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 add command below, replace YOUR_API_KEY, and you're done.

Step 1 — Get your API key

Log into vinculum.run, open Settings, and copy your API key. It starts with vk_.

Step 2 — Add the MCP server

Run this in your terminal (from any directory):

bash

claude mcp add vinculum https://vinculum.run/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

Claude Code will write the config to your user-level ~/.claude/settings.json. This makes Vinculum available in all your Claude Code sessions globally.

To scope it to a specific project only, run from inside the project directory and add --scope project:

bash

claude mcp add vinculum https://vinculum.run/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  --scope project

Step 3 — Verify the connection

Start a Claude Code session and ask Claude to call get_briefing:

text

> 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:

bash

claude mcp list

Manual settings.json setup

If you prefer to edit the config file directly, add this to ~/.claude/settings.json (or your project's .claude/settings.json):

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vinculum": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://vinculum.run/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Self-hosted MCP URL

If you're running Vinculum locally or self-hosted, replace the URL:

bash

# Local development
claude mcp add vinculum http://localhost:31415/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

Troubleshooting

Tool not found

Make sure Claude Code was restarted after adding the MCP server. The MCP server list is loaded at startup.

Authentication error

Check that your API key is correct and hasn't been rotated. You can verify the key by curling the MCP endpoint directly:

bash

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  https://vinculum.run/api/health

Other clients: claude.ai · Cline · Cursor · Zed