hex-mcp MCP server

A MCP server for Hex that implements orchestration, monitoring, cell content access, permission management, collection organization, and group management tools.

What This Does (And Doesn’t Do)

Practical Use Cases

Orchestration and Automation:

• Trigger Hex project runs from external systems (Airflow DAGs, CI/CD pipelines)
• Monitor run status programmatically
• Cancel long-running or stuck executions
• Discover and search projects across workspaces

Operational Monitoring:

• Check if scheduled runs completed successfully
• Get run history for auditing
• Programmatic access to project metadata (owner, last edited, description)

Cell Content Access (NEW):

• Read notebook structure and cell metadata
• Read SQL query source code from SQL cells
• Read Python/R code from CODE cells
• Good for query migration, code analysis, and content auditing

Permission Management (NEW):

• Programmatically manage user and group access to projects
• Bulk update permissions across multiple projects
• Manage workspace-wide and public access settings
• Add or remove projects from collections

Collection Organization (NEW):

• Create and manage collections for organizing projects
• Organize projects by department, team, or topic
• Control collection visibility and access
• Bulk organize projects into collections

Group Management (NEW):

• Create and manage user groups for permission management
• Add and remove users from groups in bulk
• Use groups to simplify permission management across projects
• Maintain organized team structures

Data Connection Management (NEW):

• List and manage database and warehouse connections
• Create connections for BigQuery, Snowflake, Postgres, Redshift, Athena, Databricks
• Update connection configurations and credentials
• Control data connection sharing across workspace

Critical Limitations

Limited notebook content access:

• ✅ Can read SQL and CODE cell source content
• ❌ Cannot read MARKDOWN, INPUT, or visualization cells
• ❌ Cannot create or delete cells
• ❌ Cannot modify notebook structure
• ❌ Cannot view query results or charts
• ❌ Cannot manage notebook dependencies or parameters

Not suitable for:

• Building or authoring notebooks from scratch
• Collaborative notebook development
• Debugging queries or code execution
• Full notebook backup (only SQL/CODE cells accessible)
• Reading markdown documentation or input parameters

When to Use This

Use hex-mcp when you need to:

• Orchestrate Hex executions from external systems
• Monitor run status and history
• Read SQL queries and code from existing notebooks
• Audit or migrate SQL/CODE content across projects
• Manage permissions and access control across projects
• Automate bulk permission updates for users, groups, and collections
• Organize projects into collections by department, team, or topic
• Maintain user groups for simplified permission management