopen Claude Desktop.

Save the file. Right-click the Claude system tray icon and choose Quit. Reopen Claude Desktop.

First-use authorization

On first tool use, Claude will display an authorization URL in chat. Open it in your browser, approve in Anaplan, then re-run your request.

Option B: Certificate authentication

Best for service accounts and automation pipelines. Requires a .pem certificate and private key registered with your Anaplan tenant.

What you need:

A .pem certificate file registered in your Anaplan tenant
The matching private key .pem file
The absolute paths to both files

Open the Claude Desktop config file

Press Windows + R, type %APPDATA%\Claude, press Enter. Open claude_desktop_config.json in Notepad. If the file does not exist yet, create it as an empty file.

If the folder does not exist yet:

mkdir -p ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude

# Open the config folder in Finder
open ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude

# Or edit directly in terminal
nano ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

If the folder does not exist yet:

mkdir -p ~/.config/Claude

# Edit in terminal
nano ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

# Or with a GUI editor
gedit ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Paste the Certificate configuration

If this is your only MCP server, you can replace the file contents with the block below. Otherwise, add or update only the anaplan entry inside mcpServers. Use absolute paths to your .pem files. On Windows, use forward slashes.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "anaplan": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["C:/Users/<your-username>/Projects/anaplan-mcp/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "ANAPLAN_CERTIFICATE_PATH": "C:/certs/anaplan-cert.pem",
        "ANAPLAN_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH": "C:/certs/anaplan-key.pem"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "anaplan": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/Users/<your-username>/Projects/anaplan-mcp/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "ANAPLAN_CERTIFICATE_PATH": "/Users/<your-username>/certs/anaplan-cert.pem",
        "ANAPLAN_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH": "/Users/<your-username>/certs/anaplan-key.pem"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "anaplan": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/home/<your-username>/Projects/anaplan-mcp/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "ANAPLAN_CERTIFICATE_PATH": "/home/<your-username>/certs/anaplan-cert.pem",
        "ANAPLAN_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH": "/home/<your-username>/certs/anaplan-key.pem"
      }
    }
  }
}

Legacy tenants only

If your tenant is legacy (pre-2020), also add "ANAPLAN_CERTIFICATE_ENCODED_DATA_FORMAT": "v1" inside the env block. Most tenants do not need this.

Save and fully restart Claude Desktop

Fully quit Claude Desktop and reopen it. No browser authorization step is needed for certificate auth.

Option C: Basic Authentication (Username / Password)

Simplest to configure but only works for accounts that do not use SSO. If your company uses Single Sign-On to log in to Anaplan, use Option A or B instead.

Open the Claude Desktop config file

Press Windows + R, type %APPDATA%\Claude, press Enter. Open claude_desktop_config.json in Notepad. If the file does not exist yet, create it as an empty file.

If the folder does not exist yet:

mkdir -p ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude

# Open the config folder in Finder
open ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude

# Or edit directly in terminal
nano ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

If the folder does not exist yet:

mkdir -p ~/.config/Claude

# Edit in terminal
nano ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

# Or with a GUI editor
gedit ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Paste the Basic Auth configuration

If this is your only MCP server, you can replace the file contents with the block below. Otherwise, add or update only the anaplan entry inside mcpServers.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "anaplan": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["C:/Users/<your-username>/Projects/anaplan-mcp/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "ANAPLAN_USERNAME": "you@company.com",
        "ANAPLAN_PASSWORD": "your-anaplan-password"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "anaplan": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/Users/<your-username>/Projects/anaplan-mcp/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "ANAPLAN_USERNAME": "you@company.com",
        "ANAPLAN_PASSWORD": "your-anaplan-password"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "anaplan": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/home/<your-username>/Projects/anaplan-mcp/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "ANAPLAN_USERNAME": "you@company.com",
        "ANAPLAN_PASSWORD": "your-anaplan-password"
      }
    }
  }
}

Password is stored in plain text

Your password sits in plain text in this config file. Never commit it to source control, and keep the file private.

Set restrictive permissions: chmod 600 <config-file-path>.

Save and fully restart Claude Desktop

Fully quit Claude Desktop and reopen it.

Phase 3: Verify the connection

Confirm tools are loaded

After reopening Claude Desktop, look for a hammer icon (🛠️) in the chat input area. Click it. You should see Anaplan tools listed.

If the hammer icon is not there, see Troubleshooting below.

Run a safe first test

Type this into Claude Desktop:

“Show me my Anaplan workspaces”

Claude will ask you to approve the show_workspaces tool call. Click Allow. You should see your workspace names and IDs returned.

OAuth2 only: complete the authorization flow

If using OAuth2, Claude shows a URL on first use.

Copy the URL Claude displays and open it in your browser.
Log in to Anaplan and approve the device request.
Return to Claude Desktop and re-run your request.

Tokens are kept in memory. After 60 minutes idle or a Claude Desktop restart, you will need to re-authorize.

Environment variable reference

This section follows the auth selector above and shows only the variables for the currently selected auth method.

