Background <p>Digitalisation, climate change and demographic change pose increasing challenges for the healthcare system. In this context, the Ottawa Charter emphasised as early as 1986 the importance of creating health-promoting environments for the health of the population. Local authorities, in their role as “overarching settings”, are considered to have particular potential for the low-threshold integration of health promotion into the respective contexts in which the target groups live. Planning tools can systematise these processes, but there is currently insufficient scientific evidence regarding the potential and challenges of applying them.</p> Methods <p>Between December 2023 and January 2024, twelve semi-structured, guideline-based expert interviews were conducted and evaluated using qualitative content analysis according to Kuckartz and Rädiker.</p> Results <p>A&#xa0;total of 232 statements were coded. These indicate the potential of planning tools in terms of promoting intersectoral cooperation and the participation of the target group. Challenges arise from a&#xa0;lack of municipal resources and inadequate structural and legal frameworks.</p> Discussion and conclusion <p>Planning tools can contribute significantly to the successful implementation of municipal health promotion. In order to exploit their potential, identified challenges must be addressed. In particular, there is a&#xa0;need for action with regard to the development of an intersectoral definition of planning tools in municipal health promotion as well as regarding optimisation of the framework conditions for the application of planning tools. Further transformative research and secure funding are necessary to sustainably anchor planning tools as an effective instrument in municipal health promotion practice.</p>