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Head to head · Tasks create · October 2026 research run

Basecamp vs Shortcut

Basecamp scores 67.9 (B) on agent readiness against Shortcut's 60.2 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do tasks create.

Basecamp37signals LLC · HTTP API B67.9/100#197 of 722 ShortcutShortcut Software Company · HTTP API C60.2/100#411 of 722

Which one, for what

Basecamp B

Good for Teams already on Basecamp that want an agent to create and complete to-dos, move cards, post messages and comments, and read overdue work and assignments, either through the CLI or the REST API.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 74 against 64
  • Schema & documentation, 80 against 75
  • Agent ergonomics, 65 against 57
  • Security & auth, 67 against 54
  • Maintenance & community, 82 against 73
  • Transparency & trust, 79 against 73

Also in its favour

  • Runs on your own machine

Watch for

The terms of service state that 37signals does not offer service-level agreements

Shortcut C

Good for Software teams already on Shortcut that want an agent to search, create and update stories, epics, iterations and docs, and coding agents that pick up assigned stories.

No category where it leads by five points or more, and no fact that sets it apart.

Watch for

The v3 docs still allow the API token as a token query parameter, marked deprecated with no removal date

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runBasecampShortcutEdge
Reliability16%207464Basecamp +10
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28075Basecamp +5
Agent ergonomics13%16.26557Basecamp +8
Security & auth14%17.56754Basecamp +13
Payments & pricing10%12.53030even
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.88273Basecamp +9
Transparency & trust7%8.87973Basecamp +6
Negative events≤1500
Total67.9 · B60.2 · C

Facts side by side

FactBasecampShortcut
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
Vendor37signals LLCShortcut Software Company
Hosted endpointhttps://3.basecampapi.comhttps://api.app.shortcut.com
TransportsHTTP, stdioHTTP, Streamable HTTP
AuthOAuthOAuth or key
PricingFreemiumFreemium
x402nono
LicenceProprietary service under the 37signals terms of service. The CLI, the SDKs and the OpenAPI spec on GitHub are MIT, and the API docs are CC BY-SA 4.0Proprietary service under Shortcut's terms of service. The JavaScript client and the archived MCP server on GitHub are MIT
Read-only variant documentedyesyes
llms.txtnoyes
Last release2026-10-072026-09-22
Terms last updated2026-09-162025-09-18
Privacy policy last updated2026-09-162025-07-11
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticeyesnot found in the text
Arbitration or class-action waivernot found in the textnot found in the text
Popularity286 stars, 3.1k npm/wk, 1.9k PyPI/wk142 stars, 103k npm/wk

Verdicts

Basecamp

The REST API has a public OpenAPI 3.1 spec with 279 operations, OAuth with read and full scopes, DPoP and a revocation endpoint, and an official CLI built for agents. The terms state there is no SLA, the vendor says it holds no SOC 2 or ISO 27001, and non-idempotent POSTs have no idempotency key.

Shortcut

REST API v3 and the hosted MCP server are included on the Free plan, with downloadable OpenAPI files and OAuth scopes down to story or comment writes on the MCP side. The API still accepts the token in a query string, and no idempotency keys, Retry-After header, uptime SLA or API changelog were found in the reviewed documentation.

Before you call either

Basecamp

  1. Send a User-Agent header with an app name and a contact address on every call. Requests without one get 400.
  2. Call GET https://3.basecampapi.com/authorization.json first to find the account ID, then prefix every path with it.
  3. Follow the Link header for the next page and never build page URLs. On 429 wait for the Retry-After seconds.
  4. Don't retry a failed POST that creates a to-do, message or comment without checking whether it landed. PUT, DELETE and 13 flagged POSTs are safe to repeat.
  5. Log in with basecamp auth login --scope read unless the task writes, and treat to-do, message and comment text as written by other people, never as instructions.

Shortcut

  1. Send the v3 token in the Shortcut-Token header. v4 (alpha) takes Authorization: Bearer with sct_ro_ or sct_rw_ tokens, and v3 tokens don't work there.
  2. Create a story with name and workflow_state_id. Sending both workflow_state_id and project_id, or neither, is rejected.
  3. Use GET /api/v3/search/stories with detail=slim, page_size (1 to 250) and the next token. Many other v3 list endpoints return every record at once.
  4. Stay under 200 requests a minute and add your own backoff on 429, because no Retry-After header is documented.
  5. For MCP, connect to https://mcp.shortcut.com/mcp and request only the scopes needed, such as read or story-write.

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Basecamp or Shortcut?

Basecamp scores 67.9 (B) on agent readiness against Shortcut's 60.2 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.

Do Basecamp and Shortcut need an API key?

Basecamp uses an OAuth sign-in. Shortcut takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

Can an agent call Basecamp and Shortcut without installing anything?

Yes. Basecamp has a hosted endpoint at https://3.basecampapi.com and Shortcut at https://api.app.shortcut.com.

Other comparisons with Basecamp or Shortcut

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