Claude Code + Vinculum
One command to connect. Claude Code has first-class MCP support — add Vinculum and you'll have the full tool surface in every Claude Code session.
Fastest path
If you just want to get going: run the claude mcp addcommand below and you're done. There's no API key to copy — Vinculum authenticates over OAuth, so the first tool call opens your browser to authorize.
Step 1 — Add the MCP server
Run this in your terminal, from inside your project directory:
claude mcp add --transport http vinculum https://vinculum.run/mcpThe --transport http flag is required for a remote server — without it Claude Code treats the URL as a local stdio command and the connection fails. By default this writes a .mcp.json to the current project. Add --scope user to make Vinculum available in every project instead:
claude mcp add --transport http --scope user vinculum https://vinculum.run/mcpNo API key — OAuth instead
Vinculum doesn't use a static API key. The first time a session calls a Vinculum tool, Claude Code runs the standard MCP OAuth flow: your browser opens, you sign in to vinculum.run, and the token is stored and refreshed for you. Nothing to paste.
Step 2 — Verify the connection
Start a Claude Code session and ask Claude to call get_briefing:
> call get_briefing with project="your-project-name"
# Should return a summary of your project state.
# If you get "tool not found", the MCP server isn't connected.If it fails, check the MCP server list:
claude mcp listManual .mcp.json setup
If you prefer to edit the config directly, add this to a .mcp.json at your project root:
{
"mcpServers": {
"vinculum": {
"type": "http",
"url": "https://vinculum.run/mcp"
}
}
}Or let Vinculum write it for you — this drops both .mcp.json and a .claude/settings.local.json (which pre-approves the Vinculum tools so you skip per-call permission prompts):
uvx vinculum-run config --client=claude-code --write -ySelf-hosted MCP URL
If you're running Vinculum locally or self-hosted, replace the URL with your instance's — same --transport http, still no API key:
claude mcp add --transport http vinculum http://localhost:31415/mcpTroubleshooting
Tool not found
Make sure Claude Code was restarted after adding the MCP server, and that you passed --transport http. The MCP server list is loaded at startup.
Authentication error
Re-run the OAuth flow — in Claude Code, remove and re-add the server (claude mcp remove vinculum then the add command above), which forces a fresh browser authorization. Confirm the server itself is reachable:
curl https://vinculum.run/healthz
# → {"ok": true, "service": "vinculum"}