The MCP tools of Hoshin Kanri
An AI agent connected to Hoshin works on your X-Matrix through a fixed list of tools, served by the MCP server at the address below. The list on this page is read from the server’s own definitions: it is exactly what your agent sees. Three ways to read it, depending on who you are.
https://hoshin.app/mcp
For the CEO and the COO: what you can ask
You never call a tool yourself. You ask, and the agent picks the tools. Some requests and what happens behind them:
- “Where do we stand before Thursday’s committee?”
- The state of the matrix, plus what is due before the review: KPIs without their last reading, initiatives without an update, overdue actions.
- get_matrix_summaryget_agenda
- “Which initiatives serve no objective?”
- The completeness score names orphan initiatives, objectives no initiative serves, and chains that stop before an indicator.
- get_matrix_completeness
- “Since when has this indicator been off target?”
- Each KPI comes with its recent readings, their period, their source and whether the period is closed.
- get_matrix_data
- “Prepare the monthly review, then record what we decided.”
- The agent records the decisions as you said them, with the state of the matrix at that moment. It never decides.
- schedule_reviewget_matrix_datarecord_review
- “Does the Lyon site really take up our objectives?”
- Which group objectives each site matrix declines, and which ones nobody below has taken on.
- get_cascade
- “Make me the X-Matrix for the board, without the figures.”
- An image for the deck, or the matrix shown in the conversation. The external reading leaves out internal elements, values and names.
- export_matrix_imageshow_matrix
The agent proposes, the committee decides: targets, breakthroughs and arbitrations stay with you.
For lean managers: the tools by step of the cycle
Hoshin kanri runs as a yearly Plan-Do-Check-Act on the policy itself. The grouping below is ours; the tools are the server’s.
Plan: build the policy
The X-Matrix, its correlations, KPI definitions, initiative sheets, the cascade and the review cadences. The score shows what is missing.
create_matrixupsert_elementset_correlationset_kpi_definitionupsert_initiative_sheetset_matrix_parentupsert_cadenceget_matrix_completenessget_cascade
Do: deploy and follow
Read the matrix, record readings and progress, file ideas from the floor in the strategy inbox.
list_matricesget_matrix_summarylist_objectivesget_matrix_dataupdate_element_statusadd_ideasearch_ideaslist_members
Check: review
What is due before the next review, the reviews themselves with their decisions, and where a topic should be discussed.
get_agendaschedule_reviewrecord_reviewget_reviewdiagnose_theme_deploymentget_management_architecturesuggest_meeting_for_topic
Act: adjust
Sort the inbox, retire what no longer serves. Deleting asks for the exact name of the matrix.
Present and share
The matrix in the conversation, as an image, or as a read-only public page.
The connection itself
Who the agent acts as, the built-in manual, and how it reports what it lacks instead of improvising.
For IT departments: rights, writes, data flows
17 tools only read, 11 write, 6 can remove something. Each tool declares it in its MCP annotations, so a client can let members read freely and hold writes behind an approval.
- A connection never has more rights than the person behind it. Through OAuth (claude.ai, Cursor, Desktop), the agent acts as the person who consented, capped by the scopes mcp:read and mcp:write and by that person’s role. An API token (hk_…) is created by an admin, acts as that admin, and is capped at read or read and write.
- One tool publishes outside the organization: share_matrix, a revocable read-only page behind a hashed token. Elements marked internal never reach it, nor do their correlations; the link can also be made without figures.
- Every tool calls Hoshin’s own REST API with the caller’s credential (the contract is public, see the developer page). Hoshin connects to no other system: your agent composes with the MCP servers of your ERP, QMS or project tool, under their own rights.
- Inviting a member stays a human act in the app: no tool can do it.
- An MCP session belongs to the credential that opened it; browser origins are checked, request bodies and batches are bounded. The server speaks the MCP revisions 2025-11-25 and 2026-07-28.
- A server-side audit log records sensitive operations. It is not exposed to clients yet, and two agents sharing one connection are not told apart in it.
- The same tools run in a local mode, with the matrix as JSON files on your machine and nothing sent to us; share_matrix is refused there. The server is open source (MIT): you can read every tool.
