forms-builder

Forms Builder

Create, edit, and publish monday.com WorkForms. Every WorkForm is paired with a backing board: each form submission becomes a new item on that board, with the form's questions mapped to the board's columns. The form is the front door, the board is the destination.

Core constraint - read this first

WorkForms only create new items. They cannot update existing items. This is a hard platform constraint, not a skill limitation. If a user asks for a form that "lets people update their tickets" or "edit existing entries", redirect them: a new submission can be linked to an existing item via a connected-boards question, but submitting the form will always create a new row on the form's board. For status-update style flows, suggest a different approach (an item-level update field, a separate update-tracking board, or an automation that finds-and-updates by reference).

Plan-tier note

Forms ship in every monday plan, including Free and Basic. WorkForms branding ("Powered by monday.com") shows by default and can only be removed on Pro plans and above. If a user asks to remove the branding, check the plan first or warn them: it requires updateAppearance with hideBranding: true and will silently fail on Free / Basic / Standard.

Workflow: Create a form

Step 1: Confirm the destination workspace

Forms must live in a workspace. Ask if not specified, or use the user's primary workspace. Call list_workspaces if you need to choose. The workspace ID is the only required parameter for create_form.

Step 2: Decide the form's purpose, then call create_form

The form's purpose dictates the question set. Common shapes:

• Bug report: title, severity, environment, steps to reproduce, screenshot upload, reporter email.
• Feature request: title, description, use case, business impact, customer count, link.
• Lead capture: name, work email, company, role, what brought you here.
• Event signup: name, email, dietary needs, session preferences.
• Internal request: requester, request type (single-select), context, deadline, priority.

Call create_form with:

• destination_workspace_id (required)
• destination_name (board name; defaults to the form title if omitted)
• destination_folder_id or destination_folder_name if the user wants the board placed in a specific folder
• board_kind defaults to public; use private if the form's responses are sensitive

Capture the returned formToken - you need it for every subsequent edit.

create_form does not accept a form title parameter. The form header defaults to "New Form" regardless of destination_name (which only names the backing board). Always follow create_form with an update_form call using action: "updateFormHeader" to set a meaningful title (and optional subtitle / description) before showing the URL to the user. Skipping this leaves every form labeled "New Form" in the WorkForms UI - confusing for end users and for the form owner browsing their forms list.

Step 3: Build the question set

Use form_questions_editor with action: "create" for each question. Decide question type from the field's intent:

Intent	Type
Free text, single line	ShortText
Free text, multi-line	LongText
Yes/no	Boolean
One-of-many	SingleSelect (set display: "Dropdown" for long lists, Vertical for short)
Many-of-many	MultiSelect
Numeric	Number
Money / quantity / score	Number
Date	Date
Date range	DateRange
Email	Email
Phone	Phone
Web URL	Link
Country	Country
Address / map point	Location
File upload	File
Rating (1-5)	Rating
Person / assignee	People
Static instructions	DISPLAY_TEXT
Section heading	PAGE_BLOCK
Linked existing item	ConnectedBoards
Submitter name	Name
Comment / update field	Updates
E-signature	Signature

Set required: true only for fields that genuinely block submission. Excess required fields cut response rate.

For SingleSelect and MultiSelect, options is required. Each option needs a label and a stable value. The platform may normalize string values into numeric strings ("0", "1", "2"...) on creation, so the value you send is best-effort - always call get_form after creation to read back the canonical option values before any later edit. The canonical value must not change after the form has live submissions - changing it breaks data integrity for past responses.

Step 4: Show the user the question set before publishing

After all questions are created, summarize them in a markdown table or a show-table widget pointed at the backing board. Include question text, type, and required-yes/no. Ask the user to confirm or edit before activating the form.

Step 5: Confirm public access and share

Forms are created active by default. The form URL works the moment create_form returns. If the user wants a draft state (questions still being shaped), call update_form with action: "deactivate" immediately, finish the questions, then activate when ready. Otherwise, share the URL as-is. The form URL follows the pattern:

https://forms.monday.com/forms/{formToken}?r=use1

Include both the form URL and the backing board URL in the response. The user will want both - the form for sharing, the board for monitoring submissions.

