Plane vs Shortcut for AI agents

As of 15 Oct 2026, both reach L4 · Runs on its own. Our agent met its first wall later with Plane: with Plane it got in and met its first wall at delete (blocked), with Shortcut it got in and met its first wall at delete (blocked).

PlaneL4Runs on its own

Find: Docs for agents: llms.txt, an OpenAPI and an MCP server; a docs page for each core task.
Access: MCP sign-in, sign-up in a browser.
Use: 90% of the work.
Pay: Payment not tried.
Leave: Cancels on its own: Deletes its data, but the login stays.

Got in; first wall at delete (blocked). Next: pay without a person

Gets in on its own, L4 · Runs on its own: it signs up, confirms the emailed code, and does the project work over the documented API and the official MCP server, with clean read-back on every call. It never reached account deletion: the workspace comes down in the UI, but the account itself only deactivates, and a later code login brings it back. Paying never finished either: the trial starts without a card, but the card step moves to Stripe's hosted portal, closed to our agent by robots.txt there.

Gets furtherDriven 15 Oct 2026 · The drive and its evidence

ShortcutL4Runs on its own

Find: Docs for agents: llms.txt, an OpenAPI and an MCP server.
Access: Sign-up in a browser.
Use: 88% of the work.
Pay: Card checkout.
Leave: Nothing to cancel: Can't delete its account.

Got in; first wall at delete (blocked). Next: pay without a person

Gets in on its own: L4 · Runs on its own. Sign-up is a web form with a mailed code; an invisible reCAPTCHA let our agent through. From there, work moved to the API: an accurate OpenAPI spec and an official MCP server with dynamic OAuth registration let our agent create, move and link stories, epics, iterations, objectives and docs headless, once it had a token from the browser. Our agent started no paid plan, so there was nothing to cancel. Delete Account failed silently in the browser: the app's own call rejected it as sole owner of an organization, and the workspace stayed behind, emptied but not removed.

Driven 2 Oct 2026 · The drive and its evidence

The two summaries: written and checked by our agents from each product's drive. How we write.

Where each one stops.

PlaneGot in; first wall at delete (blocked)

ShortcutGot in; first wall at delete (blocked)

Plane and Shortcut, checkpoint by checkpoint
Checkpoint	Plane	Shortcut
Docs	Headless	Headless
Sign up	In a browser	In a browser
Verify	In a browser	In a browser
Key	In a browser	In a browser
First call	Headless	Headless
First action	Headless	Headless
Pay	In a browser	Not tried
Cancel	In a browser	Not needed
Delete	Blocked	Blocked

Headless or in a browser.

How our agent passed each checkpoint, and what each product offers an agent.

Checkpoints by route, API, MCP, CLI and SDK

Checkpoints by how our agent passed them, and what each product offers an agent
	Plane	Shortcut
Headless (checkpoints)	3	3
In a browser (checkpoints)	5	3
Needs a human (checkpoints)	0	0
Blocked (checkpoints)	1	1
Not tested (checkpoints)	0	1
Work done	90% of the core	88% of the core
API	Yes	Yes
OpenAPI	Yes	Yes
MCP server	Yes (official)	Yes (official)
CLI	No	No
SDK	–	No
llms.txt	Yes	Yes

Bot checks, and where a person was needed.

Walls our agent met
	Plane	Shortcut
Bot check	None met	reCAPTCHA (script on www.shortcut.com/signup) let it through at sign up
Wall type	No bot-check wall	No bot-check wall
First wall	Got in; first wall at delete (blocked)	Got in; first wall at delete (blocked)
A person helped	No	No

Level and part scores.

Plane and Shortcut: level and part scores, 0 to 100
	Plane	Shortcut
Level	L4 · Runs on its own	L4 · Runs on its own
Holds up	74 of 100, fair	Not measured
Agent-ready setup	100 of 100, good	90 of 100, good
Standards	MCP spec of 25 Nov 2025 (1 version behind) · MCP discovery (behind) · MCP client registration (behind) · OpenAPI 3.1.0 (1 version behind) · A2A 0.3.0 (1 version behind)	None recorded

Docs match is measured in an Audit. What the scores mean.

Pay, cancel and delete.

Paying, cancelling and deleting the account
	Plane	Shortcut
Pay	Payment not tried	Card checkout
Free plan or trial	Trial, no card	Trial, no card
Cancel	In a browser	Not needed
Delete the account	Blocked	Blocked

How each one takes payment

Plane: Not tried yet.
Shortcut: Card checkout.

Plane vs Shortcut: the short answers.

Which can an AI agent use, Plane or Shortcut?

Both reach L4 · Runs on its own. Our agent met its first wall later with Plane: with Plane it got in and met its first wall at delete (blocked), with Shortcut it got in and met its first wall at delete (blocked). Driven 15 Oct 2026 (Plane) and 2 Oct 2026 (Shortcut).

Can an AI agent sign up for Plane and Shortcut on its own?

Plane: yes, in a browser. Shortcut: yes, in a browser.

Do Plane and Shortcut have an MCP server?

Plane: yes (official). Shortcut: yes (official).

Can an AI agent delete its Plane or Shortcut account?

Plane: blocked. Shortcut: blocked.