add_issue_note
Adds a note to a Mantis issue, with a view state that controls who can see it.
LABSCO SUMMARY
The two statistics tools are the reason to pick this up — issue counts by any dimension, and assignment load per person.
Everything else is a competent read-and-write layer over Mantis issues; the aggregates are what you cannot get in one click from the UI. On the query side, follow the server's own guidance and pass select with id, summary and description — a full issue list returns enough data to cause problems.
What it is
An MCP server over the MantisBT REST API, authenticated with a personal API token, covering issue reading and writing plus two aggregate views.
What you get
- get_issues with filters on project, status, handler and reporter plus a keyword search, paged 20 at a time, and a select list that decides which fields come back
- get_issue_by_id for a single issue in full
- The surrounding entities: the project list, a project's users, one user looked up by username, and a brute-force listing of every user
- create_issue with summary, description, project, priority, severity, handler, category and additional information
- update_issue for status, summary, priority, severity, handler, resolution and description
- add_issue_note to attach a note with its own view state
- get_issue_statistics grouped by status, priority, severity, handler or reporter, over all time, today, this week or this month
- get_assignment_statistics per user, with or without unassigned issues, optionally filtered to particular statuses
Requirements
A MantisBT instance with its REST API reachable, and an API token created under My Account > API Tokens. Two variables carry it: MANTIS_API_URL pointing at the .../api/rest endpoint, and MANTIS_API_KEY. Optional settings: NODE_ENV, LOG_LEVEL, CACHE_ENABLED with CACHE_TTL_SECONDS (300 by default), and ENABLE_FILE_LOGGING with LOG_DIR. Run it over stdio with npx -y mantis-mcp-server@latest, or install globally and point the client at dist/index.js.
Setup effort
One command plus a key — npm install -g mantis-mcp-server, then supply credentials
USE CASES
01
Finding what is sitting with one person
Resolve the username to a user ID, then list issues filtered by handler.
02
Reading one bug in full
Fetch it by ID rather than widening the list query.
03
Seeing where the backlog is concentrated
Group the issue counts by severity or status over a chosen period.
04
Checking whether the load is spread evenly
Read the per-user assignment counts, including or excluding unassigned issues.
05
Filing a bug straight from the conversation
Find the project ID, then create the issue with its priority and handler set.
06
Progressing a ticket and explaining why
Change the status and resolution, then attach a note recording the reason.
11 tools
Counted once with only startup setup. Other versions, modes or optional credentials may expose a different list.
create_issue
Creates a Mantis issue with summary, description, project, category, priority, severity, handler and additional information.
get_assignment_statistics
Returns assignment statistics for a project, showing how issues are distributed across users, with unassigned issues optionally included.
get_issue_by_id
Returns the full detail of one Mantis issue by its ID.
get_issue_statistics
Returns issue statistics for a project, grouped by a chosen dimension over a chosen period.
get_issues
Lists Mantis issues filtered by project, status, handler, reporter or search text; keeping select to id, summary and description avoids oversized responses.
get_projects
Lists the Mantis projects.
get_user
Looks up a Mantis user by username.
get_users
Retrieves every Mantis user by brute-force enumeration.
get_users_by_project_id
Returns every user attached to a given project.
update_issue
Updates an existing Mantis issue — summary, description, status, resolution, priority, severity or handler.
BEFORE YOU INSTALL
What to know first
Tools you get
11 tools when we connected. create_issue, update_issue, add_issue_note and get_users_by_project_id are undocumented, so despite its query-and-analysis description, the server can file and modify Mantis issues.
Requires
- npx on PATH
- MANTIS_API_KEY in your environment
- MANTIS_API_URL in your environment
Where it runs
Both documented setups run the server on your machine.
CONTEXT COST
Light Standing cost
Rated by the size of the 11 tool definitions that ride along on every turn, not by how many there are
INSTALLATION
Connect your client
Server setup
TERMINAL
npm install -g mantis-mcp-serverMCP Clients
Cursor — macOS or Linux
CURSOR — MACOS OR LINUX · JSON
{
"mcpServers": {
"mantis-mcp-server": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"mantis-mcp-server@latest"
],
"env": {
"MANTIS_API_URL": "<YOUR_MANTIS_API_URL>",
"MANTIS_API_KEY": "<YOUR_MANTIS_API_KEY>",
"NODE_ENV": "production",
"LOG_LEVEL": "info"
}
}
}
}Cursor — Windows
CURSOR — WINDOWS · JSON
{
"mcpServers": {
"mantis-mcp-server": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "cmd",
"args": [
"/c",
"node",
"%APPDATA%\\npm\\node_modules\\mantis-mcp-server\\dist\\index.js"
],
"env": {
"MANTIS_API_URL": "<YOUR_MANTIS_API_URL>",
"MANTIS_API_KEY": "<YOUR_MANTIS_API_KEY>",
"NODE_ENV": "production",
"LOG_LEVEL": "info"
}
}
}
}This block starts the copy that npm install -g mantis-mcp-server puts under %APPDATA%\npm\node_modules, so run that global install first. <YOUR_MANTIS_API_URL> is your MantisBT REST address (…/api/rest), and <YOUR_MANTIS_API_KEY> is an API token from My Account → API Tokens.