Step 6: Suggest follow-ups

End with 2-3 next-step suggestions:

• "Want me to switch the layout from OneByOne to Classic?" - new forms default to OneByOne (one question per screen, Next navigation). Classic (all questions on a single scrolling page) is the better default for most operational and internal forms. Surface this choice every time. The layout change cannot be applied via MCP today (see below); the suggestion points the user to Form Settings -> Layout in the monday UI.
• "Want me to shorten the form URL?"
• "Should I set a password on the form?"
• "Want me to send this link to a Slack channel?"
• "Should I set a submission limit or close date?"
• "Want to remove the WorkForms branding? (Pro+ only.)"

Known MCP gap: form layout cannot be changed via API. update_form with action: "updateAppearance" accepts layout.format without error but the value is silently ignored - the form stays OneByOne. Confirmed across multiple parameter combinations. Do not attempt the API call and report success; the change will not persist. Direct the user to Form Settings -> Layout in the form editor and walk them through it in plain language. Track this gap with the monday MCP team.

Workflow: Edit an existing form

Step 1: Resolve the formToken

If the user pastes a form URL, extract the token: https://forms.monday.com/forms/{TOKEN}?r=use1 -> {TOKEN} is the alphanumeric string between /forms/ and ?.

If the user names the form, search via the search tool with searchType: "BOARD" to find the backing board, then call get_form against any candidate token. (The MCP currently has no direct form-search tool; the form is reachable through the board it backs. Mark this as a known gap if it blocks the user.)

Step 2: Fetch current state

Call get_form with the formToken. This returns questions, structure, appearance, and feature flags. Always read before writing - patches are merge-style and missing context leads to broken updates.

Step 3: Apply the change

Pick the right tool:

• Add / update / delete a single question: form_questions_editor.
• Reorder questions: update_form with action: "updateQuestionOrder" and the full ordered array of question IDs.
• Header (title and description): update_form with action: "updateFormHeader".
• Branding, layout, colors, logo: update_form with action: "updateAppearance".
• Submission rules (anonymous, response limit, close date, login required, captcha): update_form with action: "updateFeatures".
• Activate / deactivate / shorten URL / set password: corresponding actions.

Step 4: Confirm

Plain-language summary: what changed, what stayed the same, and the form URL. Do not narrate the API calls.

Common edits

Add a question to the end: form_questions_editor with action: "create", no insert_after_question_id. The question appends.

Insert a question between two existing ones: call get_form to get the predecessor's ID, then create with insert_after_question_id: "<predecessor_id>".

Make a field required: form_questions_editor with action: "update", the question's id, the existing type, and required: true. The type field must always be sent on updates.

Update a select question's options without losing past responses: call get_form first, copy each existing option's value into the update, then add or modify only the labels. Omitting an existing option deletes it.

Show / hide a question conditionally: use show_if_rules on the question. Rules are AND/OR-composable with conditions referencing other question IDs and answer values.

Reorder questions: update_form with action: "updateQuestionOrder" and the full ordered list - every existing question ID must appear, even unchanged ones. After the reorder lands, call get_form to re-sync question IDs - any PAGE_BLOCK (section heading) IDs are reassigned by the platform on reorder (e.g. page_block__classic_default becomes page_block77dy0px4). Cached PAGE_BLOCK IDs will 404 on the next edit if you skip the re-sync.

Sync question titles with column names: update_form with action: "updateFeatures" and monday.syncQuestionAndColumnsTitles: true. Useful when the user is editing the backing board and wants the form to follow.

Drop the WorkForms branding (Pro+): update_form with action: "updateAppearance" and appearance.hideBranding: true.

Close the form to new responses: update_form with action: "deactivate". Reactivate with action: "activate". To close on a date, use updateFeatures with closeDate.enabled: true and closeDate.date: "<ISO timestamp>".

Password-protect the form: update_form with action: "setFormPassword" and formPassword: "<password>". Communicate the password separately - it does not appear in the form URL.

