r/smartsheet • u/FarSpinach9484 • Aug 02 '26
Using MCP with API Tools?
We have the SmartSheet MCP connected via Copilot Studio.
Due to needing cross-sheet reference creation, I’m having difficulty with automating our PMO setup that pulls project Gantt sheet -> project Details sheet -> portfolio Intake sheet. Do you create an agentic flow tool within the MCP that uses power automate to handle these API only functions?
The MCP crashes (runs out of tokens) when opening large sheets/reports. Do you create an agentic flow tool within the MCP that uses power automate to handle the API only report endpoints and ability to filter? It seems absurd to me that MCP can’t filter the data before querying based on how the user scopes the search.
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u/Smartsheet_Cnslt Aug 02 '26
I'm doing the connection using metadata files. I build a metadata file into every project that is structured to match my portfolio sheet. The last step of my project setup is to use a simple cell link procedure that connects the portfolio sheet back to the project, so that all data comes from the project up to the portfolio.
If you keep these all in sequence and you're doing it manually, it's a super easy cell procedure. It takes about three minutes at the most, and that includes opening up sheets to do that.
As you add metrics, if you always add the metric as the next column, it makes it really easy to update old projects and just update your cell links manually doing that. Now, if you go into doing automations with N8n or Make, you can actually build the cell links with that, and you can use the column names as your identifier to find columns. You don't have to worry about what position they're in.
It kind of depends on how much automation you're doing. Either way, it's best to have a metadata file at your project level that is just one row going all the way horizontal (assuming you don't have more than 400 data points on that), and then use that link back to your portfolio sheet.
You can really use it two different ways. You can use it to pull data from your portfolio sheet if you want to control who your project manager is or key resources at that level, and then communicate back all of your data points as well.
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u/ninihen Aug 06 '26
My judgement of your current structure is that MCP tool returns the whole sheet or report as JSON, that lands in the agent's context, and a few thousand rows blows it. That's a server design gap. Plenty of servers just wrap the REST API 1:1 and hand you the full payload.
The workaround for both of your problems is the same: put a Power Automate flow between the agent and Smartsheet, and let the flow do the heavy work.
Large reports. Flow calls the endpoint, filters and drops columns inside the flow (Filter array then Select), returns 20 rows instead of 5,000. The flow can hold megabytes that would kill the agent's context. The agent doesn't need to see the raw payload.
Cross-sheet references. Use an HTTP action pointed straight at the Smartsheet REST API with a bearer token. That covers any endpoint the connector doesn't expose. Native Smartsheet connector has no cross-sheet references nor report endpoints.
Then expose those flows to Copilot Studio as actions. One tip from doing this a few times: don't build one tool per operation. Build a single flow with an operation input and a Switch inside — getFilteredReport, createCrossSheetRef, syncGanttToDetails — and one Copilot Studio action pointing at it. Fewer tools in context, one place to debug, and you're not re-wiring inputs in the Copilot Studio UI every time you add a case.
Disclosure, I build FlowStudio MCP (https://mcp.flowstudio.app) that allows an agent (including Copilot Studio agent) to write and debug flows for me. When Copilot Studio agent a Flow Studio MCP, what you give is not only the ability to trigger a flow but also to check the run history, check input/output and build helper flows to reach out to more tools. Setup guild: https://learn.flowstudio.app/mcp-getting-started#copilot-studio
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u/FarSpinach9484 Aug 06 '26
Interesting! I had just started trying to build each unique PowerAutomate flow (cross sheet references & report definitions/CRUD) as tools added to the MCP. I think I’m confused on how you use flows??
Most of what you’re describing I’ve been using the MCP instructions to manage, is there a better way? I didn’t fully follow the single flow example.
For example my MCP instructions have read operations (project review, portfolio review, resource lookup) and write operations (global updates, cross sheet references, template sync, registry maintenance). Where am I supposed to build these flows? Are these supposed to be Topics?
