Connecting Claude Desktop / Claude.ai¶

Two paths depending on which client you're using.

Claude.ai (Connectors UI — OAuth)¶

In Claude.ai's settings → Connectors → Add custom connector:

• URL: https://your-host/mcp
• Display name: Whatever you'd like

Claude.ai will:

1. Probe https://your-host/.well-known/oauth-protected-resource
2. Fetch the AS metadata, register dynamically via DCR
3. Pop a consent window pointed at /mcp/oauth/authorize
4. After you Allow, complete the PKCE-bound code exchange
5. Use the resulting Bearer for subsequent /mcp calls

If anything errors during the OAuth dance, the consent page logs the failure under smallstack.mcp.oauth and Claude.ai shows a generic "couldn't connect". Check kamal app logs | grep smallstack.mcp first.

Claude Desktop (mcp-remote, raw Bearer)¶

For Desktop's claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "smallstack": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["mcp-remote", "https://your-host/mcp"],
      "env": {
        "AUTHORIZATION": "Bearer <token>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Mint the token with:

uv run python manage.py create_api_token me --name "claude-desktop" --access-level readonly

mcp-remote proxies stdio to HTTP and passes the AUTHORIZATION env through.

For Desktop's Connectors UI (newer versions) — same as Claude.ai's UI flow above; point it at https://your-host/mcp.

Verifying the connection¶

After connecting, ask Claude:

What tools do you have access to from this server?

Claude will list the tools from your tools/list. If you see only ping, the registry is empty — no enable_mcp = True anywhere, and no MCP_TOOL_MODULES.