Authentication

There are two ways to connect, and which one you use is decided by your AI client rather than by you. Hosted clients sign in. Desktop and terminal clients send a key.

Both routes end at the same place: a connection in Settings → MCP connectors, with its own access level, its own last-used time, and its own revoke button.

Access levels

Every connection carries exactly one, whichever route made it.

A connection starts at Read only unless you deliberately choose otherwise, and the level is enforced on the server: a read-only connection is never offered the write tools at all. If the connection was made with write access, a write is also checked against the narrower of the level the client was granted and the level stored on the connection.

There is no separate "delete" level. The few tools that remove something — a reward tier, an upsell rule, a block — are part of write access, and the first two need an explicit confirmation on every call.

Changing the level

The level is fixed when the connection is made. To give a tool more access, or less, create a new connection at the level you want and revoke the old one. Then restart the AI client so it reads the new tool list.

Connect by signing in

This is the route for ChatGPT and Claude on the web. Nothing is copied or stored by you.

1. In AOV.ai Cart Drawer, go to Settings → MCP connectors and pick your AI app.
2. Copy the OAuth server URL shown there and add it in the AI app as a custom connector.
3. Start the connection in the AI app. It shows a one-time code.
4. Type that code into Approval code in the app and click Review request. You see which app is asking and where it returns to.
5. Choose what the app can do — Read cart drawer data, and optionally Write cart drawer settings — then Approve.

The AI app finishes the handshake by itself. The OAuth connections list shows the state of each connection:

Connect with a key

This is the route for Claude Code, Cursor, Claude Desktop, and other clients that can send a request header.

1. In AOV.ai Cart Drawer, go to Settings → MCP connectors, click Add connection and pick your client.
2. Copy the Server address shown there. You will need it alongside the key.
3. Type a Connection name — use the name of the tool you are connecting, for example Claude Desktop. It is only there to tell connections apart. 1–40 characters.
4. Choose the Access level — Read only or Read and write.
5. Click Create key.

The key appears once, with a ready-to-paste setup snippet underneath. Copy the snippet for your tool, then follow Install a client.

If you try to reuse the name of a connection that is still active, the field shows an error and Create key stays disabled. Names have to be distinct so that revoking the right one later is unambiguous.

Where the key goes

Your client sends it as a bearer token on every call:

Authorization: Bearer aov_mcp_your_key_here

The word Bearer, a single space, then the key. A missing prefix produces a refusal that reads like a bad key rather than a bad request. The setup snippets in the app already include it.

Nothing is ever sent in a URL. The key belongs in the Authorization header only.

Reading the connections list

Each key connection shows its name, its badges, and when it was last used.

You can Rename a connection at any time.

Revoke, and delete

Revoke stops the connection working. It takes effect on the very next call, it cannot be undone, and it affects only that connection — every other one keeps working. Revoke when a key may have leaked, when you stop using a tool, or when a laptop leaves your control.

Delete is offered on a key connection that is already revoked. It removes the row from the list. It does not stop anything — revoking already did that.

This key does not work anywhere else

Cart Drawer issues keys for two separate surfaces, and they are deliberately not interchangeable:

A key minted for one is refused by the other, and revoking one surface never disturbs the other.

Keeping a connection safe

• Never paste a key into a chat, an issue, a commit, or a screenshot.
• Keep it out of shared config files and anything that reaches a repository. Where a client supports it, put it in an environment variable — the Claude Desktop snippet does this.
• Use one named connection per tool. Shared credentials make the connections list meaningless and turn revoking into a choice between breaking everything and breaking nothing.
• Grant the lowest level that does the job. A tool you are still evaluating has no business being able to change your drawer.
• Revoke rather than reuse. Creating a replacement takes seconds.

Reading an authentication error

Your assistant reads the refusal back to you in plain language.

Related

• Install a client
• Troubleshooting