Connecting Clients

Before We Begin

Gather the following information about the MCP server you built in Xano — you’ll need it regardless of client. Connecting to the instance-level Xano MCP Server instead? Its URL and token come from a different place; grab them there, then pick your client below.

Name

This is just a name you want to give your MCP server. Make sure it is unique to other MCP servers you’re using, and is human readable so you can easily keep track of what each server does.

URL

Every MCP server in the workspace is listed in one place. Click Connect this backend at the top left of the page, choose MCP Server URLs, and click the icon next to the server you want. Expand the row to see its URLs — use the streaming one.Working inside the MCP servers area already? From the sidebar, Agents & MCP → MCP Servers, then click Connection URL on the server’s card and copy the one under Streaming.

SSE as a connection method was removed in release 2.6, after being deprecated in 2.5. Existing /sse connection URLs no longer work — reconnect each client using the streaming URL. Per the official MCP SDK, streaming is the transport to build against.

Token

The token for your MCP server is generated the same way your other auth tokens are generated, usually as part of your signup and login API logic.

Most clients authenticate to Xano MCP servers with a Bearer token sent in an Authorization header. Clients that can’t send one — Claude Web, Claude mobile, ChatGPT, and Microsoft 365 Copilot MCP plugins — need a real OAuth layer in front of your server. See Add OAuth to a Xano MCP server.Every setup on this page uses one shared token, so Xano sees a single identity no matter who is asking. It’s a fine basic gate for you or your team. If each user needs to arrive as themselves — so your tools can scope data to whoever is actually calling — you want OAuth too, whatever your client is capable of sending.

Claude Code

Claude Desktop

Claude Web / Mobile

Cursor

Windsurf

Antigravity

VS Code

Raycast

Warp

Claude Code

In your terminal, run the following command, replacing <name>, <url>, and <token> with your server’s details:

claude mcp add --transport http <name> <url> --header "Authorization: Bearer <token>"

Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop’s Add custom connector dialog takes a name and a URL but has no field for an Authorization header. The desktop app also reads a local config file, though, and that route does support headers — you bridge the remote server to stdio with mcp-remote, which injects the header for you. Requires Node.js.

Open your config file

Go to Settings > Developer and click Edit Config, or open it directly:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Add an entry for your MCP server

Put the token in env rather than inline in args. On Windows, spaces inside args aren’t escaped when Claude Desktop invokes npx, which mangles Authorization: Bearer … — writing the header as Authorization:${AUTH_HEADER} with no space around the colon avoids it, and works on macOS too.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "xano": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://your-instance.xano.io/x2/mcp/{server-id}/mcp/streaming",
        "--header",
        "Authorization:${AUTH_HEADER}"
      ],
      "env": {
        "AUTH_HEADER": "Bearer your_token_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop

Quit the app completely and reopen it. Your tools appear under Connectors. If the server doesn’t show up, check ~/Library/Logs/Claude/mcp*.log (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\logs (Windows).

This is one shared token for whoever is sitting at that machine, the same as every other client on this page. If you want each user to arrive as themselves, use the connector dialog with OAuth instead — that’s also the only option on Claude Web and mobile.

Claude Web and Mobile

These have no config file — Add custom connector is the only way in, and it takes a name and a URL with no field for an Authorization header. Putting the token in the URL doesn’t work either: Claude runs an OAuth handshake for every custom connector, and a Xano MCP server has no authorization server to hand it off to, so you land on a consent page that can’t complete. What these clients need is a small OAuth layer in front of your server. That’s a separate guide, and it’s mostly agent-driven — you supply two URLs and a couple of clicks in Xano.

Add OAuth to a Xano MCP server

Front your MCP server with a Cloudflare Worker that speaks OAuth 2.1. You get a plain /mcp URL, no token anywhere in it, and every request carrying the signed-in user’s own identity in $auth.

Cursor

Cursor supports one-click MCP server installation via install links, with your token sent as an Authorization header. Use the generator below to create yours.

