# Coach Board MCP

> The Coach Board MCP is a Model Context Protocol server that lets an AI agent such as Claude build football and basketball plays on the Coach Board tactical board, check them, and export them as an animated player you can embed in any web page.

It has 22 tools: formations, standard drills like rondos and small-sided games, arrows and zones, and frame-by-frame animation. Every play is checked before it is returned, so what you publish is readable and correct.

- **MCP endpoint:** `https://ai.coachboard.app/mcp` (Streamable HTTP, `Authorization: Bearer <key>`)
- **Sports:** football (association football) and basketball
- **Last updated:** 2026-10-08
- **Workflow:** `new_board` → build with the tools → `export_play` → paste the embed snippet; keep the JSON
- **Access:** private for now. Join the waitlist at https://www.coachboard.app/mcp

## Guides

1. [Connect](https://www.coachboard.app/mcp/connect.md): add the MCP to your agent.
2. [Build plays](https://www.coachboard.app/mcp/build-plays.md): the workflow, the checks, coordinates, example requests.
3. [Show a play in a page](https://www.coachboard.app/mcp/embed.md): the embed snippet, options, what readers see on phones.
4. [All tools](https://www.coachboard.app/mcp/tools.md): every tool with its inputs.

## Try asking your agent

- **Tactics:** "Build a 4-3-3 showing a wing overload: the right-back overlaps, the winger cuts inside, the striker attacks the near post. Animate it and export it."
- **Drills:** "A 4v2 rondo in a 20 × 20 m grid for U12s. Export it."
- **Basketball:** "On a half court, draw a pick and roll for the 1 and the 5, then export it."
- **Match-ups:** "Show our 4-4-2 against their 4-3-3 on a full pitch, then mark the space between their midfield and defence."
- **Adapt a drill:** "Only 5 players turned up. Fit the rondo to them, then make it harder with two touches max."
- **Edit a play:** "Load plays/wing-overload.json, make the striker's run curve to the left, and export it again."

## What every play is checked for

- Every player, ball and piece of equipment sits inside its board.
- No two players overlap, and nothing is hidden under a player.
- Text is large enough to read and lines are thick enough to see.
- In an animation, every pass reaches a player and nothing leaves the board.

## How it works

1. **Ask in plain words.** “A 4v2 rondo in a 20 × 20 m grid for U12s.” “A pick and roll for the 1 and the 5.” Your agent turns the request into board moves.
2. **Built on the real board.** The same true-to-scale pitch and court coaches use in Coach Board, with formations, drills, arrows, zones and animated runs.
3. **Checked before it ships.** No overlapping players, no ball going to nobody, no text too small to read. If something is wrong the agent gets the problems, not the play.
4. **One snippet in the article.** Paste the embed and readers get the animated play, with play, pause and scrub. On phones it turns to fit the screen.

## Rules for agents

- Only ship a play that `export_play` returned. If it lists problems, fix them with the tools and export again.
- Never edit the play JSON or the embed link by hand: `load_play` → change with the tools → `export_play`.
- Save the JSON next to the article (e.g. `plays/<slug>.json`) so the play can be changed later.

## FAQ

### What is an MCP server?

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard that lets AI agents use outside tools. The Coach Board MCP gives an agent tools to draw on a tactics board, so it can build a play instead of only describing one.

### Which AI agents work with the Coach Board MCP?

Claude Code, Claude Desktop and any MCP client that supports Streamable HTTP. You add the server URL and your access key, and the agent gets the board tools and the workflow.

### Which sports does it support?

Football (association football) and basketball today, on the same true-to-scale pitches and courts as the Coach Board app, with full and half boards. More of the sports the app supports will follow.

### Does Coach Board store the plays my agent builds?

No. A play only exists in the agent's connection until it is exported. The embed carries the play inside its link, after the #, which is never sent to a server. You keep the play data to change it later.

### How do I put a play in an article?

The export gives you an embed snippet: an iframe and one small script that sizes it. It works in plain HTML, Next.js, WordPress, Webflow and other site builders, with nothing to install.

### How do I get access?

The MCP is in private access while we open it up. Join the waitlist with your email and we will send you an access key and the setup guide when your spot opens.

Coach Board app (for coaches): https://my.coachboard.app