garmin-mcp and the export¶
garmin-mcp is the sibling project for Garmin Connect: a complete DuckDB mirror of the account (activities, the original FIT files, sleep, HRV, Body Battery, training status, devices, gear, workouts, courses), cache-first tools, a read-only snapshot, the same Compose profiles. The two servers complement each other: Strava has the social and segment side of your training and the routes you plan; Garmin has the physiology and the device.
They need no shared credentials. garmin-mcp's optional Strava sync reads what this server already mirrors, through the export endpoint, and never talks to Strava, so it spends none of your Strava API quota. It does two things Garmin and Strava do not do for each other:
- Titles. When you name or rename an activity on Strava, the Garmin activity gets the same name. Garmin sends an activity to Strava once; a later rename on Strava never comes back.
- Courses. When you unstar a Strava route, the course Strava's own sync created for it is deleted from Garmin Connect. Strava adds a course when you star a route but never removes one, so courses for routes you no longer want pile up on the watch.
Setting it up¶
On this server, set SNAPSHOT_TOKEN (the export is served to that bearer) and, if you want unstarred routes to reach Garmin promptly, lower the route-list poll:
SNAPSHOT_TOKEN=... # openssl rand -hex 32
STRAVA_ROUTES_INTERVAL_MINUTES=15 # default 60; Strava sends no event for starring
On garmin-mcp, point its sync at the export with the same token (names per its configuration page):
STRAVA_SYNC=titles,courses
STRAVA_EXPORT_URL=http://strava-mcp:8000/export/sync
STRAVA_SNAPSHOT_TOKEN=<the SNAPSHOT_TOKEN above>
When both run in the same Compose project or network, http://strava-mcp:8000 resolves directly; across hosts use the server's own port or a reverse proxy route for /export/, not the oauth gateway. Where garmin-mcp's documentation names the path /export/garmin-sync (the name in strava-mcp 4.2), that works too: this server serves it as an alias.
How fast a change travels¶
| Change on Strava | Reaches this mirror | Reaches Garmin Connect |
|---|---|---|
| Rename an activity | seconds with a webhook, within 15 minutes by polling | within a couple of minutes after that |
| Unstar a route | within STRAVA_ROUTES_INTERVAL_MINUTES (Strava sends no event) |
within a couple of minutes after that |
Each route-list poll costs one or two reads. At 15 minutes that is up to 192 reads a day, about a fifth of the default daily read limit of 1,000; the free upgrade in Strava's API settings (2,000 reads a day) makes it a tenth. The default of an hour costs up to 48.
Without the export¶
garmin-mcp can also read this server's snapshot (snapshot/strava.duckdb mounted read-only, or the /snapshot.duckdb URL with the same token) instead of the export; that works with any strava-mcp version but adds up to an hour, the snapshot's publish interval while the sync is idle, to every change.