TextExpander MCP Server Getting Started Guide

The TextExpander MCP Server connects your TextExpander Snippets to AI assistants that support the Model Context Protocol (MCP). You can read, create, and update Snippets through natural conversation instead of switching between apps.

This guide gets you up and running in about 3 minutes.

What you’ll need

A TextExpander account
An AI assistant that supports MCP connections. Compatible platforms include:
- Claude Desktop (macOS or Windows) or **Claude.ai with Cowork mode**
- ChatGPT (Pro, Team, Enterprise, or Edu plan with Developer Mode)
- Microsoft Copilot (Copilot Studio)

What you can do

Once connected, you can ask your AI assistant to:

List all your Snippet Groups and their contents
Create new Snippet Groups to organize your work
Add Snippets with abbreviations, labels, and macros
Update existing Snippet content or abbreviations
Build entire Snippet libraries from scratch through conversation
Search your Snippet libraries
Move Snippets between Groups
Delete Snippets and Snippet Groups (your assistant asks you to confirm first)
See usage statistics, like expansion counts and characters saved
Look up members of your Organization

Available tools

Your AI assistant chooses these tools for you based on what you ask. You never need to call them by name.

Tool	What it does	Changes your data?
`get_current_user`	Shows your name, email and permissions	No
`list_organization_members`	Lists members of your Organization	No
`list_snippet_groups`	Lists all Snippet Groups you can access	No
`get_snippet_group`	Shows one Group’s details	No
`get_snippets`	Lists the Snippets in a Group	No
`get_snippet`	Shows one Snippet’s full content	No
`search_snippets`	Searches by abbreviation, label or content	No
`get_snippet_statistics`	Shows expansion counts, characters saved and activity	No
`add_snippet`	Creates a Snippet	Yes
`update_snippet`	Edits a Snippet’s content, label or abbreviation	Yes, overwrites
`move_snippet`	Moves a Snippet to another Group	Yes
`create_snippet_group`	Creates a Snippet Group	Yes
`update_snippet_group`	Renames or edits a Group	Yes, overwrites
`delete_snippet`	Deletes a Snippet	Yes, permanent
`delete_snippet_group`	Deletes a Group and every Snippet in it	Yes, permanent

Delete tools always ask you to confirm before anything is removed.

Not able to play the video? Click here to watch the video

Step 1: Connect TextExpander to your AI assistant

Choose the setup instructions for your platform below.

Claude Desktop, Cowork, and Web

On the web:

Open the TextExpander connector
Click the “Connect to Claude” button
Sign in with your TextExpander credentials when prompted
Authorize access when prompted

In Claude Desktop:

Open Claude Desktop
Click Customize in the left sidebar, then Connectors
Find TextExpander in the list and click Connect
Sign in with your TextExpander credentials when prompted
Authorize access when prompted

ChatGPT

ChatGPT supports MCP connectors through Developer Mode, available on Pro, Team, Enterprise, and Edu plans.

On the web:

Open the TextExpander Plugin and click the “Install plugin” button
Sign in with your TextExpander credentials when prompted
Authorize access when prompted

In the ChatGPT desktop app:

Open the Plugins directory
Navigate to the TextExpander plugin and click the plus button to install it
Sign in with your TextExpander credentials when prompted
Authorize access when prompted

Microsoft Copilot

Copilot Studio supports MCP connections directly through its onboarding wizard.

Open your agent in Copilot Studio
Go to Tools > Add Tool > New Tool
Select Model Context Protocol
Enter the TextExpander MCP server URL: https://mcp.textexpander.com/mcp
Add a name (“TextExpander”) and description
Configure authentication as OAuth 2.0 using Dynamic discovery. Copilot Studio registers itself with TextExpander automatically, so no client ID or secret is needed. The first time the tool runs, sign in with your TextExpander credentials and authorize access.
Select which TextExpander tools to enable (we recommend enabling all of them). See Available tools below for the full list.

You’ll see a confirmation that the connector is active. That’s it for setup.

Step 2: Verify the connection

Try this prompt: “List my TextExpander Snippet Groups.”

Your AI assistant calls the list_snippet_groups tool and returns your Groups. You’ll see each Group’s name and ID. If you have Organization Groups, those appear with your Organization name.

To check your account details, try: “Who am I signed in as on TextExpander?”

The assistant calls get_current_user and returns your name, email, and permissions.

For the full list of tools your assistant can use, see Available tools below.

Step 3: Try it out

Here are three things to try right away.

Read your existing Snippets

Show me the Snippets in my ‘My Snippets’ group.

The assistant retrieves every Snippet in that Group, including abbreviations, labels, and content. You’ll see the full text of each Snippet.

Create a new Snippet Group and Snippet

Create a Snippet Group called ‘Email Templates’ and add a Snippet with the abbreviation ;thanks that says ‘Thank you for your email. I’ll get back to you within 24 hours.'

The assistant creates the Group, then adds the Snippet. You’ll see both confirmations.

Create a Snippet with macros

Add a Snippet to my Email Templates group with an abbreviation ;reply that starts with ‘Hi’ followed by a fill-in field for the recipient’s name, then says ‘Thanks for reaching out on’ followed by today’s date.

Your assistant translates your description into the right macro syntax automatically. You don’t need to know the %fill% or %date% syntax.

Example prompts

Here are a few examples of what you can ask it to do to help get you started.

Build a customer support library

Create a Snippet Group called ‘Customer Support’ with four Snippets: a greeting that asks for the customer’s name, an escalation template with a priority dropdown (Low, Medium, High, Urgent) and a ticket ID field, a closing message, and a status update that includes today’s date.

Migrate content into Snippets

Here are five email responses I use every day. Create a Snippet Group called ‘Sales Replies’ and turn each one into a Snippet with a sensible abbreviation starting with ;sr.

Then paste your email templates.

Audit your existing Snippets

List all my Snippet Groups and tell me how many Snippets are in each one.

The assistant reads each Group and gives you a summary.

Update Snippets in bulk

In my ‘Support Team’ Group, update the signature line in every Snippet from ‘Best regards’ to ‘Cheers’.

The assistant reads the Group, identifies matching Snippets, and updates each one.

Additional details

The TextExpander MCP respects the scope of the account it’s logged in with. If you’re part of an Organization account, team members in your account won’t gain any access beyond what they already have in TextExpander by using the MCP. Existing permissions carry over completely. This means:

Each user on the MCP server only has access to their own snippets.
Users who don’t have Snippet editing permissions in TextExpander will not be able to edit Snippets through the MCP either.
Users will only see and interact with the snippets and groups to which their account already has access.

Will the tool list and schemas be published?

Yes. The Available tools table above is the current list. The full input and output schemas come from the server itself: every MCP-compatible assistant receives them automatically when it connects, along with labels that mark which tools only read data and which can change or delete it. We may add tools over time, and your assistant picks up new ones without any setup on your part.