MCP Clients

Any MCP-compatible client can connect to OpenViking's built-in /mcp endpoint — no plugin installation or extra processes needed. This covers Cursor, Trae, Manus, Claude Desktop, ChatGPT, and others.

Quick setup

Most MCP clients use the standard mcpServers format:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openviking": {
      "url": "https://your-server.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer your-api-key-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

No authentication is needed when connecting to a local server without root_api_key configured (dev mode).

Platform-specific notes

Claude Code

Claude Code requires "type": "http". Add via CLI:

claude mcp add --transport http openviking \
  https://your-server.com/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer your-api-key-here"

Add --scope user to make the config global across all projects.

For auto-recall and auto-capture without manual tool calls, use the Claude Code Memory Plugin instead.

Trae / Cursor / ChatGPT

Standard mcpServers config as shown above — all verified with API key auth.

Codex

For Codex, use the Codex Memory Plugin. It supplies a stdio MCP proxy through the plugin manifest and keeps MCP credentials aligned with the lifecycle hooks.

OpenCode

Use OpenCode's native mcp config in ~/.config/opencode/opencode.json:

{
  "mcp": {
    "openviking": {
      "type": "remote",
      "url": "https://your-server.com/mcp",
      "enabled": true,
      "oauth": false,
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer your-api-key-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop / Claude.ai (OAuth)

These clients require OAuth 2.1 — API keys cannot be passed directly. OpenViking ships a native OAuth 2.1 implementation, so no external proxy is needed.

If you already have HTTPS configured for your OpenViking server, just connect to https://your-server.com/mcp — the client will walk you through the OAuth authorization flow automatically.

See the OAuth 2.1 Guide and Public Access Guide for HTTPS setup, deployment templates, and the full authorization flow.

Available tools

Once connected, OpenViking exposes retrieval, memory, resource, watch, filesystem, and code-navigation tools. See the MCP Integration Guide for the canonical tool list, parameters, progressive file upload, and advanced configuration.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Fix
Connection refused	Verify openviking-server is running: curl http://localhost:1933/health
Authentication errors	Ensure the API key in your client config matches the server. See Authentication Guide

See also

• MCP Integration Guide — tool parameters, progressive upload, OPENVIKING_PUBLIC_BASE_URL
• OAuth 2.1 Guide — for Claude Desktop, Claude.ai, Cursor
• MCP Specification