# Navan Developer Portal

> Connect AI assistants to Navan travel and expense data via the Model Context Protocol (MCP), and integrate programmatically with the Navan Expense API.

The Navan Developer Portal documents two integration surfaces:

- **Navan MCP** — a hosted HTTP MCP server that lets users query spend, travel, policies, and card data in natural language through clients like Cursor, Claude, Codex, and VS Code. Authentication uses your Navan login (SSO or username/password) under the signed-in user's permissions.
- **Navan Expense API** — OAuth 2.0 client-credentials REST API for high-volume and scheduled partner integrations.

MCP server endpoint (HTTP transport only; no SSE, no local sandbox): `https://mcp.navan.com/mcp`

MCP works for SSO and username/password companies. SSO companies must have MCP enabled by an admin at Integrations (https://app.navan.com/app/admin2/company/integrations) before users can connect. Then add the server URL to your MCP client.

## Navan MCP documentation

- [Navan MCP (full guide)](https://developer-portal-prod.tripactions.site/mcp/index.md): Complete MCP documentation in Markdown — overview, quickstart, security, best practices, and release notes
- [Overview](https://developer-portal-prod.tripactions.site/mcp/#overview): What the Navan MCP server is, supported clients, and example prompts
- [What you can do](https://developer-portal-prod.tripactions.site/mcp/#what-you-can-do): Spend analysis, travel data, policy Q&A, approval flows, and card management
- [Quickstart](https://developer-portal-prod.tripactions.site/mcp/#quickstart): Enable MCP and connect Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, Claude Desktop, or VS Code
- [Cursor setup](https://developer-portal-prod.tripactions.site/mcp/#cursor): Install the Navan Cursor plugin from Customize, the marketplace, or one-click setup (opens cursor.com/marketplace/cursor/navan)
- [Claude Code setup](https://developer-portal-prod.tripactions.site/mcp/#claude-code): CLI and `~/.claude/settings.json` configuration
- [Codex setup](https://developer-portal-prod.tripactions.site/mcp/#codex): CLI and `~/.codex/config.toml` configuration
- [Claude Desktop setup](https://developer-portal-prod.tripactions.site/mcp/#claude-desktop): `mcp-remote` via npx (Node.js 18+ required)
- [VS Code setup](https://developer-portal-prod.tripactions.site/mcp/#vscode): Workspace `.vscode/mcp.json` configuration
- [Security & permissions](https://developer-portal-prod.tripactions.site/mcp/#security): User-context auth (SSO or username/password), role-based access, scoped consent, and audit trails
- [Best practices](https://developer-portal-prod.tripactions.site/mcp/#best-practices): Keep payloads lean — use date ranges, field filters, and summary tools like `summarize_spend`
- [Release notes](https://developer-portal-prod.tripactions.site/mcp/#changelog): MCP server version history

## MCP capabilities summary

The Navan MCP server lets authenticated users:

- **Analyze spend** — query expenses, trends, and breakdowns by department, vendor, or category
- **Analyze travel** — review bookings and patterns across flights, hotels, and ground transport
- **Policy & approvals** — ask about policies, approval flows, flag/decline reasons, and who must approve
- **Card management** — view active/inactive cards and per-user card details

The MCP server does **not** bypass Navan permissions, escalate privileges, or replace the REST API for high-volume workloads. Unauthorized requests return empty results with a `403_BY_POLICY` annotation.

## Optional

- [Developer portal home](https://developer-portal-prod.tripactions.site/): Landing page with links to MCP and API documentation
- [Navan Expense API](https://developer-portal-prod.tripactions.site/api/): REST API reference for OAuth 2.0 client-credentials integrations