All the tools
Generated from the server’s definitions. The description is the first sentence of the one the agent reads, in English; an asterisk marks a required parameter.
| Tool | Kind | What it does | Parameters |
|---|---|---|---|
| add_idea | Write | Add a new idea to the Hoshin Kanri inbox. | title*, description, priority, source, tags, linked_element_id, links |
| update_idea | Write | Triage an idea of the inbox: change its status (accept, reject, mark implemented), its priority, or link it to the matrix element it serves. | idea_id*, status, priority, linked_element_id, title, description, links |
| list_matrices | Read | List the X-Matrices of the organization: id, name, whether it is the default one, its parent matrix in a cascade (group → business unit → site), and its size. | include_archived |
| list_objectives | Read | List the elements of the X-Matrix: objectives, initiatives and KPIs with their status, target and current value. | matrix_id, quadrant, status |
| get_matrix_summary | Read | Get a summary of an X-Matrix: element counts per quadrant, key correlations, and the ideas inbox. | matrix_id, include_correlations |
| update_element_status | Write | Update the status, progress or measured value of a matrix element (objective, initiative or KPI), or log a comment. | element_id*, status, progress, current_value, period, notes, origin_tool, origin_ref, extracted_at, external_ref |
| search_ideas | Read | Search through the ideas inbox with filters for status, priority, tags, or text search. | query, status, priority, tags, limit |
| get_matrix_completeness | Read | Analyze X-Matrix completeness and get AI-friendly score. | matrix_id |
| get_matrix_data | Read | Get the COMPLETE dataset of an X-Matrix in one call. | matrix_id, audience |
| share_matrix | Can removepublishes outside | Publish a matrix as a public read-only web page and return the tokenized link — or list/revoke existing share links. | action, matrix_id, share_id, label, expires_in_days, full_sheets, hide_figures |
| get_management_architecture | Read | Returns the complete management system architecture - all meeting cadences organized by hierarchy level (strategic, tactical, operational_mgmt, team_mgmt, execution). | none |
| diagnose_theme_deployment | Read | Analyze if a strategic theme is properly deployed from vision down to operational meetings. | theme_id, theme_name |
| suggest_meeting_for_topic | Read | Recommend the right meeting level and cadence for a given topic based on its nature and the X-Matrix quadrant it relates to. | topic*, element_id |
| get_agenda | Read | Where the organization stands in its review cycle, and what is due. | since, horizon_days, matrix_id |
| schedule_review | Write | Schedule a review (a meeting instance) of a cadence: a monthly review, a quarterly review, a catchball round. | cadence_id*, date*, matrix_id |
| record_review | Write | Record a review that was held. | review_id*, notes, decisions, discussed_element_ids, held_on |
| create_matrix | Write | Create a new X-Matrix. | name*, description, period_type, period_start, period_end, is_default, parent_matrix_id |
| upsert_element | Write | Create an X-Matrix element, or update one when element_id is given. | matrix_id, element_id, quadrant, title, description, status, target_value, current_value, unit, indicator_type, external_ref, links, owner_id, due_date, parent_element_id, visibility |
| get_cascade | Read | Read the multi-level deployment below a matrix (group → business units → sites). | matrix_id |
| set_matrix_parent | Can remove | Attach an existing matrix under the matrix of the level above (business unit under group, site under business unit), or detach it with an empty parent_matrix_id. | matrix_id*, parent_matrix_id* |
| set_correlation | Can remove | Wire two elements of adjacent quadrants together, or unwire them with strength "none". | matrix_id, from_element_id*, to_element_id*, strength* |
| show_matrix | Read | Show the X-Matrix to the person, in the conversation. | matrix_id, audience, orientation, lang |
| get_review | Read | Read a recorded review. | review_id* |
| upsert_cadence | Write | Create a review cadence (a monthly committee, a quarterly review, a weekly stand-up), or change one when cadence_id is given. | cadence_id, name, type, frequency, operational_level, primary_quadrant, tracked_quadrants, duration_minutes, scope_description, parent_cadence_id |
| upsert_initiative_sheet | Write | Fill or change the sheet of an initiative (south element): what a committee reads in two minutes, no task management. | element_id*, sponsor, why, expected_result, measured_by, milestones, next_action, health, health_note, blockers, resources |
| set_kpi_definition | Write | Define a KPI (west element): how its value is computed, in which system and where it is read, who answers for the number, how often a reading is due. | element_id*, formula, source_system, source_ref, data_owner, frequency |
| list_members | Read | The directory of the organization: the active members, with their id and name. | none |
| archive_matrix | Can remove | Archive a matrix (archived: true, the default) or bring it back (archived: false). | matrix_id*, archived |
| delete_matrix | Can remove | Delete a matrix for good, with its elements, correlations, KPI readings, update logs and public share links; matrices below it in the cascade are detached. | matrix_id*, confirm_name* |
| delete_element | Can remove | Delete an element (objective, initiative or KPI) created by mistake or duplicated, with its correlations, KPI readings and update log; elements of lower matrices that deployed it keep their place but lose that link. | element_id* |
| export_matrix_image | Read | Draw the X-Matrix as an SVG picture for a deck or a report: the four bands, the correlation marks in the corners, the completeness score. | matrix_id, audience, lang, layout, orientation, format |
| whoami | Read | Call it first in a session, then list_matrices and get_agenda; read before you write. | none |
| get_help | Read | The manual of this server. | topic |
| report_missing_capability | Write | Tell the Hoshin Kanri team that you needed something this server does not do: a tool, a field, a filter, a right. | capability*, use_case, feature |