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Connect Kimai to Microsoft Copilot via MCP

Kimai — the self-hosted open-source time tracker. Read and create timesheets, browse customers, projects, activities and users, and check the running clock. REST API v1 on your own Kimai instance, bearer API token.

HCBy HelpCode teamUpdated 4 min read Open-source on GitHub

No credit card · 7-day trial · Self-host alternative available

Kimai

Kimai

Kimai — the self-hosted open-source time tracker. Read and create timesheets, browse customers, projects, activities and users, and check the running clock. REST API v1 on your own Kimai instance, bearer API token.

tools

9

Region

DE

Category

Time Tracking

Authentication

Bearer Token

Required env vars

KIMAI_URLKIMAI_API_TOKEN
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  • GDPR & SOC 2 ready
    EU data residency, audit logs
  • Open-source on GitHub
    Open source · AGPL-3.0
  • Works with ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini
    Any MCP-compatible client

Summary

Kimai — the self-hosted open-source time tracker. Read and create timesheets, browse customers, projects, activities and users, and check the running clock. REST API v1 on your own Kimai instance, bearer API token.

Guided setup

Connect Kimai to Microsoft Copilot in 2 minutes

Start a free trial on AnythingMCP Cloud, connect Kimai in the guided setup, then add your MCP URL to Microsoft Copilot. No code and no server to run.

No credit card · 7-day trial · Self-host alternative available

Try asking

Example prompts for Kimai

Click any prompt to copy it. Paste into Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Gemini, Copilot or OpenClaw to run it against this connector.

Kimai · live via MCP
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Opus 4.7

Claude is AI and can make mistakes. Please double-check responses.

💡 No install? Use cloud.anythingmcp.com directly. Sign in, click Connectors → Kimai, paste your credentials, mint an MCP API key — done. No Docker, no git clone, no local server.

Kimai + Microsoft Copilot

Kimai — the self-hosted open-source time tracker. Read and create timesheets, browse customers, projects, activities and users, and check the running clock. REST API v1 on your own Kimai instance, bearer API token.

Prerequisites

See the full setup instructions baked into the connector (visible in the in-app store when you select the connector). The required environment variables for this connector are:

KIMAI_URL, KIMAI_API_TOKEN

Step 1 — Get credentials

Getting a token (Kimai 2.x)

  1. Sign in to your Kimai instance, open your user profile and go to the API tab.
  2. Create an API token and copy it into KIMAI_API_TOKEN. Kimai 2.x uses a bearer token here; the older X-AUTH-USER/X-AUTH-TOKEN header pair from Kimai 1.x is deprecated and is not what this adapter sends.
  3. Set KIMAI_URL to the base URL of your instance without a trailing slash and without /api, e.g. https://time.example.com. The adapter appends /api.

…(continued in the in-app connector instructions)

Step 2 — Install the adapter

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/HelpCode-ai/anythingmcp/main/docker-compose.quickstart.yml -o docker-compose.yml
printf 'JWT_SECRET=%s\nENCRYPTION_KEY=%s\n' "$(openssl rand -hex 32)" "$(openssl rand -hex 32)" > .env
docker compose up -d

Step 3 — Add the connector in Microsoft Copilot

Your server URL: in AnythingMCP, open MCP Servers → the server this connector is on, and copy its URL (https://cloud.anythingmcp.com/mcp/…). Use it wherever this guide shows YOUR_SERVER_ID.

Microsoft Copilot uses MCP servers through agents built in Copilot Studio: you add AnythingMCP to an agent as a tool, then publish the agent to Microsoft 365 Copilot and Teams. Copilot Studio connects from Microsoft's cloud over Streamable HTTP, which AnythingMCP supports.

  1. In Copilot Studio, open your agent (or create one), go to Tools and choose Add a tool → New tool → Model Context Protocol.
  2. Enter a Server name (for example AnythingMCP), a Server description that says what the connector does, and the Server URL https://cloud.anythingmcp.com/mcp/YOUR_SERVER_ID. Copilot Studio uses the description to decide when to call the server.
  3. Under authentication, choose API key, set Type to Header and the header name to X-API-Key, then select Create.
  4. In Add tool, choose Create a new connection, paste an MCP API key from AnythingMCP (MCP Servers → your server → API keys) and select Add to agent.
  5. Try it in the agent's Test pane: ask for something that needs the Kimai tools.
  6. Select Publish, then Channels → Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams, keep Make agent available in Microsoft Copilot selected and choose Add channel. See agent in Teams installs it for you; in Microsoft 365 Copilot, type @ and pick the agent.

Prefer per-user sign-in? Choose OAuth 2.0 → Dynamic discovery instead of an API key: each user then signs in to AnythingMCP the first time the agent calls it.

Self-hosting? Use your instance's public HTTPS address instead of https://cloud.anythingmcp.com. Copilot Studio connects from Microsoft's cloud, so localhost does not work.

Available tools

ToolWhat it does
kimai_get_versionRead the Kimai version and copyright of the connected instance
kimai_list_timesheetsRead timesheet entries in a date range with their project, activity, duration, rate and billable flag
kimai_get_active_timesheetsRead the entries that are running right now for the authenticated user — Kimai's live clock, answering 'am I still tracking something'
kimai_list_customersList customers with their number, country, currency and visible flag
kimai_list_projectsList projects, optionally for one customer, with their budget, time budget and start and end dates
kimai_list_activitiesList activities — the task types time is booked against — either global or attached to one project
kimai_list_usersList Kimai users with their username, alias, e-mail and roles
kimai_create_timesheetBook a timesheet entry against a project and activity
kimai_stop_timesheetStop a running timesheet entry, setting its end to now

FAQ

Which Copilot is this for? Microsoft 365 Copilot at work, through agents built in Copilot Studio. The Microsoft Copilot app for personal accounts has no option to add your own MCP server.

What do I need? A work account with access to Copilot Studio (a license or a trial) to build the agent. People who use it in Microsoft 365 Copilot or Teams need access to the agent: share it with them, or ask an admin to publish it to the organization. If your organization applies data policies to Power Platform connectors, they cover MCP servers too.

The agent doesn't call the tools. Check that the header name is exactly X-API-Key and that the key belongs to the same MCP server as the URL, and make the server description specific: Copilot Studio uses it to decide when to call the server. Publish the agent again after each change; in an open chat, type "start over" to get the new version.

Next steps

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Connect Kimai to Microsoft Copilot in 2 minutes

Start a free trial on AnythingMCP Cloud, connect Kimai in the guided setup, then add your MCP URL to Microsoft Copilot. No code and no server to run.

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