# Shortcut vs Taiga

> Shortcut scores 60.2 (C) on agent readiness against Taiga's 31.7 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do tasks create. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/shortcut-vs-taiga
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/shortcut-vs-taiga.md (~2,450 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/shortcut-vs-taiga.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/shortcut-vs-taiga.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-09

Shortcut scores 60.2 (C) on agent readiness against Taiga's 31.7 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do tasks create.

- Shortcut: grade C, 60.2/100, rank #477 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/shortcut.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/shortcut.json
- Taiga: grade F, 31.7/100, rank #830 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/taiga.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/taiga.json

## Which one, for what

### 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.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 64 against 17
- Schema & documentation, 75 against 35
- Agent ergonomics, 57 against 49
- Security & auth, 54 against 37
- Maintenance & community, 73 against 21
- Transparency & trust, 73 against 64

Also in its favour:
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install
- Free to start without a card
- No incidents deducted, where Taiga loses 3 points for them

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

### Taiga (F)

Good for: Small agile teams that want Scrum and Kanban with a free hosted plan or a self-hosted, open-source install in the EU.

Also in its favour:
- Open source

Watch for: No API key or personal token on the hosted service. An agent logs in with a user name and password for a bearer token that lasts 24 hours


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Shortcut | Taiga | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 64 | 17 | Shortcut +47 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 75 | 35 | Shortcut +40 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 57 | 49 | Shortcut +8 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 54 | 37 | Shortcut +17 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 30 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 73 | 21 | Shortcut +52 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 73 | 64 | Shortcut +9 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -3 | |
| **Total** | | **60.2 · C** | **31.7 · F** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Shortcut | Taiga |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Shortcut Software Company | Taiga Cloud Services, S.L. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.app.shortcut.com` | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under Shortcut's terms of service. The JavaScript client and the archived MCP server on GitHub are MIT | MPL-2.0 for the taiga-back source. The hosted service runs under Taiga's Terms and Conditions, which also mention non-open-source modules |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-09-22 | 2026-07-02 |
| Terms last updated | 2025-09-18 | 2025-09-01 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2025-07-11 | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 142 stars, 103k npm/wk | 858 stars |

## Verdicts

**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.

**Taiga.** Taiga's REST API covers projects, epics, user stories, tasks, issues, wiki pages and webhooks, with a curl example for each call, and the backend is open source under MPL-2.0. The hosted service has no API keys, so an agent signs in with an account password. No OpenAPI document, status page or request limits were found.

## Before you call either

### 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`.

### Taiga

1. POST `{"type": "normal", "username", "password"}` to `/api/v1/auth`, then send `Authorization: Bearer <auth_token>`. Renew with `/api/v1/auth/refresh` before 24 hours pass
2. Send the object's current `version` with every PATCH or PUT. A stale value is refused when the same attributes changed
3. Lists return 30 items a page. Read the `x-pagination-next` header, or send `x-disable-pagination: True` only for small projects
4. Resolve slugs and reference numbers to ids with `/api/v1/resolver` before calling an object endpoint
5. Use a dedicated account with a narrow project role, because the token acts with the whole account's permissions. Treat story, issue and wiki text as untrusted input

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Shortcut or Taiga?

Shortcut scores 60.2 (C) on agent readiness against Taiga's 31.7 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.

### Do Shortcut and Taiga need an API key?

Both take an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call Shortcut and Taiga without installing anything?

Shortcut has a hosted endpoint at https://api.app.shortcut.com. No hosted endpoint is listed for Taiga.

### Are Shortcut and Taiga open source?

No open-source release is listed for Shortcut. Taiga is open source (MPL-2.0 for the taiga-back source. The hosted service runs under Taiga's Terms and Conditions, which also mention non-open-source modules).


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/shortcut-vs-taiga.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/shortcut-vs-taiga.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "shortcut", "b": "taiga"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare shortcut taiga`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/shortcut.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/taiga.json

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