Name: Early MCP
Author: weichselbaum

LABSCO SUMMARY

46 tools is the whole API, not a starter set.

Most time-tracker integrations stop at start and stop. This one carries folders with member management, leave approval, webhooks and reporting, which makes it usable for a team's admin work rather than only your own timer. One thing to plan for: a tagged note needs the tag's id in Early's literal <{{|t|TAG_ID|}}> form, not its name.

What it is

A Python server covering the Early time-tracking API v4 end to end — tracking, time entries, activities, folders, tags, mentions, leaves, webhooks and reports — across 46 tools.

What you get

Tracking started, stopped, edited or cancelled, and the running timer read back (5 tools)
Time entries listed, fetched, created, edited and deleted (5 tools)
Activities listed, created, edited, archived and unarchived (5 tools)
Folders with full CRUD plus member management (10 tools)
Tags listed, created, updated and deleted, and mentions created, updated and deleted (7 tools)
Leave requests created, approved, denied and deleted (5 tools)
Webhook events listed, and subscriptions added and removed (5 tools)
A generated report and a today summary (2 tools), plus the current user and the team list (2 tools)

Requirements

An Early account with an API key and secret, generated from the API section at the bottom of Early's account settings and supplied as EARLY_API_KEY and EARLY_API_SECRET. Python 3.10+; clone the repository, create a venv, pip install -r requirements.txt, and point the client at early_mcp.py. Times are ISO 8601 (2024-01-15T14:30:00.000) and an entry must last at least 1 minute. Tags and mentions inside a note use Early's own syntax: <{{|t|TAG_ID|}}> and <{{|m|MENTION_ID|}}>.

Setup effort

Build from source — git clone https://github.com/weichselbaum/early-mcp.git

See installation options

USE CASES

01

Starting and stopping without leaving the editor

Say what you are working on and have the timer start on the right activity, then stop it with a note when you are done.

02

Filling in time you forgot to track

Create the entry retroactively with an explicit start and end, remembering the one-minute minimum.

03

Producing last week's report

Generate the report for a date range instead of exporting and reshaping a spreadsheet.

04

Keeping a shared folder tidy

Create tags, adjust activities and manage who is in a folder, all from the same conversation.

BEFORE YOU INSTALL

What to know first

Requires

EARLY_API_KEY in your environment
EARLY_API_SECRET in your environment

Where it runs

The documented client runs the server on your machine.

INSTALLATION

Connect your client

You clone this one yourself.

Server setup

TERMINAL

git clone https://github.com/weichselbaum/early-mcp.git
cd early-mcp
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

MCP Clients

Claude Desktop

CLAUDE DESKTOP · JSON

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "early": {
      "command": "<YOUR_PATH_TO_EARLY_MCP>/venv/bin/python",
      "args": [
        "<YOUR_PATH_TO_EARLY_MCP>/early_mcp.py"
      ],
      "env": {
        "EARLY_API_KEY": "<YOUR_EARLY_API_KEY>",
        "EARLY_API_SECRET": "<YOUR_EARLY_API_SECRET>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Early MCP