---
title: "Connect an assistant to the MCP server"
description: "Add the Space Context MCP server to Claude, Claude Code, Codex, ChatGPT, Cursor, VS Code or any OAuth MCP client, and choose what the assistant may do."
source_url: https://spacecontext.app/developers/docs/mcp/connect/
---

# Connect an assistant to the MCP server

The Space Context MCP server gives an AI assistant access to your spaces: it can list them, search them, read them by section or as one page, ask them questions, compare scans and look at the evidence photos. By default it is **read-only**: it cannot change, delete or scan anything, and cannot spend money. When you connect, you can also let it **scan spaces** for you (and check photos): each scan then uses your free scan or is paid from your balance, and the assistant can tell you the price first. Allowing scans needs a card on file in your account; a read-only connection never does.

**Server URL:**

```text
https://mcp.spacecontext.app/mcp
```

**From a terminal:** `npx spacecontext@latest setup` adds the server to the Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and VS Code it finds, installs the skill and signs you in to the CLI ([Setup](https://spacecontext.app/developers/docs/setup.md#set-up-from-a-terminal)). The sections below do the same by hand, client by client.

It speaks MCP over Streamable HTTP and authorizes with OAuth 2.1 (dynamic client registration and client ID metadata documents), so any client that supports remote MCP servers with OAuth can connect. There is no key to paste: you sign in with Apple, Google or your email.

![Connect AI in the console: the server URL to copy, the steps for Claude, Claude Code, ChatGPT and Cursor, the assistants already connected, and questions to ask](https://spacecontext.app/docs/console/connect.jpg)

## What happens when you connect

1. Your assistant opens a Space Context page in the browser.
2. You sign in with Apple, with Google, or with your email and the one-time code we send you. It is the same account as the iPhone app.
3. You choose whether the assistant may also see **sensitive values** (Wi-Fi passwords, door and alarm codes, the narration of your videos), and whether it may **scan spaces** for you (this needs a card on file, see below). By default it may do neither.
4. You approve. Space Context creates an API key for this connection only, named after your assistant and marked **MCP** in the [console](https://spacecontext.app/developers/docs/account/api-keys.md). A read-only connection's key has `spaces:read` and `scans:read`; sensitive values add `spaces:sensitive`, scanning adds `scans:write`.

To disconnect, remove the connector in your assistant, or revoke its key in the console: the assistant is then asked to sign in again on its next request.

### Scanning needs a card on file

A connection allowed to scan gets a live key with `scans:write`, and such a key needs a [card on file](https://spacecontext.app/developers/docs/account/billing.md#add-a-card). If your account has none, the page says so instead of connecting, and you choose:

- **Add a card in the console** (the link opens **Billing**): Stripe saves it and nothing is charged; your bank may ask you to confirm it. Then come back to the page within ten minutes and choose **Try again with scanning**.
- **Connect read-only**: the assistant reads, searches and asks your spaces but cannot scan or spend. Connect again later to allow scanning.
- **Deny access**.

## Claude (claude.ai and Claude Desktop)

1. Open **Settings → Connectors**.
2. Choose **Add custom connector**.
3. Name it `Space Context` and paste the server URL.
4. Click **Connect** and complete the sign-in.

On Team and Enterprise plans, an owner may need to add the connector for the organization first. Then, in a chat, enable Space Context from the tools menu and ask, for example: *"In my seaside flat, where is the water shut-off?"*

## Claude Code

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http --scope user spacecontext https://mcp.spacecontext.app/mcp
```

`--scope user` makes it available in every project. Then run `/mcp` in Claude Code and choose **Authenticate** for `spacecontext`. To give Claude Code a space without a connection, you can also export it as a [skill](https://spacecontext.app/developers/docs/guides/claude-code-skill.md).

Or install the **Space Context plugin**, which adds the same server and a skill that tells Claude how to use it:

```text
/plugin marketplace add finikoslab/spacecontext
/plugin install spacecontext@spacecontext
```

## Codex

```bash
codex mcp add spacecontext --url https://mcp.spacecontext.app/mcp
codex mcp login spacecontext
```

`codex mcp add` may start the sign-in itself; otherwise `codex mcp login` opens the browser to sign in and approve. The same in `~/.codex/config.toml` (or a project's `.codex/config.toml`):

```toml
[mcp_servers.spacecontext]
url = "https://mcp.spacecontext.app/mcp"
```

## ChatGPT

1. Open **Settings → Apps & Connectors → Advanced** and turn on **Developer mode**.
2. **Create** a connector: name `Space Context`, the server URL above, authentication **OAuth**.
3. Sign in with Apple, Google or your email, choose what the assistant may do, and approve.

## Cursor

Add the server to `~/.cursor/mcp.json` (or `.cursor/mcp.json` in a project):

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "spacecontext": { "url": "https://mcp.spacecontext.app/mcp" }
  }
}
```

Cursor shows a **Login** button for the server in its MCP settings.

## VS Code

Add the server to your user profile:

```bash
code --add-mcp '{"name":"spacecontext","type":"http","url":"https://mcp.spacecontext.app/mcp"}'
```

Or, for one workspace, add it to `.vscode/mcp.json`:

```json
{
  "servers": {
    "spacecontext": { "type": "http", "url": "https://mcp.spacecontext.app/mcp" }
  }
}
```

Then run **MCP: List Servers** from the Command Palette, start `spacecontext` and sign in when asked.

## Other clients

Use the server URL with the client's "remote MCP server" or "custom connector" option. The OAuth metadata is published at:

- `https://mcp.spacecontext.app/.well-known/oauth-protected-resource/mcp`
- `https://mcp.spacecontext.app/.well-known/oauth-authorization-server`

## Which spaces the assistant sees

| Space | Visible |
| --- | --- |
| Spaces created with the API or the CLI (live) | Yes |
| Spaces scanned with the iPhone app | Yes (same account) |
| Spaces scanned with the app, not yet screened | Only after screening, unless you granted sensitive values: the first read starts it, and it takes a minute or two |
| The demo space (`spc_demo`) | No: a connection reads your live spaces. Read the demo with a free test key through the API, the CLI or the SDK |

## Good to know

- Space content is returned as **data, never as instructions**, and the server tells the assistant so. Text in a video that tries to address an AI is withheld before it reaches the assistant.
- Requests count against the same [limits](https://spacecontext.app/developers/docs/limits.md) as API keys. A tool that hits a limit tells the assistant how long to wait instead of hanging.
- To create a new scan, let the assistant do it (tick **scan spaces** when connecting, with a card on file: it creates the scan, tells you where to upload the video, starts it and follows it), or use the [CLI](https://spacecontext.app/developers/docs/cli/install.md) or the [API](https://spacecontext.app/developers/docs/api/scans.md); then the assistant sees it.

Next: [the tools in detail](https://spacecontext.app/developers/docs/mcp/tools.md).