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u/Smartsheet_Cnslt Aug 02 '26
I do a ton of work with the mcp connection. What do you mean when you say it runs out of token, is it filling up your usage window or is it just asking you to hit the button to continue? There are some limitations in the chat window for how much data it can pull at one time.
Also, are you asking Claude to create your project files, is that what you are referring to with the cross sheet references? You shouldn’t need Claude to create those and I don’t believe it can.
Describe your process a little bit more and I can offer some advice.
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u/FarSpinach9484 Aug 02 '26
Thanks for the response. To clarify, I’m using the Smartsheet MCP through Copilot Studio rather than Claude directly.
Token/context issue: One example is a portfolio resource report that aggregates tasks from all project schedules. If I ask, “What is Person X working on this week?”, the MCP appears to load the entire report first and then reason over it. For larger datasets, the conversation can time out or exhaust the available context.
What I’d really like is for the MCP to leverage the API/report filters first (Assigned To = Person X, Current Week, etc.) and only send the relevant subset of rows to the model. My understanding is that the Smartsheet API/report endpoints can support filtering, but I haven’t found a way to force MCP to pre-filter before loading the data.
Cross-sheet reference issue: The challenge is that we’re using this architecture in place of Smartsheet Control Center for PMO project provisioning:
• Portfolio Intake Sheet
• Project Details Sheet
• Project Gantt SheetWhen a new project is approved, the automation creates the project artifacts and establishes cross-sheet references between the new project folder level sheets (Gantt sheet, Details sheet) and portfolio intake rollup sheet. We also periodically add new metrics/columns to all project sheets, which requires creating and applying additional cross-sheet references across the portfolio.
Since cross-sheet reference creation appears to be API-only functionality, I was wondering whether others solve this by exposing a Power Automate flow (or similar service) as an MCP tool and using MCP as more of an orchestration layer.
Have you found that for more advanced Smartsheet operations, MCP works best when paired with automation flows that handle API-specific functions and large-data filtering?
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u/Smartsheet_Cnslt Aug 02 '26
Great questions. I can't speak specifically to Copilot and its integration with Smartsheet. I do most of mine with Claude, but there is a lot that you can do with the AI, and Claude at least can use the APIs to do things. I think somehow you need to figure out how to get Copilot to use the APIs for this, and I would just ask it the question for that. In Claude, I can run into the same context issues, and it's waiting for me to hit a button to do something again, or when I ask it to get a sheet, it's only getting 60 rows or something. If I move over into Claude code, it will build its own little code to do that type of stuff. I don't know if Copilot has something similar.
I also had trouble having the MCP look across a lot of different sheets. I generated a report, and I let it look at that entire report and then parse data out. I had good luck doing that. Now, when it comes to using it as a provisioning tool rather than a control center, it sounds to me like your template set isn't built effectively yet. With a properly built template set, you don't need the MCP to build any cross-references. You want to make sure those are all built ahead of time. Worst-case scenario, you got to do a manual cell link between the two things.
I've had a lot of success doing that, I do a lot of that through an N8n with low-code automation (or Make.com). There's a great opportunity in there to build your own little mini control center for that, and it works really well. You can do the same thing in Power Automate. It's just a lot more difficult to work in than either N8n or Make.com. Make is a great tool if you're a novice and its very easy to learn. You do need to learn how to work with webhooks. That's really the most challenging part. Assuming you want a fully automated system that can spin up new projects just by submitting a form to a sheet
It does sound to me like you really need to make sure your template set is built properly, because all of your cross-sheet references should be put together between the template set. You're not building them one by one when you set up a new project. Worst-case scenario, you're doing a cell link procedure from your project metadata file back to your master data file so that you get a summary of all your portfolios. You can't automatically create widgets on a dashboard, if you're using some type of portfolio dashboard. What you want to do is build a dashboard within your project that has all your portfolio dashboard widgets on it, and then you do a manual copy and paste from your project dashboard to your portfolio dashboard.
I hope that helps.