Legacy MCP Board tools to be deprecated

All functionality, plus additional functionality, is covered by the new canvas tools. The full list can be found below.

⚠️
These tools were removed on September 14, 2026
This post was published before the removal date and is kept for reference. The tools listed below are no longer available. See Legacy MCP board tools have been removed for the current state and what to do if your agent is still calling them.

This is the follow-up to Canvas tools replace the layout tools. That post covered layout tools, but didn't talk about updates to diagrams and documents and context tools. Those tools will now be covered by the canvas tools.

Why

canvas_create_from_svg, canvas_read_as_svg, canvas_update_from_svg, and canvas_search already cover everything these fifteen tools did, in one consistent format.

What is deprecated, and what replaces it

Board reads

Deprecated tool	Purpose	Replacement
`board_list_items`	List raw board items	`canvas_search` plus `canvas_read_as_svg`
`context_explore`	Discover high-level board content	`canvas_search` with `result_mode="overview"`
`context_get`	Read or summarize board content	`canvas_search` plus `canvas_read_as_svg`

Layout

Deprecated tool	Purpose	Replacement
`layout_get_dsl`	Load the legacy generic-layout DSL	`canvas_get_canvas_composer_skill`
`layout_create`	Create board items and connectors	`canvas_create_from_svg`
`layout_read`	Read supported items as layout DSL	`canvas_read_as_svg`
`layout_update`	Create, update, delete through a DSL diff	`canvas_update_from_svg`

Diagrams

Deprecated tool	Purpose	Replacement
`diagram_get_dsl`	Load the structured-diagram DSL	`canvas_get_canvas_composer_skill` plus `canvas_load_format_skill`
`diagram_create`	Create a diagram from structured DSL	`canvas_create_from_svg`
`diagram_get_mermaid_instructions`	Load Mermaid authoring guidance	`canvas_get_canvas_composer_skill` plus `canvas_load_format_skill`
`diagram_create_mermaid`	Create a diagram from Mermaid	`canvas_create_from_svg`
`diagram_update_mermaid`	Replace Mermaid content in a diagram	`canvas_update_from_svg`

Documents

Deprecated tool	Purpose	Replacement
`doc_get`	Read one document as Markdown	`canvas_read_as_svg`
`doc_create`	Create a structured document	`canvas_create_from_svg`
`doc_update`	Find and replace document content	`canvas_update_from_svg`

Migrating

Search your skills, prompt files, custom instructions, and automations for board_list_items, context_, layout_, diagram_, and doc_, then swap each name using the tables above.
Delete any DSL syntax examples. Have your agent call canvas_get_canvas_composer_skill once per session and work from that spec.
For flowcharts, ERDs, and UML, layer canvas_load_format_skill on top for the best diagramming results.
Use canvas_search to find what you need before reading, rather than listing every item on the board.

🚧
Reconnect, do not refresh
Some clients cache the tool list at the connector level. If your agent still reaches for a deprecated tool after you migrate, fully disconnect and reconnect the Miro MCP server. Refreshing the tool list is often not enough.

For the current tool list and the format spec, see the Miro MCP tools reference.