Windsurf

Access your Windsurf settings

Head to Windsurf Settings > Cascade and click MCP Marketplace.Click the icon to access your mcp_config.json file directly.

Add an entry for your MCP server

Use the generator below to get the correct JSON.

Antigravity

Access your Antigravity MCP settings

Open the MCP store via the ”…” dropdown at the top of the editor’s agent panel.
Click on “Manage MCP Servers”
Click on “View raw config”
Modify the mcp_config.json with your custom MCP server configuration.

Add an entry for your MCP server

Use the generator below to get the correct JSON.

VS Code

These instructions may work for other VS Code-based IDEs, but we recommend consulting that client’s official documentation for more specific instructions. Per-project: Create or open .vscode/mcp.json in your workspace and add the configuration generated below. Across multiple projects:

Run the MCP: Open User Configuration command, which opens the mcp.json file for your user profile. Add the configuration generated below.

Raycast

Raycast connects to remote MCP servers through its built-in Install MCP Server form, which supports custom HTTP headers. Native MCP support requires Raycast 1.98 or later.

Run the Install MCP Server command, or run Manage MCP Servers and choose Install New Server.
Set Transport to HTTP and enter your MCP server’s URL.
Under HTTP Headers, add a header with the key Authorization and the value Bearer <token>. Leave the OAuth fields empty — Xano MCP servers authenticate with a static bearer token, not OAuth.
Press ⌘ + Enter to install. Raycast connects to the server and loads its tools, which you can then @-mention in AI Chat.

Warp

Access Warp Drive and click MCP Servers in your Personal settings.
Click + Add and add the configuration generated below.

Other header-capable clients

These clients all accept a Bearer token in an Authorization header — they just configure it differently. Point them at your streaming connection URL and set the header where the table says.

Client	Where the header goes	Docs
Zed	`context_servers.<name>.headers`	zed.dev/docs/ai/mcp
Cline	`"type": "streamableHttp"` + `headers`	docs.cline.bot
Roo Code	`"type": "streamable-http"` + `headers`	Roo Code MCP
Continue	`requestOptions.headers` — there is no top-level `headers` key	docs.continue.dev
Gemini CLI	`httpUrl` + `headers`	gemini-cli docs
Codex CLI	`http_headers` or `bearer_token_env_var` in `config.toml`	learn.chatgpt.com
Goose	`type: streamable_http` + `headers` in `config.yaml`	goose-docs.ai
Amp	`amp.mcpServers.<name>.headers`	ampcode.com/manual
JetBrains Junie	`mcpServers.<name>.headers`	Junie MCP configuration
LibreChat	`librechat.yaml` → `headers:`	librechat.ai
Open WebUI	Admin → Integrations → Auth: Bearer	docs.openwebui.com
n8n MCP Client	Bearer or Header Auth credential	docs.n8n.io

Windsurf has been renamed Devin Desktop, and its config key is serverUrl, not url — the Windsurf instructions above still apply.

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Before We Begin

Claude Code

Claude Desktop

Claude Web / Mobile

Cursor

Windsurf

Antigravity

VS Code

Raycast

Warp

Claude Code

Claude Desktop

Claude Web and Mobile

Add OAuth to a Xano MCP server

Cursor

Windsurf

Antigravity

VS Code

Raycast

Warp

Other header-capable clients

​Before We Begin

Claude Code

Claude Desktop

Claude Web / Mobile

Cursor

Windsurf

Antigravity

VS Code

Raycast

Warp

​ Claude Code

​ Claude Desktop

​ Claude Web and Mobile

Add OAuth to a Xano MCP server

​ Cursor

​ Windsurf

​ Antigravity

​ VS Code

​ Raycast

​ Warp

​Other header-capable clients

Before We Begin

Claude Code

Claude Desktop

Claude Web and Mobile

Cursor

Windsurf

Antigravity

VS Code

Raycast

Warp

Other header-capable clients