Smart defaults

When the user does not specify all values:

• Form name and board name: if the user gives the form a name, default the backing board's name to match. State the default in the response.
• Workspace: ask once if not provided. Do not guess.
• Required flag: false by default, except for the obvious primary identifier (email on a lead form, title on a bug report).
• Question order: the order the user listed them, top to bottom.
• Form is active after creation: yes - create_form returns an active, publicly-accessible form. If the user wants to preview before responses can come in, call deactivate immediately and reactivate when ready.
• Form title: create_form defaults the header to "New Form". Always set the title explicitly via update_form action: "updateFormHeader" after creation - use the user's stated form name (or, if missing, the form's purpose, e.g. "Bug Intake"). State the title in your confirmation.
• Layout: the platform default is OneByOne (card-per-question). For most operational and internal forms, Classic (single scrolling page) is the better default - surface this in Step 6 follow-ups, do not silently rely on OneByOne. The choice is not reachable via MCP today; point the user to Form Settings -> Layout in the form editor.
• Branding: leave WorkForms branding on by default; mention Pro+ removal as a follow-up rather than auto-toggling it.

Error prevention and remediation

• WorkForms cannot update existing items. If asked, redirect to either an internal item-update field, a connected-boards question that links to an existing item, or a separate update-tracking workflow. Do not promise behavior the platform does not support.
• Form URL returns "form is not available": the form has been deactivated, hit a response limit, or passed a close date. Check get_form features state. Reactivate with update_form action: "activate", raise the response limit, or extend the close date.
• updateQuestionOrder rejects the call: the questions array must include every existing question ID. Call get_form first, list all IDs, then send the full ordered list.
• PAGE_BLOCK question IDs change after updateQuestionOrder. The platform reassigns IDs for PAGE_BLOCK section-heading questions on every reorder (e.g. page_block__classic_default becomes page_block77dy0px4). Always call get_form immediately after updateQuestionOrder and refresh any cached PAGE_BLOCK IDs before the next edit, otherwise subsequent form_questions_editor calls referencing the old ID 404.
• Select option deletion is destructive: updating a SingleSelect or MultiSelect and omitting an existing option deletes it, breaking past responses that used that option. Always send all options when editing.
• hideBranding: true does not stick: the account is on a plan below Pro. Tell the user the constraint; do not retry.
• Question type cannot change after creation: to "convert" a question type, delete and recreate. Past responses for the original question are lost. Confirm with the user before deleting.
• existing_column_id: only set when the user explicitly asks the question to point at a specific board column. Otherwise let the form auto-create a column to keep wiring clean.

When to use MCP UI widgets

Use show-table selectively, not by default:

• Before publish: when the question set is more than 5 items, render the backing board with show-table so the user can scan question-to-column mapping in one view. Plain-text summary is cleaner for shorter sets.
• After publish: if the user asks "what came in this week", show-table against the backing board with a date filter is the right answer. Plain-text confirmations for activation, deactivation, and single-question edits.

Do not use show-table to confirm a single edit - the form URL plus a one-line confirmation is enough.

Be conservative on destructive operations

Always confirm before:

• Deleting a question with prior submissions (data is lost).
• Deleting a select option that has been used (past responses for that option become orphaned).
• Deactivating a public-facing form (existing links break).
• Deleting the backing board (deletes the form too).

Single-question creates and non-destructive edits do not need extra confirmation - the user already asked.

Tools used

• list_workspaces - locate the destination workspace if not provided
• create_form - create the form and its backing board (returns formToken)
• get_form - read current form state by formToken (always before editing)
• update_form - 11 actions covering header, appearance, accessibility, features, question order, tags, activation, password, URL shortening
• form_questions_editor - create / update / delete a single question
• search - find a backing board by name when only the form's purpose is known
• get_user_context - fall back to the user's primary workspace when none is specified
• show-table (selectively) - render the backing board for question-set review or response browsing

Additional notes

• A formToken is the alphanumeric segment of a form URL: https://forms.monday.com/forms/{TOKEN}?r=use1. Treat it as the form's primary key.
• The backing board's items represent submissions. Editing a board column does not edit the form question - use form_questions_editor for the form side. The monday.syncQuestionAndColumnsTitles feature flag helps keep them in step.
• Forms that require login (features.requireLogin.enabled: true) restrict submissions to monday.com users in the same account.
• For multilingual forms, set accessibility.language via update_form action: "updateAccessibility". Combine with features.ai_translate.enabled: true for AI-generated translations.