Variable	Description
`ANAPLAN_CLIENT_ID`	Your Anaplan OAuth2 client ID (device grant flow)

Variable	Description
`ANAPLAN_CERTIFICATE_PATH`	Absolute path to your `.pem` certificate file
`ANAPLAN_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH`	Absolute path to your private key `.pem` file
`ANAPLAN_CERTIFICATE_ENCODED_DATA_FORMAT`	Optional. Set `v1` for legacy tenants only. Defaults to `v2`

Variable	Description
`ANAPLAN_USERNAME`	Your Anaplan login email address
`ANAPLAN_PASSWORD`	Your Anaplan password

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Fix
`Unexpected non-whitespace` error	JSON config is invalid. Paste it into jsonlint.com. Common causes: trailing comma or duplicate `{}` block.
`Server disconnected` in Claude	Run `node C:/Users/<your-username>/Projects/anaplan-mcp/dist/index.js` in Command Prompt to see the real error. Common causes: wrong path (use forward slashes), missing `npm run build`, or Node.js not installed.
`401 Unauthorized`	Credentials are wrong, or tenant uses SSO. Switch from Basic to Certificate or OAuth2.
OAuth refresh failed	Session expired (60 min idle or server restarted). Re-authorize in Claude Desktop and retry.
Hammer icon missing in Claude	Claude Desktop was not fully restarted. Right-click the system-tray icon and choose Quit, then reopen.
`npm run build` fails	Node.js version too old. Run `node --version`. Install Node.js 18+ from nodejs.org.
`'node' is not recognized`	Node.js not installed or not in PATH. Reinstall from nodejs.org with the installer’s default options, then open a fresh Command Prompt.
Backslash paths cause errors in JSON	In `claude_desktop_config.json`, always use forward slashes. Example: `C:/Users/<your-username>/Projects/anaplan-mcp/dist/index.js`.

Symptom	Fix
`Unexpected non-whitespace` error	JSON config is invalid. Paste it into jsonlint.com. Common causes: trailing comma or duplicate `{}` block.
`Server disconnected` in Claude	Run `node ~/Projects/anaplan-mcp/dist/index.js` in Terminal to see the real error. Common causes: wrong path, missing `npm run build`, or Node.js not installed.
`401 Unauthorized`	Credentials are wrong, or tenant uses SSO. Switch from Basic to Certificate or OAuth2.
OAuth refresh failed	Session expired (60 min idle or server restarted). Re-authorize in Claude Desktop and retry.
Hammer icon missing in Claude	Claude Desktop was not fully restarted. Press `Cmd + Q` (or right-click the Dock icon and choose Quit), then reopen.
`npm run build` fails	Node.js version too old. Run `node --version`. Upgrade via `brew upgrade node`, or install Node.js 18+ from nodejs.org.
`command not found: node`	Node.js not installed or not in PATH. Install with `brew install node`, then open a fresh Terminal.
`EACCES` / permission denied on `npm install`	Do not use `sudo`. Fix npm ownership: `sudo chown -R $(whoami) ~/.npm`, then retry `npm install`.
Config file not found	The folder may not exist yet. Create it: `mkdir -p ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude`.

Symptom	Fix
`Unexpected non-whitespace` error	JSON config is invalid. Paste it into jsonlint.com. Common causes: trailing comma or duplicate `{}` block.
`Server disconnected` in Claude	Run `node ~/Projects/anaplan-mcp/dist/index.js` in your terminal to see the real error. Common causes: wrong path, missing `npm run build`, or Node.js not installed.
`401 Unauthorized`	Credentials are wrong, or tenant uses SSO. Switch from Basic to Certificate or OAuth2.
OAuth refresh failed	Session expired (60 min idle or server restarted). Re-authorize in Claude Desktop and retry.
Hammer icon missing in Claude	Claude Desktop was not fully restarted. Right-click the tray icon and choose Quit, then reopen.
`npm run build` fails	Node.js version too old. Run `node --version`. Install 18+ via `nvm install --lts`, or `sudo apt install nodejs` on Debian/Ubuntu.
`command not found: node`	Node.js not installed or not in PATH. Install via nvm (recommended) or `sudo apt install nodejs npm`, then open a fresh terminal.
`EACCES` / permission denied on `npm install`	Do not use `sudo`. Fix npm ownership: `sudo chown -R $(whoami) ~/.npm`, then retry `npm install`.
Config file not found	The folder may not exist yet. Create it: `mkdir -p ~/.config/Claude`.

The fastest diagnosis

When in doubt, open a terminal and run the server directly:

node C:/Users/<your-username>/Projects/anaplan-mcp/dist/index.js

node ~/Projects/anaplan-mcp/dist/index.js

The error output is always the fastest way to diagnose any issue.

Quick reference: key paths

Item	Path
Claude Desktop config	`%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json`
Server entry point	`C:\Users\<your-username>\Projects\anaplan-mcp\dist\index.js`
Source code	`C:\Users\<your-username>\Projects\anaplan-mcp\src\`
Orchestration guide	`anaplan://orchestration-guide` (auto-loaded by Claude)

Item	Path
Claude Desktop config	`~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`
Server entry point	`~/Projects/anaplan-mcp/dist/index.js`
Source code	`~/Projects/anaplan-mcp/src/`
Orchestration guide	`anaplan://orchestration-guide` (auto-loaded by Claude)

Item	Path
Claude Desktop config	`~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`
Server entry point	`~/Projects/anaplan-mcp/dist/index.js`
Source code	`~/Projects/anaplan-mcp/src/`
Orchestration guide	`anaplan://orchestration-guide` (auto-loaded by Claude)

Posted on:: February 9, 2026

Length:: 15 minute read, 3015 words

Categories:: Projects

Tags:: Anaplan MCP TypeScript AI Open Source

See Also:: MacOS ex-Retina Display